Popponesset Bay

Last updated
The Popponesset Bay System Popponesset Bay.jpg
The Popponesset Bay System

Popponesset Bay System is a group of bays located at the towns of Mashpee (north & west) and Barnstable (east), on Cape Cod, Massachusetts with a southern shore bounded by water from Nantucket Sound.

Popponesset Bay has the following tributary sub-embayments:

The bay system is fed by the Mashpee River and Santuit River. Popponesset Creek is not a tributary but rather connects with the bay on both ends and separates Popponesset Island from the mainland.

The bay's watershed is distributed among the towns of Mashpee, Barnstable and Sandwich, Massachusetts. The town of Sandwich does have jurisdiction over land and associated land uses in the uppermost portions of the Popponesset Bay watershed. Portions of the Popponesset Bay watershed that exist within the Town of Sandwich are mostly situated above the Mashpee and Wakeby Ponds.

Popponesset Bay has experienced problems with eutrophication from high nitrogen loads in the groundwater and runoff from the watersheds.

The present bay results from tidal flooding of drowned river valleys formed primarily by the Mashpee and Santuit Rivers as a result of a risen sea level. The Bay is separated from Nantucket Sound by Popponesset Peninsula, a barrier spit which extends from the southwestern shore and is mostly occupied by Popponesset Beach. Popponesset Beach is known to the locals as simply "The Spit."

Popponesset Bay has a second beach in the form of a sand bar in the middle of the bay, which is submersed during high tide. This island is known as Low Tide Island.

The bay exchanges tidal water with Nantucket Sound through a single maintained inlet. The shore to the north of the inlet has been stabilized with riprap as has the heavily residential southern portion of Popponesset Beach. The current spit is significantly shorter than seen in the 1880 Barnstable County survey.

The village of Popponesset takes its name from these waters.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cape Cod</span> Cape in the northeastern United States

Cape Cod is an arm-shaped peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer months. The name Cape Cod, coined in 1602 by Bartholomew Gosnold, is the ninth oldest English place-name in the U.S.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barnstable County, Massachusetts</span> County in Massachusetts, United States

Barnstable County is a county located in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. At the 2020 census, the population was 228,996. Its county seat is Barnstable. The county consists of Cape Cod and associated islands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mashpee, Massachusetts</span> Town in Massachusetts, United States

Mashpee is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States, on Cape Cod. The population was 15,060 as of 2020. The town is the site of the headquarters and most members of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, one of two federally recognized Wampanoag groups.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Seabury, Massachusetts</span> Census-designated place in Massachusetts, United States

New Seabury is a census-designated place (CDP) in the town of Mashpee in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States, on Cape Cod. The area consists primarily of summer homes for wealthy families. Attractions include a county club and the Fells Pond, Daniels Island, and Littleneck Bay neighborhoods. The population of the CDP was 717 at the 2010 census. The community is located on the historic home of the Wampanoag Nation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Popponesset, Massachusetts</span> Census-designated place in Massachusetts, United States

Popponesset is a census-designated place (CDP) in the town of Mashpee on Cape Cod in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 220 at the 2010 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bourne, Massachusetts</span> Town in Massachusetts, United States

Bourne is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 20,452 at the 2020 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Falmouth, Massachusetts</span> Town in Massachusetts, United States

Falmouth is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 32,517 at the 2020 census, making Falmouth the second-largest municipality on Cape Cod after Barnstable. The terminal for the Steamship Authority ferries to Martha's Vineyard is located in the village of Woods Hole in Falmouth. Woods Hole also contains several scientific organizations such as the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL), the Woodwell Climate Research Center, NOAA's Woods Hole Science Aquarium, and the scientific institutions' various museums.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sandwich, Massachusetts</span> Town in Massachusetts, United States

Sandwich is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts and is the oldest town on Cape Cod. The town motto is Post tot Naufracia Portus, "after so many shipwrecks, a haven". The population was 20,259 at the 2020 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cape Cod Bay</span> Large bay of the Atlantic Ocean adjacent to the U.S. state of Massachusetts

