Nathaniel and his brother Peleg (II) were sons of the Rev. Peleg Heath. Reverend Heath was the minister of the Old Barrington Village's Congregational Meetinghouse from 1728 until 1740, when it moved from Jenny's Lane to its current County Road location. As the new meetinghouse was being built, it was voted that Reverend Heath should continue to preach at the private home of Mr. Edward Bosworth. Following his refusal to do so, the town voted to dismiss "Mr. Peleg Heath from being minister of this town."
Although Rev. Heath faded from prominence and died within eight years of leaving his ministry, his sons Nathaniel and Peleg (II) remained active and prominent figures in their own right. Both served as officers in the American Revolution from c. 1776 to 1778. Nathaniel was a lieutenant in Captain Samuel Bosworth's Artillery Company. Peleg (II) served as a Major in the Bristol County Regiment and fought battles at Roxbury and Cambridge.
Although no battles were fought in Old Barrington Village, the American war for Independence against the British (1775 to 1783) touched the lives of many citizens and patriots living in town. Nowhere was this more true than in the Taverns.
Two days after the Battle of Bunker Hill, there was a gathering of patriots at Bowen Tavern. According to Henry Bowen's ledger, dated June 19, 1775, those gathered at the Tavern were served a large drink dubbed the "Defiance Bowl" - voted on and paid for by "The Town of Barrington."
Henry Bowen's support for the war against the British is evidenced further by his role as the Town's Military recruiting officer. When the brothers Nathaniel and Peleg (II) Heath decided to join the cause for independence, their enlistment would most certainly have been recorded by Henry Bowen and taken place within the Tavern--perhaps while sharing a Defiance Bowl.
Aside from his patronage and military enlistment at Bowen's Tavern, Nathaniel Heath benefited from his skills as a cabinet maker. When the prominent statesman Samuel Allen--and frequent patron of Bowen's Tavern--was charged 5 shillings and 7 pence for breaking Mr. Bowen's chair, door, and window pane, it was Nathaniel Heath who received payment for the repairs. Nathaniel was also paid another 6 shillings for repairing one of Mr. Bowen's ladders, apparently damaged by Joshua Bicknell.
In 1782, the brothers built twin homes on the same block, about a ¼ mile north of Bowen's Tavern - Peleg at 1825 Wampanoag Trail and Nathanial at 38 Old River Road.
As battle-tested veterans, no doubt each brother had many a tale with which to regale their fellow neighbors and tavern patrons, just a short walk away down the road.
]]>The sole remaining vestige of Old Barrington Village's tavern-friendly past stands at 509 County Road. This c. 1840 Greek Revival style structure first saw life as the Kinnicutt Tavern, owned and operated by George R. Kinnicutt who followed in the steps of his father.
Around 1840, the structure at 509 County Road became the second public house to be called "Kinnicutt Tavern," and the fourth tavern operated in Old Barrington Village near the meetinghouse, after the Green Bush, Bowen Tavern, and first Kinnicutt Tavern.
Roughly 50 years earlier, in October of 1796, George's father Josiah Kinnicutt purchased the former home of Isaac Ormsbee, located 'about one-fourth of a mile north of the Cong. meeting-house.' At the time of the purchase, Josiah's occupation was recorded as cabinet maker.
A few years earlier (1787), Josiah had married Rebecca Townsend--daughter of the long-serving Congregational Minister, Rev. Solomon Townsend. Solomon Townsend, Jr. (Rebecca's brother and Josiah's brother-in-law) is said to have owned and operated a tavern around that time at Happy Hollow, an area just south of the present-day Barrington Town Hall. Perhaps it was the Townsend family influence that lead Josiah to offer the new family home as the first 'Kinnicutt Tavern?'
After the first post route through Barrington was established in 1810, Josiah Kinnicutt was appointed as postmaster of the town. The post office was then conveniently located in his Kinnicutt Tavern. Josiah could never be accused of laziness. For in addition to his roles as tavern keeper and postmaster, he also operated a stage-coach line between Newport and Providence, provided the town's official hearse service, served on the town's 'Committee to lay out the new burying grounds at Prince's Hill', and served as the town's representative to the Rhode Island General Assembly.
