Sowams Heritage Area Project Historian and Warren Preservation Society (WPS) member Dave Weed gave a 20-minute summary of the history associated with the Massasoit Spring marker on Baker Street in Warren on June 26, 2025. The Massasoit Historical Association is currently refurbishing the monument. (Above) Sara Volino, Brandt Heckert and RI Senator Wally Felag listen to Dr. Weed. Click here for a 15-minute video of his presentation.

WPS staff member Kristin MacDonald (above, third from left) welcomes about twenty-five WPS members and others to the brief event at the site of the Spring on Baker Street. Members Jenny and Tom Flannagan listen as Senator Felag and WPS member Henry Blade talk about plans for the monument that sits next to Henry’s house.

The Warren Volunteer Gardeners, led by Elizabeth O’Connell, planted new native plants purchased with a grant from the Rhode Island Wild Plant Society and placed small metal markers identifying each plant. As a pollinator native plant garden, it will be included on the “Pollinator Pathway” in RI. Sachem Dancing Star and the tribe’s herbalist, Kristine Dawn, of the Pokanoket Tribe have advised the planning group on the project.

(Above left and center) Local historian and author Virginia Baker appeared in a photo taken on October 19, 1907 when the original monument was dedicated. That dedication event that focused on the Massasoit Ousamequin who was thought to have drunk water from the spring that was located in the Pokanoket Tribe‘s village then known by the English as Sowams.