Residents Invited to Sowams Heritage Discussion

The Sowams Heritage Area Project invites members of the community to participate in a community conversation to discuss the significance of Sowams, the ancestral homeland of the Massasoit Ousamequin who welcomed the Pilgrims in 1621, and the feasibility of designating the region as a National Heritage Area.  The conversation will be held twice: Tuesday, October 17, 2023, at 3:00pm at the First Christian Congregational Church in Swansea, MA and Wednesday, October 18, 2023, at 7:00pm at Hope and Main, in Warren, RI.

Sowams is the setting of one of America’s origin stories, the critical alliance that established 50 years of peace between the Indigenous Tribes that had fished, farmed and hunted the region for millennia and the English settlers arriving on the Mayflower. Sowams is also ground zero for the fracturing of that alliance during the devastating King Philip’s War. The legacy of those events and the way in which people have valued and used the eastern shore of Narragansett Bay has shaped the complex history of the region from prehistory to the present.

“The Sowams Project is not just about what happened here in the 17th Century,” says Project Coordinator, Dr. David S. Weed. “It’s also about what happened on this landscape over the last 400 years, and how our heritage informs our lives today and can shape our future as a community.”  A program of the National Park Service, National Heritage Areas (NHAs) are living, working, landscapes, which are designated by Congress to honor the important role of a region in our country’s development and celebrate its contributions to American history and culture. Through dynamic public-private partnerships, NHAs provide a way to recognize, share, and conserve a region’s significant history and outstanding qualities.

The participants will discuss why Sowams is important to our nation's origin story, learn about the benefits of the National Heritage Area program, and share their perspectives on how they can collaborate as a regional coalition to advance our communities. Says Weed, “It will take many voices to tell the story of Sowams. We want to hear yours!” The Community Conversations are free. The public is invited to reserve a seat at the Tuesday event or Wednesday event. 

About the Sowams Heritage Area Project:
Led by a regional coalition of town planners, tourism entities, historical societies, environmentalists, Tribal leaders, and other volunteers, the Sowams Heritage Area Project is undertaking an initiative to develop a National Heritage Area (NHA) in Sowams, the ancestral homeland of the Massasoit Ousamequin who welcomed the Pilgrims in 1621. NHAs protect and promote a region’s history, heritage and culture and use those assets to advance local economies through tourism, recreation and community development. For more information, go to https://sowams.org.

In April of 2022, the former East Providence City Council passed a land acknowledgement resolution that recognized East Providence as part of Sowams, the ancestral home of the Pokanoket Tribe. This is the third such acknowledgement passed by towns in East Bay Rhode Island.  The resolution was sponsored by former ward Three Councilman Nate Cahoon.  Speaking for the Tribe at that meeting in 2022, Pokanoket Sachem Dancing Star stated, in part, “Sowams, which East Providence is a part of, is such an amazing and important part of the history of this country. The people who live in East Providence need to know that and be educated on that. In doing that, it builds pride, it builds community.”

Following Sachem’s remarks, Harry “Hawk” Edmonds, who grew up in East Providence and became a star basketball player in the 1950s, offered a sacred tobacco prayer. After he spoke, Sagamore Dr. William “Winds of Thunder” Guy described some of the history of the Tribe and thanked the Council for having members of the Tribe address them.  Edmonds is also an inductee in the EPHS Hall of Fame.

The Cahoon resolution stated that:

• East Providence is one of several Rhode Island cities and towns within the Sowams Heritage Area; and

• Sowams is the ancestral home of the Pokanoket tribe, where they lived and thrived for the nearly 12,000 years between the last glacial retreat and the establishment of European colonies in New England; and

• Sowams is historically significant as a cultural nexus between Indigenous and European peoples.

The resolution was then passed unanimously by the then City Council.  It stated: 
“WHEREAS, the City East Providence City Council pays honor to, and has deep respect for, the ancestries and cultural contributions of all of its people.  We recognize the unique and enduring relationship that exists between Indigenous People and their traditional territories. We acknowledge that our community was a part of the larger ancestral homeland of the Pokanoket Tribe/Pokanoket Nation.”