Martha's Vineyard (Wampanoag: ), often simply called the Vineyard, is an island in Massachusetts, lying just south of Cape Cod. It is known for being a popular, affluent summer colony and includes the peninsula Chappaquiddick Island. It is the 58th largest island in the U.S., and the ninth largest in the contiguous United States, with a land area of about , and the third-largest on the East Coast, after Long Island and Mount Desert Island. Martha's Vineyard constitutes the bulk of Dukes County, Massachusetts, which also includes the Elizabeth Islands and the island of Nomans Land.
The island's year-round population has considerably increased since the 1960s. In the 2023 Martha's Vineyard Commission report, the year-round population was 20,530, an increase from 16,460 in 2010. The summer population swells to more than 200,000 people. About 56 percent of the Vineyard's 14,621 homes are seasonally occupied.
Though many have suggested that the island was renamed after English explorer Bartholomew Gosnold's daughter Martha, it is more likely that both the island and his daughter were namesakes of his wealthy mother-in-law, Martha (Judde) Golding, who partly funded his expedition in 1602the first recorded European expedition to Cape Cod. A smaller island to the south was first to be named "Martha's Vineyard" but the name later became associated with this island. It is the eighth-oldest surviving English place-name in the United States. The island was subsequently known as Martin's Vineyard (possibly after a captain in the exploratory party, John Martin); many people and maps up to the 18th century called it by this name.
When the United States Board on Geographic Names worked to standardize placename spellings in the late 19th century, apostrophes were dropped. Thus for a time Martha's Vineyard was officially named Marthas Vineyard, but the Board reversed its decision in the early 20th century, making Martha's Vineyard one of the five placenames in the United States that takes a possessive apostrophe.
According to historian Henry Franklin Norton, the island was known by Native Americans as Noepe or Capawock. It is referred to in the 1691 Massachusetts Charter (which transferred the island from the Province of New York during the breakup of the Dominion of New England) as Cappawock.
History Pre-European settlement
The island was originally inhabited by Wampanoag people, when Martha's Vineyard was known in the Massachusett language as Noepe, or "land amid the streams". In 1642, the Wampanoag numbered somewhere around 3,000 on the island. By 1764, that number had dropped to 313.
Colonial era European settlement began with the purchase of Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, and the Elizabeth Islands by Thomas Mayhew of Watertown, Massachusetts, from two New England settlers. He had friendly relations with the Wampanoags on the island, in part because he was careful to honor their land rights. His son, also named Thomas Mayhew, established the first settlement on the island in 1642 at Great Harbor (later Edgartown, Massachusetts).
The younger Mayhew began a relationship with Hiacoomes, a Native American neighbor, which eventually led to Hiacoomes' family converting to Christianity. During King Philip's War later in the century, the Martha's Vineyard band did not join their tribal relatives in the uprising and remained armed, a testimony to the good relations cultivated by the Mayhews as the leaders of the colony. In 1657, the younger Mayhew was drowned when a ship he was travelling in was lost at sea on a voyage to England. Mayhew's grandsons Matthew Mayhew, John Mayhew, and other members of his family assisted him in running his business and government.Thomas Mayhew In 1665, Mayhew's lands were included in a grant to the Duke of York. In 1671, a settlement was arranged which allowed Mayhew to continue in his position while placing his territory under the jurisdiction of the Province of New York.
Attempted annexation by Rhode Island (1684) In 1682, Matthew Mayhew succeeded his grandfather as governor and chief magistrate, and occasionally preached to the Native Americans. He was also appointed judge of the Court of Common Pleas for Dukes County in 1697 and remained on the bench until 1700. He was judge of probate from 1696 to 1710. In 1683, Dukes County was incorporated, including Martha's Vineyard. In 1691, at the collapse of rule by Sir Edmund Andros and the reorganization of Massachusetts as a royal colony, Dukes County was transferred to the Province of Massachusetts Bay and split into Dukes County, Massachusetts and Nantucket County. Following the revocation of the Massachusetts Bay Colony Charter in 1684, William Coddington Jr., who was governor of Rhode Island at the time, attempted to seize Martha's Vineyard through a group of militia as "reparations for former damages of past leaders made by the settlers," most likely referring to the Puritan actions on Rhode Island leaders Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson, as well as annex threats made by Massachusetts. It is possible that Coddington only wanted to annex Martha's Vineyard due to its proximity to Rhode Island and the fact that it would have taken more labor for colonists in Massachusetts to reach Martha's Vineyard before Rhode Island could obtain full control of the island. The plan flopped: Rhode Island militiamen were deployed in a group of three boats and "upon seeing men on Martha's Vineyard, the men immediately fled the vicinity of the island and returned home after The Governor dispatched them from their duties and made the plan defunct". There is debate as to who told leaders from Massachusetts about the plan. One story has prevailed, that a traveler going to and from Rhode Island and Massachusetts for business purposes heard the claim and reported it back to officials in Massachusetts. Massachusetts, specifically Martha's Vineyard, was not intimidated by this attempt and thought Rhode Island to be weaker because of their immediate retreat.
