In a bitter winter in the early 17th century, an invisible storm swept across the East Coast of what would become the United States — not with swords and guns, but with something far more terrifying: epidemic disease. Between 1616 and 1619, an unknown epidemic devastated countless Indigenous communities, erasing up to 90% of their […]
In May, 2025, the Pokanoket Tribe added a link on their official website to a video produced by Tribe Member Winter Hawk that describes the history of Potumtuk, or The Lookout, on their historic land in Bristol, RI, to which they recently regained access after 340 years. Click here for the five-minute video. Quoting from the video, “This 255 acre property sits […]
STATE HOUSE – The Senate honored members of the Pokanoket Tribe at the State House Wednesday, approving a resolution sponsored by Sen. Linda L. Ujifusa (Dist. 11, Portsmouth and Bristol) that honors the tribe’s ancestors and living descendants. The resolution commits to promoting and protecting their cultural heritage, sacred lands and rightful place in Rhode […]
Providence-based Quaker historian Elizabeth Cazden spoke about the role of Quakers in the history of King Philip’s War at the Rogers Public Library in Bristol, RI, on April 23, 2025. Cazden is a direct descendant of John Borden, one of the participants in the meeting that was held between Rhode Island Deputy Governor John Easton […]
King Philip’s War, one of America’s first and costliest wars, began in 1675 as a raid on several farms in Swansea, MA but quickly escalated into a full-scale war engulfing all of southern New England. In a video presentation, author Eric B. Schultz describes the major events of the War and how it was interpreted […]
More than 30 readers showed up at a Book Club meeting on February 1, 2025 held at the Rogers Free Library in Bristol, RI in cooperation with the Bristol Historical and Preservation Society. The meeting was the first of three in a monthly series covering the 350th anniversary of King Philip’s War that broke out […]
The local “giveaway” magazines, “The Bay” and “Hey Rhody“, featured the Sowams Heritage Area Project in their October 2024 editions. Author Abbie Lahmers interviewed Project Advisor Andrea Rounds and Project Coordinator Dr. David Weed for the four-page feature article that describes the project that is working to bring the early history of the Sowams region […]
Thanks to an allocation from the State of Rhode Island, the Rhode Island Council on the Humanities (RICH) announced the inaugural awardees of the THRIVE general operating support grantmaking program. THRIVE provides funding for small cultural heritage organizations and local historical and preservation societies that support and strengthen Rhode Island’s many diverse, dynamic communities. In […]
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More than 130 people attended the Community Conversations presented by the Sowams Heritage Area Project at the Seekonk Public Library, in Seekonk, MA on March 26, 2024, and Mt. Hope Farm in Bristol, RI on March 27, 2024. Both events were packed with people from the region known as Sowams, the ancestral homeland of the […]