History
Mashpee was settled by English colonists
in 1658 with the assistance of the
missionary Richard Bourne from the
neighboring town of Sandwich. In the
year 1763 Mashpee was constituted a
plantation by the king of England,
against the will of the native
Wampanoags. The natives were given
the right to elect their own officials
to maintain order. However, the
population of the plantation declined
steadily due to the conditions placed
upon them. Beacuse of this, and despite
several attempts at self-rule, the
Wampanoags lost their land, and Mashpee
was incorporated as a town in 1870 the
second-to-last town on the Cape to do so
(other than Bourne). Today, the town of
Mashpee is known both as a tourist
destination and for their Native
American culture. Every year, a
pow-wow is held, which offers fine
examples of Wampanoag activites and
crafts.[1]
The town's name is an Anglicization of a
native name that can be segmented as
"mass-nippe," where mass is "great", or
"greater" (see Massachusetts), and nippe
is "water." The name has been translated
as "the greater cove" or "great pond" or
"land near great cove", where the water
being referenced is Wakeby Lake, which
is greater at one end.
