8 Burr's Hill Royal Burial Ground 9 Bristol's 17Th Century Houses 6 Hampden Meadows Greenbelt 4 Little Neck Cemetery, East P

4 Little Neck Cemetery, East Providence 6 Hampden Meadows Greenbelt 8 Burr’s Hill Royal Burial Ground Little Neck Ceme- The land between Burr’s Hill on the tery at the south end the two branches of Bike Path across of Read Street below the Sowams River from the Town Allen Avenue in (now known as the Beach in Warren, Riverside contains Palmer and Bar- RI, was an aborigi- the graves of John rington rivers), was nal burial ground Brown, Jr. who pur- known as Chacha- that once contained chased Wannamoi- cust by the Pokanoket Tribe and New Meadow dozens of grave sites of the people who occupied sett from Massasoit in 1643; Elizabeth Tilley, Neck by the European settlers. the area in the 1600s, including many chiefs. a passenger on the 1620 Mayflower voyage to This latter name it received as early as 1653. The Used as a sand and gravel source for a railroad that Plymouth; and Captain Thomas Willett, who appendage of “Hampden” to the New Meadow was constructed next to the site in 1853, many graves settled in Rehoboth in 1643 and later served as Neck area was given by the Rhode Island His- were looted. In an effort to protect the remaining 42 the mayor of New York City in 1665 and 1667. torical society, in honor of John Hampden, who graves, librarian and amateur archaeologist Charles Elizabeth Tilley Howland (c. Aug 1607 – visited Massassoit with Edward Winslow in 1623. Carr exhumed the contents and donated them to December 21, 1687) participated in the first The main trail begins on Linden Road off of museums in Providence, New York City, and Warren. Thanksgiving in Plymouth and was present at the New Meadow Road from the East Bay Bike Path Following the passage of the Native Ameri- first meeting between the Pilgrims and the Poka- and runs half a mile north to the Kent Street Skat- can Graves Protection and Repatriation Act in noket Tribe, later known as the First Encounter. ing Pond which functions during the summer as 1990, the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Council She was one of the few original Pilgrims to live to a long-hydroperiod vernal pool. The Trail is open retrieved the artifacts and reburied them at the see King Philip’s War. She died in Swansea. dailly from dawn to dusk. site in Burr’s Hill Park in May, 2017. 5 Sowams Woods, Barrington 7 Tyler Point Cemetery 9 Bristol’s 17th Century houses The area around In 1680, following Two 17th century Sowams Woods the King Philip War, houses, both pri- is believed to a meetinghouse’s vately owned, still be an area set location was changed stand close to the aside hundreds from Nockum Hill to end of the East of years ago by what was then called Bay Bike Path in the indigenous population for women and for “a place of trade” and Bristol, RI. childbirth, a place of peace. is today called Tyler Point on New Meadow Neck. The Joseph Reynolds house at 956 Hope Street In 2011, the Barrington Land Conservation A cemetery, now at the end of Tyler Point Road, is the oldest three-story house in Rhode Island. It Trust purchased the Sowams Woods, a pleas- was established in 1702 adjacent to this second was built by Joseph on land his father, Nathaniel antly wooded property of 12 acres and home Baptist meetinghouse, led by Rev. John Myles. Reynolds, a leather worker from Boston, had of the only nesting site in Rhode Island for the The center of settlement shifted easterly to Brooks bought in 1684, It is a full three-story house, declining population of diamondback terrapins. Pasture, platted in 1682, that became the Town of unusually large for its time. Sowams Woods features 800 feet of frontage Warren in 1747. Moses Tyler, a Boston shipbuild- Deacon Nathaniel Bosworth constructed the on Echo Lake and is located near the PIC- er, inherited the eastern shore of the point from first house in the town in 1680-81 at 814 Hope WILL Nature Preserve, Big Mussachuck Creek his father-in-law, Edward Luther, in the 1750s and Street using material shipped over from Eng- salt marsh and Narragansett Bay. developed a shipyard, giving Tyler Point its name. land. It began as a typical two-room, two-story If approaching by car, park on Tallwood It is easily accessed from the Bike Path by taking house Religious services for members of the First Drive, Spinnaker Drive or Lighthouse Lane. On Tyler Point Road from County Road, Route 103, Congregational Church were held in the house bicycle, use the East Bay Bicycle Path. between the Warren and Barrington bridges. shortly after it was built in Bristol. any people think that the 17th century is gone 4 Little Neck Cemetery 5 Sowams Woods 6 Hampden Meadows Greenbelt 2 Bold Point, East Providence Min Barrington and Swansea. No buildings from Bold Point sits across that time survive intact, and much that was here has the Seekonk River in been transformed or covered over with new buildings. East Providence and If you know where to look, however, you’ll find has views of Upper evidence of that important time when these two Narragansett Bay and towns were just starting. Each location tells part the Seekonk River. of the story that can be put together to show Aboriginal people what initially took place here 400 years ago. used the shallow water by the Point as a ford Locate these eleven places on the map in this across the Seekonk River. brochure, and then travel to each one on foot, by India Point, located on the other side of the riv- bicycle or by car to learn more about how this er, was Providence’s first port. It remained active area started and who was here at the time. from 1680 until the Great Depression. Its success was in part due to the large trading businesses of Visit the SowamsHeritageArea.org website and John Brown and his partner, John Francis, with find over fifty locations on-line that are part of both the East and West Indies. the story of what happened in East Bay RI and Bold Point is now a public park owned by the nearby Massachusetts in the 17th century. City of East Providence and is the state’s larg- Support for this project was provided by the Rhode Island Council for the Humani- est outdoor concert venue, with the capacity for ties, an independent state affiliate of the about 4,000 attendees. National Endowment for the Humanities. 3 1 Wannamoisett Marker India Point Park, Providence This granite marker In 1680, sits in the sidewalk Providence’s next to the Silver first wharf was Spring Golf Course erected near on Pawtucket today’s Transit Avenue in East Street. Providence. Originally One side marks the original boundary called Tockwotton by the aboriginal tribes, between the the town of Rehoboth and the the point along the Seekonk River became Wannamoisett section of the Pokanoket Tribe’s known as India Point after John Brown “Sowams” land in 1620. The other side marks began to bring tea and spices from the East the town line. This purchase by John Browne and West Indies. India Point Park replaced from the Massasoit Osamequin in 1643 was the wharf after Route 195 was constructed. the first of a series of purchases from the During the 18th century, Providence Pokanoket Tribe that occurred over the next was transformed from a rural hamlet into twenty-five years. a seaport, trading with other colonies, the From the East Bay Bike Path, take Fuller Av- West Indies, Africa, and England. India enue east to Pawtucket Avenue and head north Point remained an important trade center for a few blocks. The marker is on the west side until the end of the Great Depression. 7 Tyler Point Cemetery 8Burr’s Hill Burial Ground 9 Bristol’s 17th Century Homes of Pawtucket Avenue at Wheeler Avenue. .

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