Editing South Kingstown, Rhode Island (section)

==History==
The [[Narragansett people|Narragansett Indians]] were known to occupy a winter camp in the Great Swamp, within present day South Kingstown.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Early History |url=https://narragansettindiannation.org/history/early/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221203192255/https://narragansettindiannation.org/history/early/ |archive-date=December 3, 2022 |access-date=December 3, 2022 |website=Narrangansett Indian Tribe |language=en-US}}</ref>

In March 1638, [[Rhode Island]] founder [[Roger Williams]] signed an agreement with two [[Sachem]]s of the Narragansett Tribe, [[Canonicus]] and [[Miantonomoh]], establishing the boundaries between the Narragansett Tribe and the [[Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations|Colony of Rhode Island]], as well as to purchase [[Aquidneck Island]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=1638 Deed to Providence – Sowams Heritage Area |date=March 29, 2021 |url=https://sowamsheritagearea.org/wp/1638-deed-to-providence/ |access-date=December 3, 2022 |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Butler |first=Jo Ann |date=June 29, 2014 |title=Rebel PuritAn: Resurrecting Pettaquamscutt |url=http://rebelpuritan.blogspot.com/2014/06/resurrecting-pettaquamscutt.html |access-date=December 3, 2022 |website=Rebel PuritAn}}</ref> The agreement was signed at [[Pettaquamscutt Rock]], which is now a part of South Kingstown.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://smallstatebighistory.com/pettaquamscutt-rock-commemorated-may-11-1958/ |title=Pettaquamscutt Rock Commemorated, May 11, 1958 |access-date=December 3, 2022 |website=smallstatebighistory.com}}</ref> Twenty years later, on January 20, 1658, Roger Williams again met with the Sachems of the Narragansett Tribe to purchase much of the area that is now present-day [[Washington County, Rhode Island|Washington County]], including South Kingstown, in what is now known as the Pettaquamscutt Purchase of 1658. This agreement was also signed at Pettaquamscutt Rock.<ref name=":0" />

South Kingstown was sparsely populated and mostly inhabited by farmers in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth century, due to the high demand for livestock and produce in [[Newport, Rhode Island|Newport]], and [[land speculators]] who wanted to hold the land to resell when more settlers inevitably came into the area. Widespread population of the land was discouraged due to a speculation company known as the [[Atherton Trading Company|Atherton Syndicate]] buying up land to resell, the powerful Narragansett Nation discouraging settlements, and a dispute over the land with neighboring [[Connecticut Colony|Connecticut]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |url=https://www.rihs.org/assetts/files/publications/1986_Aug.pdf |title=Rhode Island History |publisher=[[Rhode Island Historical Society]] |year=1986 |volume=45 |location=110 Benevolent Street, Providence, Rhode Island}}</ref> Over time, most of these problems slowly went away with time. In the late 1660s, the Atherton Syndicate was run off to join Connecticut in its dispute over the territory and eventually going [[Bankruptcy|bankrupt]].<ref name=":1" /> In 1675 the [[Great Swamp Fight]], a battle of [[King Philip's War]] fought by the [[New England Confederation]], essentially wiped out the Narragansett. However, in retaliation the Narragansett razed most of the settlements in South Kingstown, including [[Little Rest, Rhode Island|Little Rest]], the largest.<ref name=":1" /> After the destruction of Little Rest, the land was described as a "desolate wilderness".<ref name=":1" /> Finally, in 1723, Connecticut conceded that the territory belonged to Rhode Island, after decades of lobbying before the [[Court of St James's]] in [[London]].<ref name=":1" /> In the same year, the [[Rhode Island General Assembly]] split the town of Kingstown into the towns of [[North Kingstown, Rhode Island|North Kingstown]] and South Kingstown.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Field |first=Edward |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VRQmCRrnEMQC&dq=divide+kingstown+into+two+towns&pg=PA57 |title=State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations at the End of the Century: A History |date=1902 |publisher=Mason Publishing Company |language=en}}</ref> The towns were formally incorporated on February 25, 1723.<ref name=":2" />

In 1888 a narrow strip of land running along the eastern bank of the [[Pettaquamscutt River]] to the shore of Narragansett Bay was separated from South Kingstown to form the town of [[Narragansett, Rhode Island|Narragansett]]..