PROVIDENCE, RI (Brown University) — Brown University has transferred ownership of a portion of its land in Bristol, Rhode Island, to a preservation fund established by the Pokanoket Indian Tribe, ensuring access to lands and waters extends to the tribes and indigenous peoples of the region. for whom the land has meaning.

Since its donation to Brown in 1955, the University’s approximately 375-acre Mount Hope property has been home to its Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology collections and an outflow center used for educational programs and field research. As the ancestral home of Metacom, also known as King Philip — the leader of the Pokanoket people — and the site of his death in 1676 during King Philip’s War, the land holds great historical and cultural significance for members of many indigenous communities.

The transfer, finalized on Friday November 15, responds in part to a commitment made in a Agreement 2017 between the University and the Pokanoket tribe. Brown then committed to orderly transfer a to-be-determined area of ​​land into a preservation trust to ensure proper stewardship of this unique historic, sacred and natural resource for generations to come.

Russell Carey, executive vice president for planning and policy at Brown, said the university’s goal has been and remains the preservation of the land as well as sustainable access for Native tribes with ties to its sites. historical.

“The Haffenreffer family’s 1955 letter regarding the gift of the Mount Hope property to the University stated that the family was “confident that the trustees of an institution like Brown would not neglect the great natural beauty of the property, its context history or the best interests of the Bristol community,” Carey said. “These words remain as true and relevant today as when they were written nearly 70 years ago, and the steps we are taking to preserve the earth in perpetuity are, we believe, fully consistent with this vision. »

Given the significant historical and cultural value of the Mount Hope lands to the indigenous peoples of the area, the land surrender deed – which cannot be amended in the future – states that the Pokanoket “shall, at all times and in perpetuity, provide and maintain access to the lands and waters of the property to all members of all tribes historically part of the Pokanoket Nation/Confederacy, as well as to all members of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah), of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, the Assonet Band of the Wampanoag Nation, the Herring Pond Wampanoag Tribe, and the Pocasset Tribe of the Pokanoket Nation.

The transfer follows a comprehensive process to determine the size and boundaries of land to be placed in the preservation trust. As part of an agreement with members of the Pokanoket tribe who camped on this property in 2017, Brown commissioned the Public Archeology Laboratory, Inc. to conduct a tribal cultural sensitivity assessment, which recommended that a portion of the land of Bristol comprising approximately 255 acres be considered a traditional cultural property given specific sites and features of significance and therefore conserved in perpetuity.

The November 15 transfer marks the first of two transactions to officially transfer these 255 acres to the preservation fund, and includes the vast majority of these lands. Brown is prepare to move its Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology collections from the Bristol grounds to Providence, and the University will retain ownership and control of the parcels where the research collection is housed and associated support buildings (museum, barn and research center exit) until the collection is completely relocated. The second phase of the transfer to the trust will take place once this process is complete. Carey said the University plans to begin moving the museum’s collection in fall 2025 — and while schedules could change due to the uncertainties of moving thousands of objects, Brown plans to completely vacate the facility that the museum and collection will occupy the Mount Hope property by summer 2026.

In addition to the 255 acres that will be transferred to the preservation trust, approximately 120 acres of land along north and south Tower Road are separate from the Mount Hope property identified by the Public Archeology Laboratory in consultation with representatives of Pokanoket tribe as traditional cultural property. Brown agreed to the terms of a sale and entered into an agreement with the City of Bristol to transfer these parcels to the city for preservation and conservation purposes.

“The sale of these parcels, which we expect to be finalized in early 2025, to the City of Bristol for preservation and conservation purposes will ensure that no development occurs on them and will further protect and buffer the land placed in the preservation trust,” Carey said. said.