Cape Cod Bay is a large bay of the Atlantic Ocean adjacent to the U.S. state of Massachusetts. Measuring 604 square miles (1,560 km2) below a line drawn from Brant Rock in Marshfield to Race Point in Provincetown, Massachusetts, it is enclosed by Cape Cod to the south and east, and Plymouth County, Massachusetts, to the west. To the north of Cape Cod Bay lie Massachusetts Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. Cape Cod Bay is the southernmost extremity of the Gulf of Maine. Cape Cod Bay is one of the bays adjacent to Massachusetts that give it the name Bay State. The others are Narragansett Bay, Buzzards Bay, and Massachusetts Bay.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ipswich River</span> River in the United States

Ipswich River is a small river in northeastern Massachusetts, United States. It held significant importance in early colonial migrations inland from the ocean port of Ipswich. The river provided safe harborage at offshore Plum Island Sound to early Massachusetts subsistence farmers, who were also fishermen. A part of the river forms town boundaries and divides Essex County, Massachusetts on the coast from the more inland Middlesex County. It is 35 miles (56 km) long, and its watershed is approximately 155 square miles (401 km2), with an estimated population in the area of 160,000 people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great Bay (New Hampshire)</span>

Great Bay is a tidal estuary located in Strafford and Rockingham counties in eastern New Hampshire, United States. The bay occupies over 6,000 acres (24 km2), not including its several tidal river tributaries. Its outlet is at Hilton Point in Dover, New Hampshire, where waters from the bay flow into the Piscataqua River, thence proceeding southeast to the Atlantic Ocean near Portsmouth. The northern end of the bay, near its outlet, is referred to as Little Bay.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Waquoit Bay</span>

Waquoit Bay is a public national estuary, which is typically used as a research reserve. It is a part of Nantucket Sound and is located on the southern shore of Cape Cod in Massachusetts, USA. This bay forms the border of the towns of Falmouth and Mashpee, Massachusetts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quashnet River</span>

The Quashnet River, also known as Quoshnet River or Moonakis River, is a 5.1-mile-long (8.2 km) estuary in Falmouth, Massachusetts on Cape Cod. Its area is about 1-square-mile (2.6 km2).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mashpee River</span> River in Massachusetts, United States

The Mashpee River is a 4.8-mile-long (7.7 km) tidal river on Cape Cod in Mashpee, Massachusetts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mashpee River Reservation</span> Park in Massachusetts, United States

Mashpee River Reservation is a park in Mashpee, Massachusetts on the Mashpee River. The Trustees of Reservations owns and maintains the park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Santuit River</span>

The Santuit River, also known as the Cotuit River, is a 2.3-mile-long (3.7 km) river on the border between Mashpee and Cotuit, Massachusetts on Cape Cod.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mashpee and Wakeby Ponds</span> Ponds in Massachusetts

Mashpee Pond41°39′40″N70°29′08″W and Wakeby Pond41°40′30″N70°29′08″W are adjoining ponds in Mashpee and Sandwich, Massachusetts. When considered together, these two ponds cover 729 acres (2.95 km2) and constitute the largest freshwater pond on Cape Cod. This pair is 85 feet (26 m) deep at its deepest point. The Fishing Record for most bass caught in a day belongs to James Dean on August 21,2016. The record for most fishing trips without a single fish caught belongs to P.J Keliher at 26.

Popponesset Spit is a spit between Popponesset Bay and Nantucket Sound. The barrier peninsula extends for about 1.0 mile (1.6 km) from the community of Popponesset in Mashpee on Cape Cod in Massachusetts and is part of the coastline known as Popponesset Beach. The tip of the peninsula is owned by the Massachusetts Audubon Society while the landward end is owned by Save Popponesset Bay.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barnstable, Massachusetts</span> Town in Massachusetts, United States

Barnstable is a town in the U.S. state of Massachusetts and the county seat of Barnstable County. Barnstable is the largest community, both in land area and population, on Cape Cod, and is one of thirteen Massachusetts municipalities that have been granted city forms of government by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts but wish to retain "the town of" in their official names. At the 2020 census it had a population of 48,916. The town contains several villages within its boundaries. Its largest village, Hyannis, is the central business district of the county and home to Barnstable Municipal Airport, the airline hub of Cape Cod and the islands of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket. Additionally, Barnstable is a 2007 winner of the All-America City Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Forge River (New York)</span> River in New York, United States of America

Forge River is a partially mixed estuary on the south shore of Long Island in the township of Brookhaven, Suffolk County, New York.

References

41°35′30″N70°27′33″W / 41.59167°N 70.45917°W / 41.59167; -70.45917