Culture and History

Humans have probably lived in the Greenwich Bay area for 10,000 to 12,000 years. When the Ice Age ended and the Wisconsinan Ice Sheet retreated from the area, the climate was cold, and spruces were among the most common trees. Gradually, the climate warmed, and deciduous trees—such as oaks, hickories, and maples—became more common. At the same time, sea level rose as much as 40 feet to its present level. Because this sea level rise covered areas that were once dry land, very early coastal settlements may now be underwater, making them impossible to study. In the Greenwich Bay area, there are, however, several archaeological sites that give us many clues into the lives of the people who lived in coastal Rhode Island over the past 5,000 years.

Western Rhode Island, including Greenwich Bay, was (and continues to be) the home of the Narragansetts. This tribe, the most powerful of the Algonquins, was made up of subtribes that, in the Greenwich Bay area, bore such familiar names as Pawtuxets, Cowesetts, and Potowomuts. Another subtribe, the Shawomets, also occupied the area, and the land that eventually became Warwick was called Shawomet.

Many of the Narragansetts moved seasonally in the area, taking advantage of the rich natural resources of the bay in the summer, salmon and herring runs in the freshwater streams in the spring, and upland resources in the winter. Over time, their way of life changed from one based on hunting, fishing, and gathering of wild plants to one based largely on agriculture. It is not clear when this transition happened. Early European settlers described the local Narragansetts as living in large, semi-permanent coastal villages with surrounding agricultural fields, and they traveled the north-south Pequot Trail, which eventually became Post Road. In the 1993 volume, What Difference a Bay Makes, Narragansett Indian Ella Sekatau and her son, John B. Brown III, described the lives of the early Narragansetts and their dependence on Narragansett Bay.

Greenwich Bay is a particularly rich area for studying the prehistoric people of the southern New England. In the 1950s, the Sweet Meadow Brook site, near Apponaug, was excavated. The remains found at the site told the story of people who settled there about 2100 Years Before Present (B.P) and remained until the 17th century, when the land was conquered by the English during King Philip's War. Shells and bones of deer appear at the site, as well as stone tools that were used for hunting, woodworking, and farming. Bowls and other containers were found that had been made from steatite or soapstone from quarries in what is now Cranston.

In 1977, the Rhode Island Historic Preservation Commission began to excavate a site near the head of Greenwich Cove. Research continued in 1979, sponsored by Rhode Island College and Brown University, and funded by the Rhode Island Historical Preservation Commission. Researchers discovered shells and projectile points (arrowheads and spearheads) dating from roughly 3200 B.P. to 400 B.P. They also discovered the remains of post holes that once held supports for primitive shelters.