02/18/2026
Sowams Heritage Area Seeking Public Input
Final Community Conversation Ends Three-year Feasibility Process
Sowams Heritage Area invites members of the community to participate in the final Community Conversation to discuss the feasibility of designating the Sowams region as a National Heritage Area (NHA). Free and open to the public, the community comment session will be held Thursday, February 26, at 5pm in the meeting house of the historic Newman Church, 100 Newman Avenue, in Rumford, R.I.
Designated by the U.S. Congress, National Heritage Areas (NHAs) are grassroots, community-driven programs that celebrate a region’s contribution to America’s heritage and encourage conservation, community development, education, and regional collaboration.
For more than three years, a regional coalition of town planners, tourism entities, historical societies, environmentalists, Tribal leaders, and other volunteers have been conducting a comprehensive and inclusive feasibility study to assess the viability of designating Sowams as an NHA. Congress wants to know if a region is significant to America’s heritage:
· Compelling stories underscore the landscape’s historic, cultural, recreational, and natural resources.
· The resources in the region are conserved, retain integrity, and provide outstanding recreational opportunities, and
· A robust partnership network provides the capacity and financial resources to successfully implement the program.
The public comment period runs from February 15, 2026 through March 15, 2026. Members of the public are encouraged to review the draft Sowams NHA feasibility study and provide their feedback. To learn more, visit: https://www.sowams.org/sowams-heritage-area-news
About Sowams Heritage Area:
Sowams is the ancestral homeland of the Pokanoket Massasoit who welcomed the Pilgrims in 1621. This landscape is also the setting for other pivotal events in our nation’s history. Here, King Philip’s War began and ended; Roger Williams founded Rhode Island and the seeds of religious freedom took root; the business of slave trading ignited a trans-Atlantic economy, and moral outcry; and the dynamic interplay of land and water defined the history and culture of the region for millennia.
Sowams Heritage Area is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization led by a Board of Directors representing the nine towns and cities in the region: Barrington, Bristol, East Providence, Warren, and the area east of the Moshassuck River in Providence, RI; and Rehoboth, Seekonk, Somerset, and Swansea, MA. For more information, visit sowams.org
