Wellfleet, Massachusetts
Overview
 
Wellfleet is a New England town
New England town
The New England town is the basic unit of local government in each of the six New England states. Without a direct counterpart in most other U.S. states, New England towns are conceptually similar to civil townships in other states, but are incorporated, possessing powers like cities in other...

 in Barnstable County
Barnstable County, Massachusetts
Barnstable County is a county located in the U.S. state of Massachusetts, consisting of Cape Cod and associated islands. As of the 2010 census, the population was 216,902...

, Massachusetts, United States. Located halfway between the "tip" and "elbow" of Cape Cod
Cape Cod
Cape Cod, often referred to locally as simply the Cape, is a cape in the easternmost portion of the state of Massachusetts, in the Northeastern United States...

, Massachusetts, the town had a population of 2,749 at the 2000 census, which swells nearly sixfold during the summer. Nearly half of the land area of Wellfleet is part of the Cape Cod National Seashore
Cape Cod National Seashore
The Cape Cod National Seashore , created on August 7, 1961 by President John F. Kennedy, encompasses on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. It includes ponds, woods and beachfront of the Atlantic coastal pine barrens ecoregion...

 and a total of 70% of the town's land area is in some form of protection. Wellfleet is famous for its eponymous oyster
Oyster
The word oyster is used as a common name for a number of distinct groups of bivalve molluscs which live in marine or brackish habitats. The valves are highly calcified....

s, which are celebrated in the annual October Wellfleet OysterFest.
Wellfleet was encountered by Europeans as early as 1606, when the French explorer Samuel de Champlain
Samuel de Champlain
Samuel de Champlain , "The Father of New France", was a French navigator, cartographer, draughtsman, soldier, explorer, geographer, ethnologist, diplomat, and chronicler. He founded New France and Quebec City on July 3, 1608....

 explored and named it "Port Aux Huitres" (Oyster Port) for the bountiful oyster population resident to the area.
 
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