Before European settlers arrived in Kingston it was within the tribal home to the Wampanoag people. Even before the Mayflower had landed in Plymouth the Wampanoags were severely damaged from rapidly spreading pandemics from earlier contacts with Europeans. Several ancient Native Americans in the United StatesNative American burial sites have been located within the borders of Kingston. Originally the north precinct of the town of Plymouth, Kingston was first settled by Europeans in 1620, shortly after the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock. Modern day Kingston is believed to be the site of several bloody battles during King Phillip's War from 1675-1676. It is public record that the residence of Governor Bradford was raided by the Natives before the Wampanoags were completely decimated. 50 years later, Kingston was incorporated as a distinct town in 1726 following a tax dispute between the residents of north and south Plymouth. Kingston is home of the longest continuously run boat yard in North America. The Revolutionary War era brig, the Brig Independence was built by Kingston ship builders and has emerged as a town icon adorning the Kingston town seal as well as the subject of the town song "Independence". The tenure of the Brig Independence in the Massachusetts Navy was short however when the ship was captured in battle off the coast of Nova Scotia by the HMS Hope and the HMS Nancy. In the early to middle 1800s, Kingston flourished as not only a center for ship building, but ice harvesting as well. Jones River Pond, the largest body of freshwater in town, was used to harvest ice during the long New England winters which would then be shipped all throughout the world. Jones River Pond was even renamed to Silver Lake for marketing purposes during the height of the ice harvesting export industry and retains the name today. Kingston is also home to the first co-op store in North America which was closed when the Silver Lake Post Office shut down operations in 1954. In the 1950s Kingston was transformed from a small rural town into an extension of the Boston metropolitan area when Route 3 (Massachusetts)Route 3 was constructed which connects Boston to Cape Cod and has 3 exits in Kingston. Kingston, however, saw its largest population boom in the early 1990s when the Old Colony Railroad was reopened as a commuter rail which connected once rural Kingston with Boston making it an even more viable place for commuters to Boston to live. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingston%2C_Massachusetts