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What Does It Mean?
There is some disagreement as to what the word "Chepachet" [pronounced "chuh-PA-chet" as in hatchet]
actually means.
According to the Rhode Island Atlas of 1982, it means "stream divides."
A Providence Sunday Journal article states that it means "where the rivers meet."
A third source holds a most intriguing view. Dr. Usher Parsons, in his 1861 Indian Names of Places in Rhode Island,
states that Chepachet means "Devil's Bag." According to Parsons, "a bag or wallet was found there, probably dropped by some hunter, and as no one could tell who, an Indian said
it was the Devil. Hence, Chepuck, devil; chak, bag; now converged into Chepachet." Since, according to Parsons, "the final et in many Indian names means place," the name is rightfully "Devil bag place."
 However, town historian Edna Kent, the leading authority on all things Glocester, notes that the original word for the village was Sapatset - "the place to cross the river."
CLICK HERE to read how a WWII ship was named after our "river that has no water."
SOURCES:
Providence Journal-Bulletin, Metro-West Edition, Thurs., March 9, 1995, Section D, pp. 1 & 3
Providence Sunday Journal, Sun., October 18, 1998, Section G, pp. 1 & 2
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