History
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Pre-European settlement[edit]
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[edit]
Old Whaling Church, Edgartown Village Historic District 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.[citation needed]
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. 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)[edit]
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.[citation needed] 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. Cheeshahteaumauk's Latin address to the corporation (New England Corporation), which begins "Honoratissimi benefactores" (most honored benefactors), has been preserved. 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.[citation needed]Historic house next to the Whaling Church
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, 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[edit]
Gingerbread cottages at Wesleyan Grove, Oak BluffsLike 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[edit]
See also: Martha's Vineyard in World War II
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.Dike Bridge, Chappaquiddick
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.
Martha's Vineyard secession flag
In 1977, distressed over losing their guaranteed seat in the Massachusetts General Court, inhabitants of Martha's Vineyard considered the possibility of secession from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, either to become part of another state (having received offers from both Vermont and Hawaii), reincorporating as a separate U.S. territory, or as the nation's 51st state. The separatist flag, consisting of a white seagull over an orange disk on a sky-blue background, is still seen on the island today. Although the idea of separation from Massachusetts eventually proved impracticable, it did receive attention in the local, regional, and even national media.
On March 5, 1982, John Belushi died of a drug overdose in Los Angeles, California, and was buried four days later in Abel's Hill Cemetery in Chilmark. Belushi often visited the Vineyard, and his family felt it fitting to bury him there. On his gravestone is the quote: "Though I may be gone, Rock 'N' Roll lives on." Because of the many visitors to his grave and the threat of vandalism, his body was moved somewhere near the grave site. His grave remains a popular site for visitors to Chilmark, and they often leave tokens in memory of the late comedian.
Since the 1990s, Bill Clinton has spent regular vacation time on the island during and after his presidency, along with his wife Hillary Clinton and their daughter Chelsea. Clinton was not the first president to visit the islands; Ulysses S. Grant visited the vacation residence of his friend Bishop Gilbert Haven on August 24, 1874. Haven's gingerbread cottage was located in Oak Bluffs at 10 Clinton Avenue. The avenue was named in 1851 and was designated as the main promenade of the Martha's Vineyard Campmeeting Association campgrounds. In December 2019, President Barack Obama completed the purchase of a 30-acre (12 ha) homestead on the Edgartown Great Pond.
On July 16, 1999, a small plane crashed off the coast of Martha's Vineyard, claiming the lives of pilot John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife Carolyn Bessette, and her sister Lauren Bessette. Kennedy's mother, former U.S. first lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, maintained a home in Aquinnah until her death in 1994.
In the summer of 2000, an outbreak of tularemia, also known as rabbit fever, resulted in one death and piqued the interest of the CDC, which wanted to test the island as a potential investigative ground for aerosolized Francisella tularensis. Over the following summers, Martha's Vineyard was identified as the only place in the world where documented cases of tularemia resulted from lawn mowing.
In September 2022, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis flew two planeloads of Venezuelan migrants to Martha's Vineyard in an effort to draw attention to what Republican governors consider "the Biden administration's failed border policies". Some observers criticized DeSantis because the migrants were flown there unannounced. For nearly two days, island residents provided clothing, food, toys, toiletries, and temporary shelter, before removing the migrants from the island.
African American history[edit]
People were bought, sold, and probated as property on Martha's Vineyard. In 1700, Reverend Samuel Sewall, a seasonal resident of Martha's Vineyard, was one of the first to publicly oppose slavery in the New England Colonies. In 1646, magistrates in Massachusetts ruled that two Africans who had been enslaved and imported be returned to their native country. In 1652, Rhode Island passed a law abolishing slavery and ordering that Africans be freed after a term of 10 years, just like indentured servants. In addition to that, "at no time during its history did people of color lose the right to use the courts to challenge their status. Nor did they lose the right to inherit property in certain circumstances."
On October 15, 2020, Edgartown Harbor was officially recognized as an Underground Railroad Site by the National Park Service. This recognition was given after a submission from a nonprofit corporation, the African American Heritage Trail of Martha's Vineyard. The corporation was founded in 1998 by Martha's Vineyard NAACP vice president Carrie Camillo Tankard and teacher Elaine Cawley Weintraub. Their mission is to "continue to research and publish previously undocumented history and to involve the Island community in the identification and celebration of the contributions made by people of color to the island of Martha's Vineyard." The trail consists of 31 sites all marked by a descriptive plaque.
Hereditary deafness and sign language[edit]
Martha's Vineyard became known as an "everyone signs" community after three centuries of an unusually high level of hereditary deafness caused Martha's Vineyard to be labeled a "deaf utopia". Its deaf heritage cannot be traced to one common ancestor and is thought to have originated in the Weald, a region that overlaps the borders of the English counties of Kent and Sussex, prior to immigration. Researcher Nora Groce estimates that by the late 19th century, one in 155 people on the Vineyard was born deaf (0.7 percent)—about 37 times the estimate for the nation at large (1 in 5,728, or 0.02 percent)—because of a "recessive pattern" of genetic deafness, circulated through endogamous marriage patterns.
Deaf Vineyarders generally earned an average or above-average income (proved by tax records), and they participated in church affairs with passion. The deafness on the island affected both females and males in approximately the same percentage. In the late 19th century, the mixed marriages between deaf and hearing spouses comprised 65 percent of all deaf marriages on the island, as compared to the rate of 20 percent deaf-hearing marriage in the mainland. The sign language used by Vineyarders is called Martha's Vineyard Sign Language (MVSL), and it is different from American Sign Language (ASL). However, the geographical, time, and population proximities state that MVSL and ASL are impossible to develop in complete isolation from each other. MVSL was commonly used by hearing residents as well as deaf ones until the middle of the 20th century. No language barrier created a smooth communication environment for all the residents of the island.
In the 20th century, tourism became a mainstay in the island economy, and tourism-related jobs appeared. However, jobs in tourism were not as deaf-friendly as fishing and farming had been. Consequently, as intermarriage and further migration joined the people of Martha's Vineyard to the mainland, the island community more and more resembled the oral community there. The last deaf person born into the island's sign-language tradition, Katie West, died in 1952, but a few elderly residents were able to recall MVSL as recently as the 1980s when research into the language began.
