ARTHA'S VINEYARD, called "Noepe" by the Indians, which means in their picturesque language "In the Midst of the Sea," is the largest island on the southeastern coast of Massachusetts. It is twenty miles long and nine miles wide and but a few feet above the sea level in the eastern part, which is known as the Plains, one of the largest tracts of level ground in New England. However, the land gradually rises to an elevation of over three hundred feet above the sea level at Peaked Hill in Chilmark, not Indian Hill as believed by many summer visitors.
Martha's Vineyard, with Chappaquiddick, No-Man's-Land, and the Elizabeth Islands comprise the County of Dukes County, which was incorporated November 1, 1668. The county was named for the Duke of York by the first governor, Thomas Mayhew, who was hoping thereby to gain royal favor. There are six towns on Martha's Vineyard. Edgartown on the east, named for Edgar, son of James II, who bore the title of Duke of Cambridge; Oak Bluffs on the northeast, named for its location and oak trees; Tisbury for the Mayhew Parish in England; later the village post-office was named Vineyard Haven because of its location; West Tisbury; Chilmark, for the English Parish of Governor Mayhew's wife, and Gay Head on the west, named for its wonderful cliffs of different colored clay.
DISCOVERED BY NORTHMEN IN A. D. 1000
The first Europeans that visited Martha's Vineyard were the Northmen, who landed about the year 1000, naming it Vineland. In some of their writings have been found descriptions that can be of no other place than Martha's Vineyard.
