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 |