The site of this tragedy is west of Diamond Hill Road, about 2000 feet from the highway. The Trappist Monks of the nearby Cistercian Monastery put up a stone monument at the spot and, in 1928, the R.I. Historical Society placed a tablet there. The site is officially designated as Cumberland Historical Cemetery #12. This could be the first mass grave of white men in America, as well as the oldest known monument to veterans in the country. It has also been called "the greatest massacre of whites by Indians until Custer and the Little Big Horn, just 200 years later." In the 1950s, a fire destroyed much of the monastery, although portions of the original monastery buildings are still intact. The Town of Cumberland now owns and maintains the site, on which are located the Edward J. Hayden Library and numerous hiking and horse trails. The area, especially around the old monastery, is said to be haunted by a monk (he seems to enjoy shutting books when they are left unattended). People have reported a phantom on horseback riding on the trials, and a spectral child has been seen running in the swamp area and on some of the back trails. The unfortunate history of this site may explain the presence of ghostly monks and horsemen, but one wonders what unrecorded event accounts for the child's visitation.

Text © Dr. Michael Bell