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

Since its donation to Brown in 1955, the approximately 375-acre Mount Hope University property has been its home. Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology collections and an outreach 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 native and indigenous communities.

The transfer, which was completed on Friday, November 15, partially fulfills a commitment made in a 2017 agreement between the University and the Pokanoket Tribe. Brown then pledged to orderly transfer a to-be-determined amount of land into a conservation trust to ensure the proper stewardship of the historic, sacred, and unique natural resource for future generations.

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, along with sustainable access by Native tribes with ties to its historic sites.

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

Given the significant historical and cultural value of the Mount Hope land to the native peoples of the region, the deed of conveyance for the transfer of the land – which cannot be amended in the future – states that 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 and to all members of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah), 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 amount and boundaries of the land to be placed in the conservation trust. As part of an agreement with Pokanoket tribal members who camped on that property in 2017, Brown commissioned Public Archeology Laboratory, Inc. to conduct a tribal cultural sensitivity assessment, which recommended that a portion of the Bristol land comprising approximately 255 acres be considered a traditional cultural property in view of specific sites and significant features and, accordingly, preserved in perpetuity.

The Nov. 15 transfer marks the first of two transactions that formally transferred those 255 acres to the conservation trust and includes the vast majority of that land. Brown is in the process of getting ready to move its collections from the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology from Bristol County to Providence, and the University will retain ownership and control of the parcels on which the research collection is held and associated support buildings (museum, barn, and field trip center) until the collection will be completely relocated. The second phase of the transfer to the trust will take place when that process is completed. Carey said the University expects to begin moving the museum’s collection in the fall of 2025 — and while the schedule could change due to the uncertainties of moving thousands of objects, Brown anticipates completely vacating the facilities the museum and collection occupy on the Mount Hope property until summer 2026.

In addition to the 255 acres to be transferred to the conservation trust, approximately 120 acres of land along north and south Tower Road are separate and apart from the Mount Hope property, identified by the Public Laboratory of Archeology in consultation with representatives of the 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 those parcels to the city for conservation and preservation.

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