Mark Burnham, Esq.
Mark Burnham is a graduate of Suffolk University Law School and practiced law for 33 years as a civil trial attorney in Rhode Island. Since retiring he has been involved in guided tours at the Stephen Hopkins House in Providence, RI. He has also led walking tours for the Center for Reconciliation on College Hill in Providence, describing the 300 plus year involvement of Providence in the International Slave Trade. Since 2020 Mark has been a docent and is also currently a trustee at Smith’s Castle. Along with other Smith’s Castle historians he helped develop our “Lost Voices Tour” which focuses on the stories of the enslaved men, women and children who were often born here, lived here, and died here as enslaved workers. He has lectured here and at the OLLI Program at the University of Rhode Island and the Hamilton House in Providence later this year - subjects including colonial history in North America and slavery, early practice of law including the development of “the Founding Documents”. He also enjoys water coloring painting and urban sketching, hiking in the warmer months, and playing as much as possible with his three grandchildren.
Robert A. Geake
Robert A. Geake is a public historian and the author of sixteen books on Rhode Island and New England history, including From Slaves to Soldiers: The First Rhode Island Regiment in the American Revolution. Other books include A History of the Narragansett Tribe: Keepers of the Bay, Native and New Americans, New England’s Citizen Soldiers: Mariners and Minutemen, Fired A Gun at the Rising of the Sun: The Journal of Noah Robinson of Attleboro in the Revolutionary War, and New England in the American Revolution. His biography of General James Mitchell Varnum A Man of Uncommon Valor: James Mitchell Varnum, the American Revolution, and the Founding of the New Republic will be published in June, 2026
The author and historian has had the privilege of participating in the symposium at Valley Forge entitled African Americans in the Philadelphia Campaign and the Valley Forge Encampment of 1777-1778 sponsored by the Valley Forge National Park Service (NPS) and The Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH). He has also given his presentation In League with Liberty: The Persistence of Patriots of Color and the Formation of the Black Regiment in the Continental Line to libraries and historical societies, including the Institute of the American Revolution in Washington, D.C. Most recently he completed an extensive timeline of the formation and service of the First Rhode Island Regiment for the Battle of Rhode Island Association’s website:https://battleofrhodeisland.org/highlights-of-the-timeline-of-the-1st-rhode-island-regiment/
In July 2026, he will present at Slavery North’s conference Rebellion, Resistance, and Refuge: Slavery and Border-Crossing during the American Revolution at the University of Massachusetts/Amherst.
Mr. Geake served two terms as President of The Cocumscussoc Association which maintains Smith’s Castle, an historic house museum in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, and continues to serve as a Trustee, as well as the Chair of the Association’s Education Committee. While chair of that committee, adult educational programs began and were expanded to include the seminars “Roger Was Here” in 2019, which brought scholars on Roger Williams together to discuss his life and legacy, and “Anchored in Rhode Island: The Slave Trade and Reckoning with Our Past”, held in 2023.
He also serves on the advisory board of the Rhode Island Slave History Medallion project, and was responsible in organizing the effort to place a medallion on the grounds of Smith’s Castle.
As a public historian, Mr. Geake is a contributor to the blogs smallstatebighistory.com, rifootprints.com, and most recently, The Cocumscussoc Review on smithscastle.org. His essay on Rhode Island and The American Revolution is among those contributed to EnCompass, online tutorials for the Rhode Island Historical Society and the Rhode Island Department of Education.
Marilyn Harris
Marilyn Harris is an often-transplanted Midwesterner, born and raised in Central Illinois, although now a New Englander for almost 40 years. She received her B.A. in the Teaching of Social Studies from the University of Illinois and her M. Ed from Kutztown University in Pennsylvania. Marilyn has been involved in some aspect of education for most of her life, including as coordinator of federal ESEA III projects, teacher and program director of Canton, MA’s gifted/talented program, teacher at Milton (MA) Academy Saturday Course, co-founder and teacher of an enrichment program developed for North Kingstown (RI) schools, curriculum developer, teacher trainer, and researcher/author of teaching materials. She is a National Board-Certified Teacher.
Since retiring, she has found teaching adults (especially seniors), as well children, t very rewarding. She has served as an instructor at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at URI since 2011, and to date has taught more than forty different classes. Recently honored as one of the first members of the “OLLI Hall of Fame,” many of her courses cover historical events or periods, reflecting a particular interest in ancient Egyptians, the Tudors, Women’s History and, of course, American colonial times. Currently, she is offering courses entitled The Declaration of Independence: Not Just Jefferson and The Women of the Revolution. Many of her classes also reappear as presentations at Rhode Island libraries, historical societies, and senior centers. And then there’s, of course, Smith’s Castle. . . .
Recruited by long-time Smith’s Castle volunteer Janet Hatch at a water aerobics class, Marilyn joined the Castle family in 2015, and it has become an important part of her life. She started out as a docent, but has since been involved in docent training, our public events (especially co-chairing Christmas at the Castle), researching and writing for The Women of Cocumscussoc, publicity, reinstalling the Junior Docent program, and running the monthly teas. In her spare time, she enjoys family activities with her three children, seven grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. Since her two sons live out of state, that involves travel – which is another of her passions.