The Path Before Us

The Path Before Us. . , The "Nahahiganseck," meaning "people of the small point," were, and are, inhabitants of the coastal woodlands of Rhode Island. The Narragansetts lived in inland villages during the winter months and coastal villages during the summer. Due to this area's proximity to a freshwater spring and the "Great Salt River" (Providence River), where abundant supplies of fish and wild game were found, it was home to a vibrant and vital Narragansett villages. In addition to this, the ecology of the area and abundance of natural resources attracted considerable foot traffic as the Narragansetts and other southern New England native peoples established extensive trail networks to support their hunter-gatherer lifestyles and to promote trade between tribes., Many of these footpaths intersected in the area surrounding present-day Benefit Street, including the northbound Pawtucket Trail leading to Pawtucket Falls and the westbound Pequot Trail. To the east, the Wampanoag Trail crossed the Seekonk River and stretched into the lands of the Wampanoag. Another path snaked south towards Tockwotton Hill where it was met by the Watchemoket Trail, which led to Sowams (Warren) and Montaup (Mount Hope) to the southeast. This extensive and well-developed transportation infrastructure was among many reasons that Roger Williams and his followers colonized the area along the eastern shore of the Great Salt River in the 1630s., Benefit Street and the surrounding area are home to a vibrant Indigenous past, a history as layered as the landscape itself. It is essential that we study, share, and commemorate these histories and elevate the beauty and vitality of Indigenous heritage and culture in the past, present and for the future., [Captions:] , Sidney S. Rider's 1903 map of Rhode Island indicating Indigenous place names and the locations of significant events in the history of the colony's native peoples. RIHS Collections RHI X17 4734, Stone fishing weirs, like this one from Coventry, Rhode Island, were used by Indigenous peoples to catch fish at low tide. Native peoples settled along the eastern shore of the Great Salt River in Providence would have used fishing weirs to help catch salmon, trout, and other fresh fish. Undated image. RIHS Collections RHI X17 3847, A Narragansett basket woven of basswood splints and cornhusks interwoven with red wool. This basket is only one of two known seventeenth-century Algonkian baskets in the world. RIHS Collections RHI X17 1685A