As for the history following the attempted annexation, Native American literacy in the schools founded by Thomas Mayhew Jr. and taught by Peter Folger (the grandfather of Benjamin Franklin) was such that the first Native American graduates of Harvard were from Martha's Vineyard, including the son of Hiacoomes, Joel Hiacoomes. Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck, another Native American resident of Martha's Vineyard, graduated from Harvard in 1665.Moneghan, E.J., 2005, p. 59. Cheeshahteaumauk's Latin address to the corporation (New England Corporation), which begins "Honoratissimi benefactores" (most honored benefactors), has been preserved.Gookin, as quoted in Monaghan, 2005, p. 60. In addition to speaking Wampanoag and English, they studied Hebrew, classical Greek, and Latin. All of the early Native American graduates died shortly after completing their course of study. Many native preachers on the island also preached in the Christian churches from time to time.
Mayhew's successor as leader of the community was Leavitt Thaxter, who married Martha Mayhew, a descendant of Thomas Mayhew, and was an Edgartown educator described by Indian Commissioner John Milton Earle as "a long and steadfast friend to the Indians." After living in Northampton, Thaxter, a lawyer, returned home to Edgartown, where he took over the school founded by his father, Rev. Joseph Thaxter,One of the first chaplains in the Continental Army, Rev. Thaxter was wounded at the Battle of Bunker Hill. On June 17, 1835, Thaxter returned to the battleground and officiated as chaplain at ceremonies laying the cornerstone for the Bunker Hill Monument and served in the State House and the Senate, was a member of the Massachusetts Governor's Council, and later served as U. S. Customs Collector for Martha's Vineyard. Having rechristened his father's Edgartown school Thaxter Academy, on February 15, 1845, Thaxter was granted the sum of $50 per year for "the support of William Johnson, an Indian of the Chappequiddic tribe." By this time, Leavitt Thaxter had taken on the role, described in an act passed by the General Court of Massachusetts, as "guardian of the Indians and people of color resident at Chappequiddic and Indiantown in the County of Dukes County." Thaxter Academy became known for educating both white and Native American youth.
19th century Like the nearby island of Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard was brought to prominence in the 19th century by the whaling industry, during which ships were sent around the world to hunt whales for their oil and blubber. The discovery of petroleum in Pennsylvania gave rise to a cheaper source of oil for lamps and led to an almost complete collapse of the industry by 1870. After the Old Colony railroad came to Woods Hole in 1872, summer residences began to develop on the island, such as the community of Harthaven established by William H. Hart, the community of Ocean Heights, developed near Sengekontacket Pond in Edgartown by the prominent island businessman, Robert Marsden Laidlaw. Although the island struggled financially through the Great Depression, its reputation as a resort for tourists and the wealthy continued to grow. There is still a substantial Wampanoag population on the Vineyard, mainly located in the town of Aquinnah.
The island was the last refuge of the heath hen, an extinct subspecies of the greater prairie chicken, which was a once common game bird throughout the Northeastern United States. Despite 19th century efforts to protect the hen, by 1927 the population of birds had dropped to 13. The last known heath hen, named "Booming Ben", perished on Martha's Vineyard in 1932.
Modern era
Martha's Vineyard was used by the Army, Navy and Air Force from 1941 through 1945 for training missions that ranged from landings on beaches to climbing cliffs and bombing practice. Linguist William Labov wrote his master's thesis on changes in the Martha's Vineyard dialect of English. The 1963 study is widely recognized as a seminal work in the foundation of sociolinguistics.
The island received international notoriety after the "Chappaquiddick incident" of July 18, 1969, in which Mary Jo Kopechne was killed in a car driven off the Dike Bridge by U.S. Senator Edward "Ted" Kennedy. The bridge crossed Poucha Pond on Chappaquiddick Island. The bridge was intended for people on foot and bicycles, as well as the occasional emergency vehicle when conditions warranted. Currently, 4×4 vehicles with passes are allowed to cross the reconstructed bridge.
On November 23, 1970, in the Atlantic Ocean just west of Aquinnah, Simas Kudirka, a Soviet seaman of Lithuanian nationality, attempted to defect to the United States by leaping onto a United States Coast Guard cutter from a Soviet fishing trawler and asking for asylum. The Coast Guard allowed a detachment of four seamen from the Soviet ship to board the cutter and "drag the kicking, screaming Kudirka back to their vessel." He was sentenced to 10 years of hard labor in the Soviet Union.
In 1974, Steven Spielberg filmed the movie Jaws on Martha's Vineyard, most notably in Menemsha and Chilmark. Spielberg selected island natives Christopher Rebello as Chief Brody's oldest son, Michael Brody; Jay Mello as the younger son, Sean Brody; and Lee Fierro as Mrs. Kintner. Scores of other island natives appear in the film as extras. Scenes from Jaws 2 and Jaws: The Revenge were filmed on the island. In June 2005 the island celebrated the 30th anniversary of Jaws with a weekend-long Jawsfest.