Mashpee, MA - Mashpee is the fastest growing municipality in the Commonwealth, and felt by its new and old residents to be one of the most gifted with natural beauty. It is situated on the southwest end of Cape Cod and is located 66 miles southeast of Boston.

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. Because 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 activities and crafts.

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.

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