Participants in the summer camp program at Burr’s Hill Park were told by Sowams Heritage Area Coordinator Dr. David Weed about the Royal Pokanoket Burial Ground in the Park where the Massasoit Ousamequin was reburied in 2017. He offers a 15-20 minute talk each year so the children can learn about the people who have lived in the area for the past 12,000 years. Click here for a 13-minute video of the talk with the younger group, and click here for the talk with the older children. Click here for photos and video of a 2019 talk with Dr. Weed. [Photos & video by Rock Singewald]

About 50 children in each group assembled on the hill where the monument to the Massasoit Ousamequin sits over a vault containing over 600 items that were removed from the burial site in 1913. Dr. Weed then talks about the Pokanoket Tribe which has occupied the area for over 10,000 years.

Weed displays prints of two paintings by artist Ruth Major, one depicting the winter settlement in Sowams and the other showing the Massasoit Ousamequin in the red horseman’s coat given to him by the English Separatists in Plymouth in 1621.

Dr. Weed concludes his talk by inviting the children to the next Pokanoket Heritage Day, which will be held in the Park on Sunday, August 7th where they can meet members of the Pokanoket Tribe.