About 20 Warren resident attended a re-dedication of the Massasoit Spring at 80 Baker Street in downtown Warren on Saturday, Oct. 3.

The Massasoit Spring that was first dedicated in 1907 by the Massasoit Historical Association to honor the Pokanoket leader who lived in what today is downtown Warren. The original spring was said to flow and be used by the Tribe and early colonists.

The bronze plaque placed on the monument reads: “This tablet, placed beside the gushing water known for many generations as Massasoit’s Spring, commemorates the great Indian Sachem Massasoit, Friend of the white man, ruler of this region when the Pilgrims of the Mayflower landed at Plymouth in the Year of Our Lord, 1620.”  The Spring has since been capped, and a large stone placed over spring’s opening.

Noting that the site was in need of refurbishment, the Association’s President, Deborah Jobin, gathered Association member Cliff Morey, the Pokanoket Tribe’s Sachem Tracy Dancing Star, Tribal Herbalist Kristine Dawn, local historian David Weed, architect Gregg Spiess, and neighbors Henry Goldblade and Kara Johnston together, and engaged the help of the Warren Volunteer Gardeners to plan and plant a new native botanical garden on the Pollinator Path.

The group received a $700 grant from the Rhode Island Wild Plant Society to purchase native plants that are now growing in the garden.