Native Americans

Long before English settlers arrived in what is now Yarmouth and Dennis in the 1630s, many generations of Native Americans lived here.  Several resident tribes fell under the collective Wampanoag nation.  The Pawkunnawkuts occupied both sides of the southern section of Bass River.  The Hokanums lived in the northeast section of the town, part of which still bears their name, and the Cummaquids lived in the western section.  The area which bordered Nantucket Sound to the south was known as the "South Seas" and the whole of the area that is now Yarmouth was referred to as "Mattacheese."  In the native tongue, Mattacheese meant "old lands by the borders of water." 

Learn more:

Permanent Settlement

Revolutionary War

Evolving Villages

The China Trade

Development of Yarmouth as a Summer Destination

Preserving the Past Today

Yarmouth natives, who are believed to have numbered several hundred strong, lived in simple domed dwellings constructed of "bent sampling frames covered over with rush matting equipped with smoke holes and doorways."  Game and wild birds were plentiful and were supplemented with shellfish and fish caught in traps and weirs.  The Europeans who began to arrive early in the 17th century completely disrupted the Indians' way of life and brought with them white-men diseases which were, over time, to decimate the native population.

Early relations between European settlers and the American natives were friendly.  However, hostilities erupted off-Cape in 1643 and local towns were advised to build a "place of defense" in the case of Indian attack.  Although Yarmouth built a fort on Fort Hill, next to the first meeting house in what is now the middle of the Ancient Cemetery, no records of unfriendly acts exist.