History of Swansea, Massachusetts, 1667-1917; - citizen hylbom blog

The Indians 19
of their cultivated fields or fishing stations. Roger WiUiams
says that on returning at night to lodge at one of them, which
he had left in the morning, it was gone, and he was obliged to
sleep under the branches of a friendly tree. It can be truthfully
said of the Indians that they had no continuing city or abiding
place, but like the Indians of the Northwest of our day, outside
of reservations, wandered about from place to place as
their physical necessities or caprice moved them. As they had
no land titles, each family was at liberty to go and come,
within tribal hmits, with none to let or hinder. It is certain
that there were fixed haunts or rendezvous, inland and on the
shores of the Bay, called villages, where they spent considerable
time, either in summer or in winter. Thus Philip passed the
summer in and about Mt. Hope Neck, and it is popularly
stated that he lived at Mt. Hope; while in winter his home, if
we may so call a movable wigwam, was about the inland lakes
or ponds of his possessions. One of these favorite winter resorts
of King Philip is said to have been in the pine forests on the
banks of Winneconnet Pond, in the town of Norton, Mass.,
within the Pokanoket Territory. Banks of clam and oyster
shells, Indian arrowheads and stone implements of husbandry
and housekeeping are the best evidences of the localities where
the Wampanoags made their residences.
— BicknelL
SowAMS IN Pokanoket
At the period when the Mayflower came to anchor in
Plymouth harbor, Massasoit exercised dominion over nearly
all the south-eastern part of Massachusetts from Cape Cod to
Narragansett Bay. The south-western section of his kingdom
was known as Pokanoket, Sowams, or Sowamsett. It included
what now comprises the towns of Bristol, Warren, Barrington,
and East Providence in Rhode Island, with portions of Seekonk,
Swansea, and Rehoboth in Massachusetts. Though its area
was only about 500 square miles Pokanoket, owing to its many
natural advantages, was more densely populated than any
other part of the Wampanoag country. Its principal settlement
was the village of Sowams, where Massasoit maintained
his headquarters, and where, without doubt, the greater
portion of his life was passed.
For many years the exact location of this village was a
disputed point, authorities variously fixing it at Bristol,
Barrington, and Warren. The late General Guy M. Fessenden
was the first to demonstrate, conclusively, that Sowams