Sandwich was occupied by the Eastern Algonquian speaking Wampanoag tribe who aided the Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony in the 1620s.

A group of settlers from Saugus, Massachusetts colonized Sandwich in 1637 with the permission of the Plymouth Colony.

Later, the town grew a small industrial component along the Scusset River and Old Harbor Creek and its tributaries.

Sandwich had proximity to a shallow harbor, was a possible canal site, and had local supplies of timber to fuel the furnaces.

The factory declined after the Civil War due to competition from Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia companies that produced less expensive pressed soda-lime glass tableware.

[11] Sandwich is bordered by Cape Cod Bay to the north, Barnstable to the east, Mashpee and Falmouth to the south, and Bourne to the west.

The northern point of Sandwich, where Sagamore Hill and Scusset Beach State Reservation lie, is divided from the rest of the town by the canal.

According to the United States Department of Agriculture, the plant hardiness zone is 6b, with an average annual extreme minimum air temperature of −0.7 °F (−18.2 °C).

[14] U.S. Route 6, also known as the Mid-Cape Highway on Cape Cod, passes through the town to the north of Otis Air National Guard Base as a four-lane divided freeway.

The Cape Cod Central Railroad, which operates seasonal tourist excursions from Hyannis to Buzzards Bay, serves Sandwich via a station in the western section of the town.

There is also seasonal passenger rail available in nearby Hyannis and Bourne via the CapeFlyer, which runs to Boston's South Station along the Middleborough/Lakeville line.

The Sandwich Board of Selectmen has five members: Robert George, Shane Hoctor, Susan James, Michael Miller, and David Sampson.

On the national level, Sandwich is a part of Massachusetts's 9th congressional district, and is currently represented by William Keating.

Students may also choose to attend private schools in Barnstable, Bourne, Falmouth or other neighboring communities.

There are several attractions in Sandwich, including Heritage Museums and Gardens, the Wing Fort House, the Sandwich Glass Museum, the Thornton Burgess Museum, Hoxie House (the oldest house on Cape Cod), the Daniel Webster Inn, the Dexter Grist Mill (the oldest mill on Cape Cod), the Sandwich Friends (Quaker) Meetinghouse (the oldest in North America), and Shawme Lake.

Sandwich is home to numerous art galleries, as well as rare book and antique stores.

Sandwich is also home to a major portion of Otis Air National Guard Base, including half the land that the runways are on.

The Sandwich boardwalk is located in downtown and leads to the Town Beach on Cape Cod Bay.

It is a popular tourist attraction and was elected by National Geographic in July 2010 as one of the top ten boardwalks in the United States.

In fall 2023, the town began reconstruction on a renewed version of the boardwalk, which is expected to reopen to the public in summer 2024.