Interior House Painter Rehoboth MA

Rehoboth, Massachusetts
Town
Goff Memorial Hall
Seal
Location in Bristol County in Massachusetts
Coordinates: 41°50′25″N 71°15′00″W / 41.84028°N 71.25000°W / 41.84028; -71.25000Coordinates: 41°50′25″N 71°15′00″W / 41.84028°N 71.25000°W / 41.84028; -71.25000
Country	United States
State	Massachusetts
County	Bristol
Settled	1636
Incorporated	1643
Government
• Type	Open town meeting
Area
• Total	46.8 sq mi (121.1 km)
• Land	46.5 sq mi (120.4 km2)
• Water	0.3 sq mi (0.7 km)
Elevation	50 ft (15 m)
Population  (2020)
• Total	12,502
• Density	270/sq mi (100/km2)
Time zone	UTC-5 (Eastern)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-4 (Eastern)
ZIP code	02769
Area code	508 / 774
FIPS code	25-56375
GNIS feature ID	0619437
Website	http://www.town.rehoboth.ma.us/

Rehoboth is a historic town in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1643, Rehoboth is one of the oldest towns in Massachusetts. The population was 12,502 at the 2020 census. Rehoboth is a mostly rural community with many historic sites including 53 historic cemeteries.

History

Rehoboth was established in 1643, originally by Walter Palmer (born 1585) and William Sabin, it was incorporated in 1645, one of the earliest Massachusetts towns to incorporate. The town is named for the Hebrew word for “enlargement,” (Broad Places) signifying the space settlers enjoyed (God has given us room).

Early Rehoboth, known as “Old Rehoboth,” included all of what is now Seekonk, Massachusetts, and East Providence, Rhode Island, as well as parts of the nearby communities of Attleboro, North Attleborough, Swansea, and Somerset in Massachusetts, and Barrington, Bristol, Warren, Pawtucket, Cumberland, and Woonsocket in Rhode Island. The town was and still is a site of a crossroads which help to serve Taunton, Providence, Fall River and points to the north.

One of the founding fathers of Rehoboth was Samuel Newman, a clergyman from Weymouth, Massachusetts who moved to the Seconet area near to Little Compton in the Plymouth Colony. Samuel Newman and his followers migrated north and established a huge town common in what is now Rumford, Rhode Island. They gave the roundabout a distinctive name: “The Ring of the Green.” Newman Congregational Church (founded 1643, current building dates to 1810) still stands at the intersections of Pawtucket Ave, Newman Ave and Ferris Ave. The area was known as Rehoboth village. Somewhat of a celebrity, Newman’s famous bible concordance (the third ever printed in English) had just been published in London. He spent the next few years revising the concordance with a second edition published in 1650 that includes on the title page, “By Samuel Newman, now teacher of the Church at Rehoboth in New England.” According to legend, he worked on the revisions by burning pine knots instead of candles. The concordance, later called the Cambridge Concordance, was reprinted as late as 1889, almost 250 years after it was first published by the founder of Rehoboth.

The Rehoboth Carpenter family was one of the founding families. Among the earliest purchasers of the land that is now Rehoboth and nearby communities was the Peck family, who came from nearby Hingham, Massachusetts, initially. Joseph Peck, the brother of the Rev. Robert Peck, the disaffected Puritan who had fled his Hingham church in England, after the crackdown by Archbishop Laud, had purchased sizable tracts of lands from the Native Americans. Peck’s son was fined fifty shillings for making continuous sexual advances toward the maid. Peck died in Rehoboth in 1697. These tracts of land Peck willed to his son Samuel, who served as Deputy to the General Court at Plymouth, as well as the first representative from the town of Rehoboth after the Plymouth Colony and Massachusetts were united. The family continued to live in the area through the twentieth century. Today’s Pecks Corner in Rehoboth is named for this early Puritan family.

King Philip’s War (1675–1676)

Rehoboth was a significant site during King Philip’s War. On June 30, 1675, King Philip led a small force in a surprise attack against the undefended settlement, killing settlers, burning houses, and causing residents to live in constant fear of attack.

On March 28, 1676 Canonchet led the Narragansetts in a second attack, destroying 42 homes, 21 barns, corn mills and a sawmill.

On August 28, 1676 Captain Benjamin Church surrounded and captured Anawan, a Wampanoag sachem who had become chief upon the death of King Philip two weeks earlier. The Wampanoags had taken a position above Squannakonk Swamp to hide from the colonists. Church’s capture and execution of Anawan effectively ended the campaigns in southeastern Massachusetts of King Philip’s War. Anawan Rock, a large puddingstone, still marks the location. Although a desolate place at the time, the rock is not far off modern-day Route 44.

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