Burr's Hill, in the Sowams Heritage Area of Rhode Island and Massachusetts, was part of the historic home of the Pokanokets, later described as Wampanoags, under Massasoit Osamequin, who first met the Pilgrims in 1621 and helped ensure their survival. Formed into high mounds of sand and gravel by Ice Age glaciers, Burr's Hills became a burial place where the Pokanokets dug graves overlooking the setting sun, where they believed the souls of the dead resided. In the mid-1800s, centuries-old skeletons were found there on land once owned by Samuel Burr. After the Providence, Warren and Bristol Railroad bought the hills in 1854 to build a rail line from Providence to Bristol, sand and gravel from the site were used for construction and road work, exposing graves and objects. From 1869 to 1892, reports in The Warren Gazette told of discoveries of Indian relics, and although the town tried to recover them, most stayed in private hands. In 1913, Charles Carr, director of the George Hail Library and an amateur archaeologist, excavated 42 gravesites on the northern side and found human remains along with wampum, iron tools, ceramic bowls, and English and Dutch glass bottles placed for use in the next life. Some of these items went to the museum in Warren's library, while others went to museums in Bristol and New York. Beginning in 2007, the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe sought the return of more than 600 items removed from the graves, and with town permission they were reinterred in a vault in the park in 2017.
