Martha's Vineyard

Martha's Vineyard

Nickname: The Vineyard, The Rock
Martha’s Vineyard and the Elizabeth Islands
Martha's Vineyard Location of Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts Show map of Massachusetts Martha's Vineyard Location in the United States Show map of the United States
Geography
Location	Dukes County, Massachusetts
Coordinates	41°24′N 70°37′W / 41.400°N 70.617°W / 41.400; -70.617
Major islands	Martha’s Vineyard, Chappaquiddick
Area	96 sq mi (250 km2)
Length	20.5 mi (33 km)
Coastline	200 km (124 mi)
Highest elevation	311 ft (94.8 m)
Highest point	Peaked Hill
Administration
United States
State	Massachusetts
County	Dukes
Demographics
Population	20,600 (2018[1])
Pop. density	179.8/sq mi (69.42/km2)
Additional information
Official website	mvy.com

Martha's Vineyard, often simply called the Vineyard,^[2] is an island in the U.S. state of Massachusetts, lying just south of Cape Cod. It is known for being a popular, affluent summer colony, and includes the smaller peninsula Chappaquiddick Island. It is the 58th largest island in the U.S., with a land area of about 96 square miles (250 km²),^[3] 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.^[4] The summer population swells to more than 200,000 people. About 56 percent of the Vineyard's 14,621 homes are seasonally occupied.^[5]

A study by the Martha's Vineyard Commission found that the cost of living on the island is 60 percent higher than the national average, and housing prices are 96 percent higher.^[6] A study of housing needs by the Commission found that the average weekly wage on Martha's Vineyard was "71 percent of the state average, the median home price was 54 percent above the state's and the median rent exceeded the state's by 17 percent," all leading to a stark example of severe income inequalities between year-round residents and their seasonal counterparts.^[7][8]

It is said to be named after the daughter of the British explorer Bartholomew Gosnold, who led the first recorded European expedition to Cape Cod in 1602.^[a] A smaller island to the south was first to be named "Martha's Vineyard" but this later became associated with this island. It is the eighth-oldest surviving English place-name in the United States.^[10] The island was subsequently known as Martin's Vineyard (perhaps after the captain of Gosnold's ship, John Martin); many islanders up to the 18th century called it by this name.^[11]

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.^[12][13][14]

According to historian Henry Franklin Norton, the island was known by Native Americans as Noepe or Capawock.^[15] 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.

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