King Philip's War & the Colonial Contact Period in Warren, RI

About a mile east of the native Sowams, and just south of the bridge over the Kickemuit River (pictured on the right) on present-day Route 103 (Child Street) in Warren, English settlers built eighteen houses following the 1653 sale by Massasoit of a tract of land to Hugh Cole in what was then the English settlement closest to the native village. The original Bourne garrison was probably built of stone and stood on Old Gardner's Neck Road, located just south of present-day Route 103. The probable location is marked today by a white quartz rock across from a colonial cemetery.

According to English records, on the evening of June 19th, 1675, Job Winslow's house on the Kickemuit River (a simulation of which is depicted on the left) was reported to have been vandalized by Natives. Though unhurt, the Winslows alerted the community. The next day, more homes were looted and two set on fire. Sixteen men and fifty-four women and children soon moved to the Bourne garrison located several miles to the East. Just prior to the outbreak of the conflict, settler Hugh Cole, who was living at his "Riverby" home, was warned by King Philip to leave the area. He escaped by boat to Portsmouth while his house was set on fire by the Natives. It was later rebuilt on the site of the present house (left) near Dyer Street in Swansea. After the War, Cole returned to the shore of the Kickemuit River where he built a second home. The remains of his well have been preserved and can be found behind the present Kickemuit Middle School, close to the River (see photo, below).

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