Cocumscussoc is a brook and surrounding region in

Wickford, Rhode Island Wickford is a small village in the New England town, town of North Kingstown, Rhode Island, North Kingstown, Rhode Island, United States, which is named after Wickford in Essex, England. Wickford is located on the western side of Narragansett B ...

. The Cocumscussoc Brook flows into Mill Cove off of Wickford Harbor.

Roger Williams Roger Williams (March 1683) was an English-born New England minister, theologian, author, and founder of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Providence Plantations, which became the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Pl ...

started a trading post with the

Narragansett people The Narragansett people are an Algonquian American Indian tribe from Rhode Island. Today, Narragansett people are enrolled in the federally recognized Narragansett Indian Tribe. They gained federal recognition in 1983. The tribe was nearly l ...

in the 1630s, likely northeast of the brook and harbor. The exact location of Williams' trading post is not known, but

Smith's Castle Smith's Castle, built in 1678, is a house museum at 55 Richard Smith Drive, near Wickford, a village in North Kingstown, Rhode Island. Smith's Castle is one of the oldest houses in the state. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 199 ...

(1678) was located nearby. This homestead was originally a fortified house and trading post of Richard Smith. Female sachem

Quaiapen Quaiapen ( July 2, 1676), also known as Magnus, Matantuck, Old Queen, or Watowswokotaus, was a Narragansett-Niantic female sachem (saunkskwa) who was the last sachem captured or killed during King Philip’s War.

lived near Cocumscussoc and was associated with nearby

Queen's Fort Queen's Fort is a historic site in Exeter, Rhode Island. A round, rocky hillock, the site has long been described as the site of a Native American fortification constructed before 1676 by Queen Quaiapen and members of the Narragansett Indian T ...

after inheriting her husband's lands in 1657. Most of Cocumscussoc was used for agriculture, though the last dairy farm closed in 1948. The creation of a railroad in the 1800s and the expansion of Route 1 greatly altered the course of Cocumscussoc Brook. Today Cocumscussoc State Park preserves much of the land surrounding Cocumscussoc Brook.

References

{{coord, 41.581, -71.473, type:landmark_region:US-RI_dim:3000, display=title Rivers of Washington County, Rhode Island Rivers of Rhode Island