The Rising Sun Lodge of the Grand Lodge of Rhode Island Masons invited Sowams Project Historian Dr. David Weed to speak on October 21, 2025 to their members at their headquarters on Taunton Avenue in East Providence, RI . His presentation focused on the the causes and outcomes of King Philip’s War which took place 350 years ago. This was part of the Sowams Project‘s efforts to promote awareness of the early history of East Providence and eight other towns in the area known as Sowams. Click here for a 28-minute video of Dr. Weed’s presentation.

Senior Warden Domenic J. DiStefano (above, left) introduced Dr. Weed (above, right) who has been working with the East Providence Historical Society to teach pre-colonial history in the City. Weed also works with a 15-member steering committee on the creation of a new National Heritage Area to tell the story of Sowams.

Weed began by describing the area known as Sowams that was the homeland of the Pokanoket Tribe for over 10,000 years. Following the arrival of English settlers, the Indigenous people found their crops destroyed by English cows and pigs and were exposed to infectious diseases that resulted in the death of thousands of Native people both before and after the arrival of the Pilgrims. In June 1675, Pokanoket warriors began to attack settlers’ houses, precipitating the outbreak of war.

By the time of the War, English settlements had surrounded the remaining Pokanoket land north of the Bristol peninsula where the Pokanokets were forced to live. Native warriors attacked and burned dozens of colonial villages throughout Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island, only stopping when Metacom (known as King Philip) was killed at Mt. Hope in today’s Bristol. Today, the Pokanoket Tribe is thriving with over 300 members and recently received their land at Mt. Hope back from Brown University in November, 2024.