As part of the Sense of Pride Program, Lane Sparkman organized a tour of multiple sites in historic Warren for 4th graders in the Bristol-Warren Schools on November 6, 2024 that included stops at Burr’s Hill Park and the Massasoit Spring on Water Street. Click here for a six-minute video of the stop at Burr’s Hill Park.

(Above) Sowams Heritage Area Project Coordinator Dr. David Weed told the students about the history of the Royal Pokanoket Burial Ground at Burr’s Hill Park, a site used starting in the 1500s to bury tribal royalty, including the great Massasoit Ousamequin who met the Pilgrims in 1621 and struck a mutual protection treaty with the English that lasted until his death forty years later.

Weed told how burial items had been removed from 42 gravesites in 1913 and were repatriated in 2017 in a concrete vault under a marker. (Above, right) Students next visited the site of the Massasoit Spring on Baker Street.

(Above) Burr’s Hill grave contents included a European ax head and both shell and ceramic beads.