Mashpee Wampanoag is part of the overall Pokanoket tribe that called all of Southeastern Massachusetts from Warren, R.I., east to the Cape and Islands and north to Gloucester its ancestral homeland. Cohannut, the Indian name for a region that encompasses modern Taunton, Middleboro, Bridgewater and Lakeville, was an important hub for the Pokanoket transportation by land and water. Taunton River area was "resource-rich" for hunting, fishing and gathering. Still used today by Mashpee tribe to gather bulrush for basket and matt making. Two archaeological sites in the Taunton area associated with the Wampanoag tribe. One is the Wapanucket site, a 10,000-year-old site located in Lakeville just six miles from Taunton and the other known as the Titicut site in Bridgewater, which is 11 miles from Taunton and dates back 6,000 years. Mashpee was the place where many Wampanoags sought refuge after King Philip's War.


The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988 allows federally recognized tribes to offer casino gambling on reservation lands, provided that type of gambling is legal in the state. To offer gambling on reservation lands acquired after 1988, a tribe must meet one of several exemptions. The Mashpee Wampanoag are applying to have 146 acres in Taunton and 170 acres in Middleboro taken into federal trust as an "initial reservation," which is one of those exceptions. In 2008, the requirements were updated so that the tribe must demonstrate "significant historic" and "modern" ties to the land being taken into trust. The tribe can also apply to have land taken into trust that is in the "vicinity" of its ancestral lands, though vicinity is not defined in the regulations. For modern ties, the tribe must demonstrate one of the following:

1. The land is near where a significant number of tribal members reside

2. The land is within a 25-mile radius of the tribe's headquarters or other tribal governmental facilities that have existed at that location for at least two years at the time of the application for land-into-trust

3. The tribe can demonstrate other factors that establish the tribe's current connection to the land.

Source: Federal Register