King Philip’s Throne

This is where the English captured Wampanoag Chief Metacomet (Wikipedia), known as King Philip, in 1676, thus ending the King Philip’s War, likely the bloodiest Indian – colonial conflict in New England history. As a matter of fact, at this rocky ledge, overlooking Narragansett Bay, Chief Metacomet held his war meetings. He also used the place as a lookout for enemy ships and soldiers.

When the war eventually turned against him, he took refuge in the great Assowamset Swamp in southern Rhode Island. Here he held out for a time, with his family and remaining followers.

Hunted by a group of rangers led by Captain Benjamin Church, he was fatally shot by Praying Indian John Alderman, on August 12, 1676, in the Miery Swamp near Mount Hope in Bristol, Rhode Island. After his death, his wife and eight-year-old son were captured and sold as slaves in Bermuda, while his head was mounted on a pike at the entrance to Fort Plymouth where it remained for over two decades. His body was cut into quarters and hung in trees. Alderman was given one of the hands as a reward.

America’s Stonehenge

Is this an oldest man-made structure in the United States of America? Radiocarbon testing found pieces from the charcoal pit to be up to four thousand years old. Form many years it was called “Mystery Hill” by certain William Goodwin, who purchased the site in 1936. This name remained until 1982, when it was renamed “America’s Stonehenge (Wikipedia)”. Both names are well-deserved: no one knows who built the structures and why. There are theories that stones were congregated by the farmers. The large flat stone, also known as “sacrificial stone”, has channels which were presumed to have collected blood of the victims. That may be, but it also closely resembles “lye-leaching stones” found on many old farms that were used to extract lye from wood ashes, the first step in the manufacture of soap. There is a theory that stones represented some ancient, certainly pre-Columbian astronomical calendar.