KG around the cape summer 2021 - Flipbook - Page 32
A ROUND CA PE COD
Arts
Mashpee Commons is home to artist Forrest Pirovano’s studio, the Cosmic
Cod, a fine arts and crafts gallery and teaching studio, and Woodruff’s
Art Center, which in addition to offering custom framing and art supplies
hosts changing art exhibits by an array of established and emerging
artists. Students from age three through adult can take dance training in a
variety of styles at Harper Dance Studio while Fietek Music offers in person
and virtual music lessons on guitar, drums, bass, piano, and more.
Culture
The Mashpee Wampanoag Museum is located near the historic center of
town in the 1793 Bourne-Avant house. First created under the guidance of
the Mashpee Historical Commission, the museum displays Wampanoag
artifacts that chronicle tidal life over thousands of years, including a large
diorama depicting a typical scene from an early Wampanoag settlement. The
Cape Cod Children’s Museum on Great Neck Road is an interactive and playfocused educational facility with outdoor walking paths, picnic tables, and
backyard area. The Mashpee Public Library was first established in 1890 and
is now located at 64 Steeple Street in an award-winning, 22,000-square-foot
building.
Education
The award-winning Mashpee Public Schools serve students in three
schools: Kenneth C. Coombs School for kindergarten through second grade,
Quashnet School for grades three through six and Mashpee Middle-High
School for grades seven through twelve. With a notable enrollment, Native
American students and the Wampanoag Tribal Community greatly enrich the
Mashpee Public Schools. The bordering towns of Falmouth and Barnstable
each offer private educational opportunities.
Geography
Fourteen percent of Mashpee’s 27.2 square miles is water, including the
Mashpee River and the Santuit River, which creates the border between
Mashpee and Cotuit. In addition to dozens of smaller ponds and inlets,
Mashpee has three significantly sized ponds. Ashumet Pond is a 220-acre
natural kettle pond divided between Mashpee and Falmouth, John’s Pond is
a good spot for boating and swimming, and Mashpee/Wakeby ponds are two
contiguous freshwater ponds with a combined area of 729 acres.
One of more than 500 refuges in the National Wildlife Refuge System, the Mashpee
National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1995 to preserve the natural resources
of Waquoit Bay for the protection of waterfowl and wildlife. Managed through a
partnership of federal and state agencies and private conservation groups, this
refuge preserves thousands of acres of salt and freshwater marshes, rivers, Atlantic
white cedar swamps, cranberry bogs, and vernal pools.
30
KinlinGrover.com