Original Providence deed moved to state archives

PROVIDENCE—The original deed to Providence received by Roger Williams has been moved to the state archives.

Mayor David Cicilline said Friday that the document from 1637, along with the original confirmation of house lots, was safely moved from the City Hall archives.

The deed, which delineates the boundaries of Williams’s settlement with members of the Narrangansett Indian Tribe, remains the property of the city of Providence.

Williams was a minister banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for his unorthodox religious views. He settled at the northern tip of Narragansett Bay, which he called Providence Plantations.

Cicilline says the historic document is closely associated with establishing religious freedom and memorializes a significant moment in Native American and English colonist relations.