Massasoit Ousamequin and Edward Winslow: A Reflection on 400 Years

Richard Pickering, Deputy Executive Director, Plimoth Patuxet Museums, and Po Menuhkesu Menenok, Historian of the Pokanoket Tribe/Pokanoket Nation, will offer reflections on the 400th anniversary of Plymouth Colony leader Edward Winslow’s second visit to Sowams, the home of the Massasoit Ousamequin.

The presentation will be held in the Mary Tefft White Cultural Center at Roger Williams University at 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, March 22, 2023.

As recorded in the 1624 book, Good Newes from New England, Winslow, John Hampden and Hobbamock traveled on foot from Plymouth to the Massasoit’s home in what today is Warren, RI, on the news that the Pokanoket leader was ill and about to die. Winslow was able to administer some fruit preserves and tea made from sassafras root and strawberry leaves, and within two days the Massasoit had recovered and said “Now I see the English are my friends and love me.” Guest speakers will explore this act of healing and friendship, which marked an important moment in 17th-century New England.

The session is open to the public at no charge.

For more information, contact Dr. David Weed, Project Coordinator at the Sowams Heritage Area Project, Inc., at drweed@cox.net or Dr. Charlotte Carrington-Farmer, Associate Professor of History, at ccarrington-farmer@rwu.edu