The exact location of the first Kinnicutt Tavern is not known for certain. But it likely stood somewhere on or near the same spot as Benson Bean's Grocery Store--between the second Kinnicutt Tavern later operated by Josiah's son George, and the home of Samuel Allen at 499 County Road. Upon his death in 1837, Josiah's son George took over as stage-coach operator, postmaster, and later--around 1840--as tavern keeper of the second 'Kinnicutt Tavern'.
It is uncertain how long this last tavern survived. It most likely ceased to operate by 1852, after the Temperance Movement succeeded in promoting passage of the so called 'Maine Law,' which 'banned the sale and consumption of spirits' throughout Rhode Island. It would be another 150 years before alcohol was, once again, legally sold in Barrington.
]]>On July 23rd 1770, Henry Bowen was granted license to 'keep a publick House of Entertainment'. From that day, until he sold it to Joshua Bicknell and Enoch Remington in 1783, Bowen kept a tavern, inn, and country store just north of Old Barrington Village's colonial meetinghouse. The new Bowen Tavern was in front of a home at 474 County Road. Henry Bowen was a meticulous bookkeeper and the records he kept give us a glimpse into life in both Old Barrington Village and Colonial New England.
During the 18th Century, a stage coach travelling between Newport and Boston would take two days to make the trek and--conveniently--pass directly by Bowen's establishment. And so, when Mr. John Tripp and his wife made the journey on May 10th, 1776 they stayed the night as Bowen's guests. In the morning they were presented with an itemized bill showing 11 separate entries. Among these items were: 1 gill Brandy at 5 ½ pence; ½ mug Cyder at 1 ½ pence; 1 bowl Toddy at 9 pence; and 'lodging you and wife' at 6 pence. It is interesting to note that the cost for a bowl of 'toddy' (a warm alcoholic drink, usually rum or whiskey, mixed with sugar) was 1.5 times the cost of lodging.
While lodging at Bowen's, it is likely the Tripps would have rubbed elbows with a who's who of locals, whose patronage has likewise been memorialized in Bowen's ledgers.
The Rev. Solomon Townsend, minister at the meetinghouse 1743-1796, lived next door to the Tavern and appears to have been fond of rum. Interestingly, Bowen's ledgers show that when he wasn't there in person, his housekeeper Elizabeth would be sent to fetch a couple quarts for the Reverend.
Josiah Viall, the local Blacksmith, who is credited for both shoeing Bowen's horses, as well as mending his 'flip iron,' 'generally took his pay in liquor' with his favorite being 'Jamaica Spirits.'
Perhaps the most colorful of Bowen's patrons was the shoemaker Samuel Allen, who lived just across the road. As a prominent figure in town, Allen was a member of both the Town Council and State Legislature. He was also a delegate to the Continental Congress who voted to ratify the U.S. Constitution in 1790. Like other prominent figures in Rhode Island during this period, Samuel Allen was also a slave owner.
Of note in the Tavern's records, Allen was party to some mysterious incident for which Bowen charged him a total of 5 shillings and 7 pence for 'breaking my arm chair', 'breaking…my window' and 'splitting…a panel door.' One can only wonder what that was about!
]]>In his 1898 book, A History of Barrington Rhode Island, Thomas William Bicknell wrote, "The principal tavern in most towns, as in Barrington, was near the meetinghouse, and from each was a well-trodden path to the door of the other." Records indicate that the meetinghouse--located at 461 County Road in the area now known as "Old Barrington Village"--was within walking distance of four taverns.
Although the Village's taverns do not appear in records until some years later, the story of the local meetinghouse begins in 1663 at Nockum Hill. On the opposite side of the Hundred Acre Cove, Reverend John Myles, a Baptist Minister from Swansea Wales, established the first meetinghouse of what was to become Barrington. Twelve years later, Myles' original meetinghouse was destroyed and his congregation scattered as a result of the conflicts between the colonists and indigenous peoples during King Philip's War (1675-1678).
In 1678, following King Philip's War, the community's meetinghouse was rebuilt in the area now known as Tyler Point at the southern end of New Meadow Neck, then part of the Baptist Town of Swansea, Massachusetts. This location was to be the "nucleus" for a 'place of trade'.
In 1711, as the population shifted and the Congregationalists grew in number, the meetinghouse location moved once again-this time to the corner of Jenny's Lane and Rumstick Road. A petition to form a new town was submitted to the General Court of Massachusetts. Seven years later (1717), approval was granted to form a new town with a 'learned and orthodox minister'. The town of Barrington Massachusetts (named for Governor Samuel Shute's brother - John Shute Barrington) was founded.
