South County History Center

The artifact, archival and library collection was initiated in 1958 by donations from local residents' personal ancestral items of Early American history.

Marjorie Webster Schunke,(1905-2002) a historian was instrumental in gathering the archived historical materials in the library and wrote volumes of printed research on local genealogy, sites and cemeteries.

On loan to Pettaquamscutt Historical Museum by his family, William Russell Sweet (1860-1946) [7] carved in 1896 a hutch cabinet themed upon the poem "The Song of Hiawatha" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow published 1855.

William Russell Sweet carved many wood pieces including wall plaques, tables and chairs each of individual themes; such as the Sweet coat of arms, New England sea shells as quahogs and scallops, maple leaves, nuts and berries, textile weaving patterns, and animals.

The mural was painted by Rhode Island native and renowned illustrator Ernest Hamlin Baker in the 1930s, as part of the federal government's Work Projects Administration.