Over thirty people at Hamilton House Adult Learning Exchange on the East Side of Providence attended a one-hour presentation on “Rediscovering 17th Century Rhode Island in the Sowams Heritage Area” to learn how that history shaped life in Rhode Island. “If you don’t know what happened here 400 years ago, you’ll never understand what’s going on today,” stated Sowams Heritage Area Project Coordinator David Weed who traced the role of Roger Williams and others in influencing our Constitution and our attitude toward Americans Aborigine. Dr. Weed was introduced by John Haley, whose grandfather published four volumes of The Old Stone Bank History of Rhode Island between 1929 and 1944.