In 1737, thanks to a gift of land by Joshua Bicknell, the meetinghouse moved to its present 461 County Road location. Although the story of its move is likely a fanciful legend, some believe that the meetinghouse was floated from its former Jenny's Lane location up the Barrington River. The circa 1737 structure was replaced in 1806 and has since undergone multiple renovations necessitated by time and hurricane-related storm damage.
In 1770, Barrington reincorporated as Barrington Rhode Island. This shift from Massachusetts to Rhode Island followed ratification of the joint resolution between the two colonies granting all land within three miles east of the Narragansett Bay shoreline to Rhode Island. At that time, the meetinghouse served not only as the focal point of civic and religious activities, it was also the seat of town government.
On July 23, 1770, Mr. Henry Bowen, Collector of Taxes, petitioned the Barrington Town Council at the meetinghouse and was 'licenc'd to keep a publick House of Entertainment' - the second of four nearby taverns. And so, Bicknell's story of the "well-trodden path" from the meetinghouse to tavern began anew!
]]>Wanting to animate the ground that had become cold over the centuries, Princess Red Wing initiated the Great Swamp Massacre Ceremony in the late 1930s. The ceremony starkly contrasted with the 1906 dedication of the monument to the Great Swamp Fight. The Narragansett consider the event a massacre, not a "fight," because of the death of many non-combatants (women and children) during the violence. In preparation for the first ceremony, Princess Red Wing spent countless hours organizing participants in order to begin a much needed healing process. The ceremony both reawakened the consciousness of tribal members to the terrible massacre during King Philip's War and forced White community members to acknowledge the transgressions against Native peoples in Rhode Island. The ceremony has grown over the years and continues today. It includes a lighting of fires to honor the past, present, and future, songs, ceremonies, dancing, a roll call of fallen soldiers in various wars, as well as speeches by Native and non-Native people.
Princess Red Wing was born Mary E. Congdon in 1896 to Walter Glasko (Narragansett) and Hannah Weeden (Wampanoag). Mary received her tribal name from her mother, after the red wing blackbird, "to fling her mission far with grace, for ears that harken for the uplift of my race." She certainly did uplift her Tribe and countless more Native groups throughout her life.
Princess Red Wing designed the Narragansett Indian Tribe's Seal and was asked to help draft the Tribe's bylaws in 1934 after the Indian Reorganization Act was passed. And as mentioned, she was no stranger to pageants, parades, and dedications. During her life, Princess Red Wing was invited to events all over the country. But, she refused to attend the Mount Rushmore dedication in 1941 because it desecrated a sacred place. Princess Red Wing was elected Squaw Sachem of the New England Council of Chiefs in 1945, which enabled her to oversee sacred ceremonies. Although "squaw" can be used in a derogatory sense, "squaw sachem" was a traditional Narragansett role. The term was reclaimed in the 20th century and used to empower Native women.
Princess Red Wing co-founded the Tomaquag Museum with friend and anthropologist, Eva Butler, in 1958. The museum's first home was Eva Butler's private residence, where it remained until Butler passed away in 1969. The Museum's second home was in Exeter, where Princess Red Wing moved the museum in 1972 so that she could share her tribal knowledge with the many patrons of the Dovecrest restaurant, living with the Dove family for years. She stepped down from her role at the Tomaquag Museum in 1984.
Nine years earlier, Princess Red Wing was given an honorary doctorate at the University of Rhode Island, an acknowledgment of her many achievements. In 1978, she was inducted into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame, which only includes a few Native American inductees: Canonicus, Miantonomi, Massasoit, Metacomet, and Ellison 'Tarzan' Brown. She died in 1987 at the age of 91 and is buried in Pascoag. Princess Red Wing was a tireless activist, passionate educator, celebrated artist, and gifted storyteller who made critical contributions to society on behalf of the Narragansett tribe and throughout broader Indian Country during a challenging time in Native history.
