HANOVER HISTORY

Hanover, Massachusetts is located on the traditional land of the Wampanoag and Massachusett people. Descendants of original inhabitants live in Hanover and towns along the Massachusetts coast and belong to tribes known today as the Mattakeesett Tribe of the Massachusett Indian Nation, the Massachusett Tribe at Ponkapoag, and Mashpee Wompanoag Tribe. For thousands of years, indigenous people inhabited and stewarded the land on which the Town of Hanover was built.

European settlement and displacement of indigenous people in Hanover began in 1649 when William Barstow, a farmer, built a bridge along the North River. English settler colonists from Scituate, Massachusetts, flooded into the area and the Town of Hanover was incorporated in 1727.¹ The Town is looking forward to celebrating the 300th anniversary of Hanover in 2027.

The North River and native footpaths were the only means of traveling throughout the area at the time of European settlement. Settlement patterns along these thoroughfares coincided with the construction of roads. Today, major roads including state Routes 3, 53, 123 and 139 provide access through the town.

B. Everett Hall Field has historically remained open space adjacent to some of the oldest European building developments in town: the First Congregational Church and Hanover Cemetery were established in 1728. The church was used as the original town meetinghouse until the Hanover Town Hall was constructed in 1863.

B. Everett Hall, the park’s namesake, bequeathed funds "for the purpose of establishing and maintaining for the children public parks" in Hanover in March 1926.²