Members of the Moswetuset (Massachusett) tribe for centuries made the shore of Quincy Bay their seasonal home.

Moswetuset Hummock is understood to be the site where Chickatawbut negotiated with Plymouth Colony commander Myles Standish and Tisquantum, a Patuxet tribe guide.

In his 1747 volume A History of New-England, historian Daniel Neal described Moswetuset Hummock as the origin of the name of the indigenous Massachusett tribe.

The colonists named the Commonwealth of Massachusetts after them:[1][2] The Sachem or Sagamore who governed the Indians in this part of the country when the English came hither, had his seat on a small hill, or hummock, containing perhaps an acre and a half, about two leagues to the southward of Boston, which hill or hummock lies in the shape of an Indian's arrowhead, which arrow-heads are called in their language MOS, or MONS, with O nasal, and hill in their language is WETUSET hence, this great sachem's seat was called Moswetuset, which signifies a hill in the shape of an arrow's head, and his subjects, the Moswetuset Indians, from whence with a small variation of the word, the Province received the name MASSACHUSETTS.Moswetuset translates to 'shaped like an arrowhead'.

Moswetuset Hummock is located on East Squantum Street, the northern end of Wollaston Beach, Quincy Bay.