]]>Within a mile of this location, Metacomet, also called King Philip, and his men were ambushed by Captain Benjamin Church of the Plymouth Colony on August 12, 1676. Church had followed Metacomet to his long-time stronghold on Montaup (Mount Hope) after two years of heavy fighting between Colonial and Native forces dubbed "King Philip's War" (1675-1676). In the "Miery Swamp" near Mount Hope Bay, Metacomet was shot in the heart by John Alderman, a Native man fighting for Captain Church. Falling face down in a small stream, Metacomet took his last breath on lands that he knew well. Metacomet was then beheaded and quartered¬-a truly barbaric act. His body was strung in the trees so his remains would be scattered. From Mount Hope, Metacomet's head was sent to Plymouth, one hand was sent to Boston, and Alderman was given the other.
Metacomet was the younger son of the Wampanoag Massasoit (Great Sachem) Ousamequin. Metacomet was born before 1640 and had an elder brother, Wamsutta (Alexander) and at least three sisters. When their octogenarian father Massasoit died in 1661, his eldest son, Wamsutta became the Chief Sachem. Wamsutta and Metacomet married a pair of sisters, with Wamsutta marrying Weetamoo and Metacomet marrying her younger sister, Wootonekanuske--two daughters of the Pocasset Sachem Corbitant.
In 1662, Wamsutta was called to Plymouth to answer conspiracy charges. On his return home, he became ill and died shortly thereafter with rumors of a poisoning among many. Metacomet, the newly instated Sachem, grew to despise the English for the death of his brother and other cultural and political issues. When Swansea was settled in 1667, Metacomet fumed. Swansea was settled on land that the English did not own. Moreover, the settlement was just a stone's throw away from Montaup. When the English learned of Metacomet's anger, they forced him to surrender his firearms. The United Colonies denied his claims of appeal and imposed such a heavy fine that he was forced to sell the Wampanoag lands in Swansea. The final straw came in 1675 when three Wampanoag men were executed for murdering John Sassamon, a Christian or "praying Indian." Sassamon was an English informant who had recently warned Plymouth of a brewing Indian uprising.
By 1675, Metacomet had gathered Native allies across the region to fight English colonists. While much of the fighting occurred in Massachusetts, Rhode Island did not go unscathed. Metacomet's forces attacked Pawtuxet, Warwick, and Providence. Roger Williams' Providence home was destroyed in the early months of 1676. Local tribes, like the Narragansett, were immeasurably impacted by the conflict.
During the war, most "praying Indians" and other Native people were rounded up and sent to Deer Island in Boston Harbor. John Eliot and Daniel Gookin, a missionary and Major-General, were so disturbed by these events that they attempted to ferry supplies to Deer Island, for which they were both nearly hanged. In late 1676, Metacomet's wife Wootonekanuske and their nine-year-old son were captured by Captain Benjamin Church and sold into slavery in the West Indies, along with many other Native prisoners.
]]>Miantonomi and Canonicus lived and ruled in a period of extreme change for the Narragansett. Although there were no colonists in the region when Miantonomi was born (c. 1600), early trading interactions between Europeans and First Peoples eventually turned into increasing waves of colonists arriving. By 1640, there were 20,000 English in southern New England. Miantonomi and Canonicus ruled as dual Sachems. A Sachem is a paramount leader or chief in an Algonquian tribe. The practice of having dual Sachems was common among the Narragansett and other Algonquians.
In 1636, Canonicus and his nephew Miantonomi befriended Roger Williams, a newcomer to the area who had been banished by the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The uncle and nephew deeded Williams a portion of land in 1638, which Williams named Providence. One of the boundary markers was Neutaconkanut Hill, a visible high point.
While to Williams this transaction meant that he owned these lands, to the Narragansett, land could never be bought or sold. As such, they likely thought that they were sharing land with Williams and his followers. Subsequently, the Narragansett were shocked when they were unable to move freely about the land, with fences and stone walls at every turn and courts readily prosecuting them for trespassing--a very foreign concept indeed.
At the time, colonists knew of Miantonomi's political power in the region. In 1632, Boston even hosted him for a formal dinner. Governor Winthrop remarked that Miantonomi "was very deliberate and showed good understanding of justice, equity, and ingenuity."
During the Pequot War (1636-37), the Narragansett, led by Canonicus and Miantonomi, allied with the English against the Pequots, who were enemies prior to European arrival. Williams' colony was essentially left defenseless if not for the Narragansett's support of the English. At the time, Narragansett animosity also extended to the Mohegan Tribe. The Mohegan Tribe were a group of Pequots that previously separated and had become increasingly hostile because of English encroachment and disagreements between two Sachems: Sassacus and Uncas. Although enemies with the Pequots, the Narragansett were horrified when the English killed Pequot women and children at Mystic Fort during the war. This went against the Narragansett code of war and was an act the English had sworn they would not do. From then on, Miantonomi increasingly distrusted the English.
