Brown University has transferred 255 acres in Bristol, Rhode Island, to a preservation trust established by the Pokanoket Indian Tribe.
WPRI reports the property has been home to the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology and a center for educational programs and field research. Russell Carey, Brown University’s executive vice president for planning and policy, noted the Haffenreffer family’s donation of the land included a letter declaring 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.”
However, the property is also the ancestral land of the tribe, which participated in the first Thanksgiving in 1621. The land was the home and death site of Pokanoket leader Metacom (King Philip) during the 1675-1676 conflict between indigenous populations and English settlers that became known as King Philip’s War.
“This land is special to us and we can now take care of it the way the Creator intended for us to do so,” said Pokanoket Tribe Chief Sachem Dancing Star said.
The Haffenreffer Museum’s collections will be moved to Providence next fall, while the facilities at the site are expected to be vacant by the summer of 2026.
Brown is also selling approximately 120 acres separate from the Mount Hope property to the town of Bristol.
“The sale of these parcels, which we expect to be finalized early in 2025, to the town of Bristol for preservation and conservation will ensure that no development occurs on them and further protects and buffers the land being placed in the preservation trust,” Carey said.
Photo courtesy of Pocasset Pokanoket Land Trust
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