Mashpee is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States, on Cape Cod. The population was 15,060 as of 2020. The town is the site of the headquarters and most members of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, one of two federally recognized Wampanoag groups.
Mashpee Town Hall
Avant House of the Wampanoag people of Mashpee, Massachusetts.
The "Old Indian Meeting House", built in 1684 at Mashpee, is the oldest Native American church in the United States.
The Massachusett language is an Algonquian language of the Algic language family that was formerly spoken by several peoples of eastern coastal and southeastern Massachusetts. In its revived form, it is spoken in four communities of Wampanoag people. The language is also known as Natick or Wôpanâak (Wampanoag), and historically as Pokanoket, Indian or Nonantum.
Eliot Indian Bible 1663
The "Old Indian Meeting House" in Mashpee (built in 1684) is the United States's oldest Native American church. Although Christianity destroyed traditional spiritual practices, the translation of the Bible helped the Wampanoag language survive.
John Eliot preaching to Indians
Metacomet ("King Philip") led Native Americans against the colonists; his defeat ended local Native autonomy in New England.
