Ring of the Green and settlement in the 17th Century

Ring of the Green and settlement in the 17th Century. . The area of today’s City of East Providence was inhabited by the Pokanoket Tribe, later known as the Wampanoag, for over 10,000 years. In 1621, the Massasoit Ousamequin entered into a mutual protection agreement with the English settlers in Plymouth. While court records show that the original Rehoboth area had been settled by English colonists as early as 1625, the Plymouth Bay Colony gave John Brown and Edward Winslow permission to purchase 64 square miles of land from Ousamequin that was given the name “Rehoboth”. , The Newman Church congregation, organized in 1643 by the Reverend Samuel Newman of Weymouth, Mass., moved into the area and built the first meeting house. , A burial ground was located next to the meeting house, and stones in the cemetery date back to 1658. The oldest one, that of William Carpenter, is simply marked with his initials and the year of his death. A small number of other graves from the 17th century can be found in the cemetery., A town common was located around the meeting hall, with six- eight- and twelve-acre farm lots radiating out so that each could have access to water on either the Ten Mile River or the Seekonk River. Called the “Ring of the Green”, the common gave each lot owner access to an area where livestock could be guarded each night. The Ring of the Green of Rehoboth is now the site of the village of Rumford in the city of East Providence. After the original meeting house was burned in King Philip’s War of1675-76, two subsequent buildings were constructed., The present building was built at its current location c.1810 using wood from the previous building and then raised onto the current foundation in 1890. When re-designed in 1890, a portico was built over the front door of the church.