Winneccunnett Pond Area

Winneccunnett Pond, the only sizable natural body of water in Norton, Massachusetts, takes its name from a Native American word meaning "the place of the black geese." A Native American village stood on the pond’s north end long before Plymouth Colony was settled, and Metacomet, chief sachem of the Wampanoags, whom the English called King Philip, came to these shores to hunt and fish. A cave on Great Rocky Hill near the pond, known as King Philip’s cave, is presumed to have sheltered him during those visits. On the pond’s east side stood the house of Norton’s first settler, William Witherell, built in 1669. Sergeant William Witherell was seriously wounded in the Great Swamp Fight, a major battle in King Philip’s War, and in 1685 he received a license from the general court in Plymouth to sell hard liquor, opening what was possibly Norton’s first public house there. Bay Road, an old Native American trail and one of the oldest roads in Massachusetts, linked Taunton in Plymouth Colony to Boston in Massachusetts Bay Colony, and mile marker posts along it told travelers how many miles remained in their journeys. Norton still retains two of those original markers. The town’s first burial ground, where Norton’s pioneer settlers are buried, lies about 175 yards east of the site of William Witherell’s house.

Norton, Massachusetts · United States