Editing Mattapoisett, Massachusetts (section)

== History ==
Governor [[William Brenton]] purchased Mattapoisett in 1664 from [[Wampanoag people|Wampanoag]] chief [[Metacomet]], also referred to as King Philip. Brenton left it to his son Ebenezer, who sold it.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Potter|first1=Elisha Reynolds|title=The Early History of Narragansett |date=1835 |publisher=Marshall |location=Providence |page=3:397|url=https://archive.org/details/earlyhistoryofna00pott_0|quote=major ebenezer brenton.|access-date=October 15, 2016}}</ref> The town of Mattapoisett was settled in 1750 and officially incorporated in 1857, originally a part of [[Rochester, Massachusetts|Rochester]]. There is evidence of prior Wampanoag Indian settlements throughout the town, including burial grounds. The name ''Mattapoisett'' is [[Massachusett language|Wampanoag]] for "a place of resting".<ref>{{cite book |last1=North Conway |first1=J. |last2=Dubuc |first2=Jesse |date=May 13, 2014 |title=Attack of the HMS Nimrod: Wareham and the War of 1812 |publisher=Arcadia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J5GNCQAAQBAJ&pg=PT17|isbn=978-1625849458}}</ref>

Early industry included logging and farming, but Mattapoisett became best known for its role in the [[history of whaling]]. Some 400 ships were built in the town's shipyards from 1740 until the 1870s, including the ''Acushnet'', the ship that ''[[Moby-Dick]]'' author [[Herman Melville]] sailed on and later deserted. The town supplied many of the whalers used on the East Coast in the first half of the nineteenth century. The last one was the ''Wanderer'', built in 1878, shortly after the discovery of oil in [[Pennsylvania]] which led to the demise of commercial [[whaling in the United States]].

With the decline of whaling and associated shipbuilding, Mattapoisett transitioned into a popular summer vacation spot for prominent New York and Boston residents, including [[Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.]]  Today, the town is largely a suburban community, with most residents commuting to jobs in [[Fall River, Massachusetts|Fall River]], [[New Bedford, Massachusetts|New Bedford]], [[Worcester, Massachusetts|Worcester]], [[Providence, Rhode Island|Providence]], or [[Boston]], or operating businesses targeting summer tourism.<ref>[http://www.mattapoisetthistoricalsociety.org/Mattapoisett_history.htm Mattapoisett Town History] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071010145939/http://www.mattapoisetthistoricalsociety.org/Mattapoisett_history.htm |date=October 10, 2007 }} – Mattapoisett Historical Society</ref>