Dr. David Weed was one of 25 presenters at the first History Camp America national on-line session for anyone who is interested in the American past and wants to learn more. Click here for a 40-minute video of his presentation.

(Above) History Camp organizers Carrie Lund and Lee Wright welcome Dr. Weed for his on-line presentation about the Sowams Heritage Area Project and the events that occurred in East Bay Rhode Island and nearby Massachusetts in the 17th century that determined the course of events for colonial settlement and the erasure of the Pokanoket Tribe.

The presentation begins by exploding the myth that everything of importance happened in Plymouth when, in fact, the most important events took place 40 miles to the west in Sowams, the home of the Massasoit Ousamequin.

The on-line presentation begins with locating Sowams in present day Warren, RI, where the Massasoit Ousamequin lived in 1621, was buried in 1661, and was subsequently exhumed in 1913 and then reburied in 2017.

The video goes on to describe the importance of the friendship between Pilgrim Edward Winslow and Ousamequin, who later sheltered Roger Williams in the winter of 1636 after his expulsion from Salem, MA. The cave where he was sheltered can still be seen today in Swansea, just over the northern border of Warren, RI.