The following excerpts are from Virginia Baker’s “Glimpses of Ancient Sowams,” published in 1894.

In 1860, a company of Indians, under the leadership of Father Beeson, the “Indian’s Friend,” made a tour of the United States giving a series of entertainments in the principal cities and towns. Among the towns visited was Warren, RI, where a prolonged stay was made. Click here for a June 2, 1860 Warren Telegraph article about the visit.

The Indians encamped upon some vacant lots on Franklin Street, just east of the railroad track. At their wigwams they sold bows and arrows, baskets and other implements of war and peace. Evening entertainments consisting of songs, dances, readings, and illustrations of various Indian customs were given at Armory Hall, and were at- tended by large audiences.

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The sojourn in Warren was made with a special purpose in view. A member of the company, Mr. Frank Loring (in photos above), known also by the Indian name of “Big Thunder,” was a Penobscot by birth, but claimed descent from the Wampanoag [Pokanoket] tribe. The ancient traditions of his people declared Sowams to have been located within the limits of the town of Warren, and he sought for traces of the vanished home of his ancestors. He was provided with a rude chart of Sowams —the origin of which is unfortunately unknown —and by its means he was enabled to locate many of the most famous haunts of the aborigines.

(Above photos of Wigwam Mountain” on the Chace Farm, formerly the Mason Farm) Among the historic spots located by ” Big Thunder,” was a gentle eminence on the farm now owned by Mr. Edward Mason. This farm is situated on the “Birch Swamp Road,” in the northeasterly part of the town. The hillock referred to had always been known to its white possessors as ” North Hill.” “Big Thunder” gave its Indian name as “Wigwam Mountain.” It greatly resembles a wigwam in shape. A little to the west of it is an Indian burial place, in which, even now, the outlines of six or eight graves are discernible. Mr. Loring exhumed two or three skeletons and several pipes and arrowheads.

(Above, left) “Margaret’s Cave,” of which only a portion now remains, derived its name from having been, for many years, the home of an Indian woman, probably of Wampanoag [Pokanoket] origin, “Margaret” being undoubtedly the anglicized pronunciation of an Indian name. Click here for photos of a tour of the Cave and a painting of what the winter settlement around the Cave might have looked like. (Above, right) The boundary line separating Warren and Swansea passes through a ledge of conglomerate generally known as “King’s Rocks.” Here, according to Mr. Loring, Philip was in the habit of convening his warriors during the period immediately preceding the war. From this point he dispatched scouts and raiding parties to Swansea, Mattapoisett, and other localities.