MASHPEE - Although not incorporated well into the late 19th century, Mashpee was founded in the 1770s, not as a town for the white man, but as a refuge for Indians displaced by expanded settlement in Plymouth colony.

Today, Mashpee’s Wampanoags, who greeted the Pilgrims in 1620 and helped them survive their first year in the New World, number only about 5 percent of the town’s 12,186 year-round residents. Their history and culture, however while eclipsed by a building boom that’s made Mashpee the fastest growing town in Massachusetts, manages to cling to the fibers of this community.

Since 1929, the Wampanoag Tribal Council has hosted an annual pow-wow over July 4 weekend to celebrate its heritage and culture and the event attracts other tribes from around the country in a weekend of festive dances, traditional crafts exhibits and food. The tribal council maintains the Wampanoag Indian Museum, which houses artifacts and history about the tribe, and the American Indian Meeting House, the oldest church building on Cape Cod. An Indian Education Program has been in existence in the Mashpee school system for 15 years.

In the past 20 years, the town noticeably changed from a quiet, residential town of about 3,000 people to a resort destination which has more that 12,000 year-round residents and 30,000 in summer. Growth is the number one issue facing town officials, selectmen chairman Ken Marsters said.

Town Planner Tom Fudala said lack of adequate zoning and the availability of land caused a lot of homes to be built in the early 1980s. He said the town will reach build-out at 18,000 residents.

Town officials are particularly concerned about future expansion of Mashpee Commons, a huge shopping complex which anchors the corner of a busy rotary at Route 151 and 28. There are currently 80 shops and businesses, and 13 apartments housed in neat clapboard buildings which lie on streets within the plaza, with old-fashioned street lighting. The idea was to give Mashpee a town center and while Mashpee Commons has its critics, the complex does provide a main street kind of atmosphere.

Town officials are concerned about the adverse effects more business and residential development would have on town water supply, schools and traffic congestion, although residential developments appears to target “empty nesters.” A subcommittee looking into those issues expects to make a report this month.

Mashpee is also known for its exclusive private golf course Willowbend, where a summer charity tournament sponsored by Willowbend’s developer and Reebok CEO Paul Fireman attracts celebrities and corporate executives.

“Willowbend had been great for the town,”" Marsters said, noting that $100,000 is donated every year from the golf tournament.

Other out-of-town big spenders have also been civic-minded.

Patriots owner Bob Kraft, who has owned a summer home in Mashpee for 30 years, recently pledged to match donations, up to $500,000 to the town’s efforts to build a Boys and Girls Club.

Car dealer Ernie Boch, who summered as a youth on John’s Pond, donated $2.6 million to a group raising money for a performing arts center which now bears his name. The opening of the Boch Center for the Performing Arts will be in 2000, executive director T.K. Thompson said. The town passed minimum two-acre zoning in the north of town where the water supply is located. Pollution traced to the neighboring Massachusetts Military Reservation in being monitored to the towns satisfaction, Marsters said.

The housing market is brisk. Like any place else on Cape Cod, waterfront is most desirable and surprisingly, so, pond-front lots are affordably priced, starting under $60,000. Homes around Willowbend can go as high as half a million.

“Geographically, it's a great location, only 15 minutes from Hyannis and Boston’s just a tad over an hour,” said REALTOR® Jamie Regan of CENTURY 21 Regan Realtors, noting that a lot of corporate executives and off-Cape commuters have been recent buyers.

“Mashpee Commons is a big draw. We just don’t roll up the streets here at 9 o’clock,” said Regan, “It’s a very aware town, an optimistic community. We want to prosper with green tourism.”

Buyers can find some “nice older places” with water rights under $200,000, condominiums from $50,000 to $500,000, and even a few older homes around $100,000. A new 2,000-square-foot home costs just under $200,000, Regan said.

A recent listing is a two-bedroom cottage on the ocean in Popponesset for $425,000. There are also million dollar properties for sale, such as a waterfront contemporary with a view to Falmouth and a saltwater pool for $1.8 million.

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