Brown University gave a portion of its property to a Native American Tribe.
According to a November announcement, Brown University transferred an estimated 255 acres of “traditional cultural property” to the Pokanoket Indian Tribe. The tribe claimed ownership of the land after the university organized a “cultural sensitivity assessment” of the location.
“Brown University has transferred ownership of a portion of its land in Bristol, Rhode Island, to a preservation trust established by the Pokanoket Indian Tribe, ensuring that access to the land and waters extends to tribes and Native peoples of the region for whom the land has significance,” the announcement said. “As the ancestral home of Metacom, known also as King Philip — the leader of the Pokanoket people — and the site of his 1676 death during King Philip’s War, the land holds great historical and cultural significance to members of many Native and Indigenous communities.”
The transfer fulfills part of a 2017 agreement between the university and the tribe. At the time, Brown University committed to the “orderly transfer of a to-be-determined amount of land into a preservation trust to ensure appropriate stewardship of the unique historical, sacred and natural resource for generations to come.”
According to the agreement, the Pokanoket “shall at all times and in perpetuity provide and maintain access to the lands and waters of the Property to all members of all Tribes historically part of the Pokanoket Nation/Confederacy, and to all members of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah), the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, the Assonet Band of the Wampanoag Nation, the Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe and the Pocasset Tribe of the Pokanoket Nation.”
The university’s executive vice president for planning and policy, Russell Carey, said, “The 1955 letter from the Haffenreffer Family upon the donation of the Mount Hope property to the University noted that the family felt ‘sure that the Trustees of an institution like Brown will not be unmindful of the property’s great natural beauty, its historical background or the best interests of the Bristol community,’” adding, “Those words remain as true and relevant today as when they were written nearly 70 years ago, and the steps we are taking to preserve the land in perpetuity are, we believe, fully consistent with that vision.”
Another 120 acres of land identified as “traditional cultural property” will be transferred to the Town of Bristol in early 2025.
