Up a steeply curving dirt road and surmounting the top of a small hill lies the traditionally designated ancient burial ground of Narragansett sachems. The burial area (about 20 feet by 100 feet) is delineated by an iron rail fence and stone historical marker erected by order of the Rhode Island General Assembly in 1878 (ironically just before the state purchased the tribal lands). Originally wooded, the site was leveled by a great storm in 1869; it has been kept clear since then. The graves were looted in the nineteenth century, and when the land was acquired by the state, the remains within the enclosure were removed. Today the plot is surrounded by second-growth pine and oak that obscure its view south to the Atlantic Ocean. Despite these changes, it continues to be a place of great historical importance to the tribe.