NORTH
SMITHFIELD -- The Town Council took action Monday night to make sure there
is no further disturbance of likely American Indian burial sites in the
Nipsachuck Swamp area until a thorough archaeological survey of the area is
completed.
Members also asked University of Rhode Island
archaeologist Frederick C. Meli to prepare detailed recommendations on how
to launch such a survey and move toward the permanent protection of the
site, which Meli believes may be one of the most historically significant
of its kind in New England.
"It is an
awesome responsibility the town would have to preserve such a significant
piece of history," said council President Linda Thibault. "We
want to make sure we do it right."
The vote came after Meli and others involved in a preliminary survey of the
Nipsachuck site briefed members of the council on their findings before a crowd
of more than 100 people at the Kendall Dean School. Glocester Town
Historian Edna Kent, an adviser to the state’s Historical Cemetery
Commission, Conservation Commission Chairman Donald Gagnon and Wilfred
Greene, chief sachem of the Seakonke Wampanoag tribe, also reported to the
panel.
About a dozen spectators were members of the Wampanoag tribe, and they
chanted along with Greene as the chief, clad in colorful ceremonial garb,
approached the lectern to address town officials.
"It’s a very significant find," Greene said of the Nipsachuck
site. "Listen to this -- it’s the Arlington Cemetery of the
Wampanoags."
It may sound like hyperbole, but Meli seems inclined to agree. After
visiting the Nipsachuck area several times, including once with Greene and
a Brown University colleague, Meli said he has observed several dozen stone
burial mounds and numerous American Indian artifacts at the site. Some of
the artifacts, including arrowheads and a stone ax, are probably more than
2,000 years old, and could be associated with any of several indigenous
peoples who crisscrossed the area, including the Narragansetts, Wampanoags,
Nipmucs or Pocassets.
Coupled with the known historical context of the Nipsachuck site, the
findings are even more tantalizing, according to Meli. The Nipsachuck
Swamp, located north of Bryant College in the woods off Route 7, he said is
known to have been the scene of one of the early battles between the
Wampanoags and Colonial settlers in King Philip’s War in 1675.
Though he has been to the area several times, however, Meli said he has
barely scratched the surface of the area, which could have more than 200
burial mounds spread over several square miles. The only way to find out
what’s really there, he said, is to conduct a proper archaeological survey.
"I would say there are probably hundreds of mounds in the area,"
Meli said. "I only explored a small fraction of the area. There are
hills I didn’t climb up and valleys I didn’t go into."
Meli said most of the mounds are in good condition, except for a few where
construction workers have disturbed stones by sinking percolation equipment
to test the groundwater table for nearby development. Officials say the
parcel where the burial mounds are located is not slated for development,
but Narragansett Improvement is eyeing a sprawling plat of single-family
homes, known as Rankin Estates, on an abutting tract.
The council’s motion explicitly forbids any more percolation tests or other
construction-related activity that could disturb the burial mounds.
Thibault, Paul Zwolenski and Paul LeClerc all voted in favor of the motion,
making it unanimous because two other members were absent from the meeting.
Acting on advice from Town Solicitor Mark Hadden, the council also put the
Planning Board in charge of enforcing the edict, saying it has jurisdiction
in the matter. And, in a separate motion, councilors voted to ask members
of the congressional delegation, including Sen. Jack Reed and U.S. Rep.
Patrick Kennedy, for any assistance they can provide in helping turn the
Nipsachuck site into a permanent, nationally recognized memorial.
As Gagnon, the conservation chairman, observed, "North Smithfield may
be on the cusp of what could be one of the most significant historical
finds in New England."
After the meeting, Greene lauded the council’s efforts, saying it was the
latest example of how warmly he has been treated since the discovery of the
mounds came to light recently.
"It was super," said Greene, as some of the residents who
attended the meeting lined up to shake his hand after the session ended.
"I would like to see the area kept pristine, the way it is."
The Seakonke Wampanoags have long been fighting for federal recognition,
said Greene, and the discovery of a cemetery linked to the tribe would only
bolster its efforts. But if the site is preserved in posterity as a sacred,
historical burial ground, Greene said, the owners of the property, who have
so far remained anonymous, should be compensated for what amounts to a
taking of their land.
