Visitor Services Supervisor and Rhode Island College Adjunct Professor of Communication, Jim Lopes, (above left) invited Dr. David Weed, Project Coordinator for the Sowams Heritage Area to speak at the Heritage State Park “Lunch Meets Lecture” series on October 2, 2019. Click here for a 52-minute video of his presentation and here for a 53-minute version that aired on Fall River Community Media.

Dr. Weed spoke in the Visitor’s Center auditorium for about an hour about the Project that highlights the 17th century history of Sowams, the area from Swansea to Providence and included references to a number of locations from that period in nearby Swansea, MA.

(Above) Included in his talk, Dr. Weed described King’s Rock and Sachem’s Knoll on Route 136 in Swansea, as well as Margaret’s Cave, the Cahoone Brickworks from 1673, the Benjamin Cole House from 1705, and the 1680 Church of Christ, all located in Swansea. These and dozens of other locations from that period can be found on the SowamsHeritageArea.org web site.

Dr. Weed concluded his talk by referring to Winslow Point just north of Fall River on the Taunton River where Metacom and Weetamoe crossed the River to what is now Somerset to escape capture by Col. Benjamin Church at the outbreak of the King Philip War in July of 1675. That was also the likely place where Pilgrim Ed Winslow also crossed on his way from Plymouth to visit the Massasoit Ousamequin in Sowams, now Warren, RI, in July of 1621.

Click here for a 52-minute video of his presentation and here for a 53-minute version that aired on Fall River Community Media.

Click here for a one-and-a-half-minute video of crossing the Taunton River to Winslow Point.

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