Ponkapoag (also Punkapaug, Punkapoag, or Punkapog) is the name of a Native American

Indigenous peoples of the Americas

The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...

 "praying town

Praying Towns

Praying towns were developed by the Puritans of New England from 1646 to 1675 in an effort to convert the local Native American tribes to Christianity. The Natives who moved into these towns were known as Praying Indians. Before 1674 the villages were the most ambitious Christianization experiment...

" settled in the western Blue Hills

Blue Hills Reservation

Blue Hills Reservation is a state park in Norfolk County, Massachusetts. Managed by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, it extends into Milton, Quincy, Braintree, Canton, Randolph, and Dedham south of Boston.-Description:...

 area of eastern Massachusetts

Massachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

 during the colonization

British colonization of the Americas

British colonization of the Americas began in 1607 in Jamestown, Virginia and reached its peak when colonies had been established throughout the Americas...

 of the Atlantic seaboard of the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 by settlers from Britain

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 in the 17th century. It is the name given to the winter residence (and subsequently to the tribe) of the group of Massachusett

Massachusett

The Massachusett are a tribe of Native Americans who lived in areas surrounding Massachusetts Bay in what is now the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, in particular present-day Greater Boston; they spoke the Massachusett language...

 who lived at the mouth of the Neponset River

Neponset River

The Neponset River is a river in eastern Massachusetts in the United States. The headwaters of the Neponset are at the Neponset Reservoir in Foxborough, near the Gillette Stadium...

 in summer. Ponkapoag is now contained almost entirely by the town of Canton, Massachusetts

Canton, Massachusetts

Canton is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 21,561 at the 2010 census. Canton is part of Greater Boston, about 15 miles southwest of downtown Boston.- History :...

.

Ponkapoag Plantation was established in 1657 as a 6000 acres (2,428.1 ha) town parcel formed from Dorchester, Massachusetts Bay Colony

Massachusetts Bay Colony

The Massachusetts Bay Colony was an English settlement on the east coast of North America in the 17th century, in New England, situated around the present-day cities of Salem and Boston. The territory administered by the colony included much of present-day central New England, including portions...

. It was the second Christianized

Christianization

The historical phenomenon of Christianization is the conversion of individuals to Christianity or the conversion of entire peoples at once...

 native settlement, or "Praying Town" in Massachusetts, after Natick

Natick, Massachusetts

Natick is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. Natick is located near the center of the MetroWest region of Massachusetts, with a population of 33,006 at the 2010 census. Only west from Boston, Natick is considered part of the Greater Boston area...

 was established in 1651.

The name is derived from a pond 1 miles (1.6 km) south of Great Blue Hill

Great Blue Hill

Great Blue Hill is a hill of 635 feet located within the Blue Hills Reservation in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Massachusetts, 10 miles southwest of Boston. It is the highest point in Norfolk County...

; Ponkapoag means "shallow pond" or "a spring that bubbles from red soil".