Sowams Heritage Area project team member Dave Weed spent a morning at the Bristol County Registry of Deeds in Taunton searching for records regarding the land on Sachem’s Knoll and around King’s Rock on Market Street at the Warren-Swansea border. As the area was entirely in Swansea in the late 17th Century, he was able […]
Sowams project team member Dave Weed met with RI State Archives Director Kenneth Carlson in his search for land records related to the King’s Rock / Sachem Knoll site. The location was an important meeting place for members of the Pokanoket trive, including both Massasoit and his son, Metacomet or King Philip. It is also […]
Sowams project team member Dave Weed met with Roger Williams University Assistant Professor of History Dr. Charlotte Carrington-Farmer who specializes in Early American history. Dr. Carrington-Farmer teaches courses on “Crime and Dissent in Early New England” and “Facing East from Indian Country: A Native History of Early America”. The two explored ways that RWU students […]
Sowams project team member Dave Weed met with Archaeologist Charlotte Taylor, Archaeological Historian Joanna Doherty, Archaeologist Tim Ives, and Acting Director jeffrey Emidy (not pictured) at the Rhode Island Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission to discuss a possible National Historical Site designation application for the King’s Rock site in Warren and Swansea. “They were incredibly […]
Sowams Heritage Area Team members Dave Weed and Helen Hersh Tjader met with Blackstone Valley Tourism Council President Robert Billington who was very involved with the development of the Blackstone Valley Heritage Corridor over the past 25 years. He was very supportive of the Sowams Heritage Area concept and suggested a number of people and […]
Johnson’s Market owner Tim Johnson and D’Allesandro Farm owner Susan Langmack were joined by Helen Tjader, Greg Spiess, Dave Weed, and Swansea Historical Society Director Carl Becker on January 20, 2018 to survey King’s Rock on Wigwam Hill as part of a planned submission of an application for a National Historic Site designation. The Rock, […]
Dave Weed had the opportunity to meet with Carpenter Museum Director Dr. Elyssa Tardif and Genealogy Researcher Lende McMullen on January 17, 2013 to talk about the Sowams Heritage Area project and to learn more about 17th century Rehoboth. Of particular interest was the Tobey archaeology dig site near the museum that yeilded numerous tools […]
Members of the Sowams Heritage Area Team held their first public meeting at the invitation of the members of the East Providence Historic District Commissioners on January 10, 2018. Team member Helen Hersh Tjader gave a 22-minute presentation on “Sowams, the Untold History” and then opened up an hour-long discussion of how East Providence could […]
In order to make the development of a Sowams Heritage Area a more interactive process, we have added a blog to the web page and provided an easy way for you to review changes and updates and to add your own thoughts and suggestions to the page. Feel free to reply at the end of […]
The earliest land deed in the Providence City Archives dates from 1638 and confirms earlier verbal and written agreements between Roger WIlliams and the Narragansett sachems Canonicus and Miantonomo. The sachems drew their “signatures” with the symbols of a bow and an arrow, respectively, on the deed that granted land to Roger Williams. It was important […]