2023

Film group visits Roger Williams' shelter at Margaret's Rock

Melissa Parson, her husband and sound person, John Ewing, paid a visit to Margaret’s Rock with their friend and script writer, Rebecca Hughes (pictured left), on July 24, 2023. Melissa is a documentary filmmaker, videographer, and descendent of Roger Williams from Seattle who is working on a film about Williams and visited to get footage […]

National Parks Conservation Association supports the Sowams Heritage Project

Following a visit last year by Northeast Outreach and Engagement Manager Timothy Leonard of the National Parks Conservation Association‘s Northeast Regional Office in New York City, the Association recently donated $5,000 to the Sowams Heritage Area Project. The funds will be used to complete the feasibility study that is currently underway that will be submitted to […]

Lifelong Learning class explores historic locations in Sowams

(Left) A dozen participants in the Lifelong Learning Collaborative visited the Seat of Metacom in Bristol, RI as part of an eight week series of meetings from June 30th to August 18th to explore 17th century locations in Sowams, the home of the Massasoit Ousamequin. Titled “Forget Plymouth Rock – It All Started Right Here: […]

Plimoth Patuxet Museum directors tour Sowams

Plimoth Patuxet Museum Executive Director Ellie Donovan and Deputy Director Richard Pickering paid a visit to Sowams on June 15, 2023 as a follow-up to a presentation that Pickering did on March 22nd with Pokanoket Tribal Historian Donald Brown, Jr. at Roger Williams University recognizing the 400th anniversary of Pilgrim Edward Winslow’s encounter with the […]

Papitto Opportnity Connection awards the Sowams Project $25,000

The Papitto Opportunity Connection (POC) provides grants, scholarships, and microloans to unique and narrative changing programs that are designed to create success stories for Rhode Island’s Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) communities.  On April 5, 2023, POC awarded the Sowams Heritage Area Project a $25,000 grant. Papitto regularly has conversations, small and large, […]

Dr. Weed meets with Somerset historians

Sowams Heritage Area Coordinator Dr. David Weed met with Town Historian Mary Ann McDonald, Historical Society Past President John Larsen, and his wife, Marybeth Rua-Larsen who is Head of Reference at the Somerset Public Library, on February 25, 2023. In the meeting, Ms. McDonald reviewed much of the pre-colonial and early colonial history of the […]

Devil's Rock shows mysterious footprints

Not far from Margaret’s Rock sits another massive outcropping in the woods in North Swansea. Rising to 66 feet at its top, it provides great views of the area when the leaves are off the trees. Click here for a 70-second video from a 2017 visit to the Rock. (Above) Devil’s Rock contains several indentations […]

Taunton River Stewardship Council awards $15,000 grant to the Sowams Pro

At its January 12, 2023 virtual meeting the Taunton River Stewardship Council (TRSC), voted to award the Sowams Heritage Area Project a $15,000.00 grant to help with costs related to its current feasibility study. The purpose of the Council is to promote the long-term protection of the Taunton River by 1) bringing together on a […]