After the war, rumors soon swirled that Miantonomi was planning an uprising. In the fall of 1640, Miantonomi was again called to Boston, but this time it was to answer conspiracy charges. Miantonomi asked Roger Williams to serve as his interpreter, but Williams, having only been banished five years earlier, did not accompany him. Shortly after the meeting, the newly formed United Colonies of New England learned of a rousing speech Miantonomi made to encourage tribes to join him in an uprising. The United Colonies wanted Miantonomi to be stopped.
In 1643, Uncas, the Mohegan Sachem, finally captured Miantonomi and brought him to Hartford, where the English held him as a prisoner. Not knowing what to do with him, they returned Miantonomi to the Mohegan, which was likely a strategy to pit Native communities against each other. In captivity, Miantonomi was assassinated by Wawequa, Uncas' brother, which likely relieved the United Colonies. Canonicus died in 1647, reportedly brokenhearted from the loss of his nephew.
]]>It was March 28, 1676, and Zoeth Howland was riding through the deep woods of Tiverton. According to the story that has been told for more than 300 years, Howland never made it to his destination. Later that day, town residents discovered his tortured and mutilated body, a casualty of the bloodiest war in American history.
Relations between native people and New England settlers had been tense since the Pilgrims arrived in 1620. Colonists encroached on local lands, and natives retaliated by raiding settlers’ homes and property. By the 1670s, the English colonists had abandoned diplomacy and resorted almost exclusively to force in their dealings with local tribes. Wampanoag leader Metacom—known by the English as King Philip—struck back. An alliance of Wampanoag, Narragansett, and Nipmuck people led by Metacom embarked on a guerilla campaign that, over the course of fourteen months, left an indelible mark on the landscape and history of New England.
The English colonists responded to the “many notorious and execrable murders, killings, and outrages” committed by Metacom’s men with extreme violence of their own. Three months before Howland’s murder, English soldiers shot and burned alive up to 600 Narragansett men, women, and children in what the victors named the “Great Swamp Fight.” Tribes that remained neutral early in the war sided with Metacom as the war spread across New England, devolving into a racial struggle.
On that day in March 1676, Howland’s journey from his home in Dartmouth to worship in Newport with fellow Quakers should have been an easy one. Howland had moved to Dartmouth in 1657 from Plymouth, where his religious beliefs led to persecution from Puritan clergy, including time spent in the stocks. As Howland rode alongside a small brook, six Native Americans suddenly beset him. Seemingly attacked without provocation, he was tortured until he died, his mutilated body thrown into the brook.
By late summer of 1676, King Philip’s War was nearly over. Metacom had been shot and killed in August, and the English commander ordered his body cut into pieces. The Pocasset Indian who killed him received one of Metacom’s hands as a reward. His head was carried back to Plymouth and mounted on a palisade of the town’s fort, along with the proudly exhibited dismembered heads of other “heathen malefactors.” Metacom’s head remained on display for twenty years, a clear message that the colonists had staked their claim on this land.
Only one of the men involved in Howland’s murder was ever identified in court records. “Manasses,” alternatively written as “Molasses,” was turned over to colonial authorities and sold as a slave.
Many Natives Americans who survived the war were sold into slavery. Colonial authorities shipped more than 1,000 Natives to labor on Caribbean sugar plantations. Of a total Native population of about 20,000, at least 2,000 had died as a result of battle, another 3,000 died of sickness and starvation, and thousands fled the region. The total Native population declined by 60 to 80 percent as a result of the war. Plymouth Colony lost about 8 percent of its men, compared to losses of 4 to 5 percent of American men during the Civil War.
The unnamed brook where Howland’s body was found became known as “Sinning Flesh Brook.” Did this refer to the sinful killing of a pious Englishman? Or did some people consider Howland a sinful man for going against Puritanical teachings? Perhaps you can ask Zoeth Howland yourself. Some say his spirit still flits along the hiking trails that crisscross what is now called “Sin and Flesh Brook.”
(Sin & Flesh Brook runs southwesterly from the area around Fish Road near Route 24 and empties into Nanaquaket Pond. The best place to see it on foot is by hiking on the trails in Fort Barton Woods.)
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