History Of Dukes County, Massachusetts
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History Of Dukes County, Massachusetts
Dukes County is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 20,600, making it the List of counties in Massachusetts#List of Counties, second-least populous county in Massachusetts. Its county seat is Edgartown, Massachusetts, Edgartown. Dukes County comprises the Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts, Vineyard Haven, MA Micropolitan Statistical Area. The county consists of 32 named islands, the largest of which is Martha's Vineyard. It also includes Chappaquiddick Island (sometimes peninsula of the Vineyard), the Elizabeth Islands, including Cuttyhunk, and Nomans Land (Massachusetts), Nomans Land. History The original inhabitants of the islands were Wampanoag people, Wampanoag, who had several villages. Political jurisdiction over the lands were granted by the English monarchy in overlapping claims to two different British nobles, from which Massachusetts Bay Company settler Thomas Mayhew purcha ...
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List Of Counties In Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has 14 counties, though eight of these fourteen county governments were abolished between 1997 and 2000. The counties in the southeastern portion of the state retain county-level local government (Barnstable, Bristol, Dukes, Norfolk, Plymouth) or, in one case, ( Nantucket County) consolidated city-county government. Vestigial judicial and law enforcement districts still follow county boundaries even in the counties whose county-level government has been disestablished, and the counties are still generally recognized as geographic entities if not political ones. Three counties (Hampshire, Barnstable, and Franklin) have formed new county regional compacts to serve as a form of regional governance. Abolitions of some county governments Mismanagement of Middlesex County's public hospital in the mid-1990s left that county on the brink of insolvency, and in 1997 the Massachusetts legislature stepped in by assuming all assets and obligations of ...
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Wampanoag People
The Wampanoag, also rendered Wôpanâak, are a Native American people of the Northeastern Woodlands currently based in southeastern Massachusetts and formerly parts of eastern Rhode Island.Salwen, "Indians of Southern New England and Long Island," p. 171. Their historical territory includes the islands of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket. Today, two Wampanoag tribes are federally recognized: * Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe * Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah). Herring Pond Tribe is a historical Wampanoag Tribe located in Plymouth and Bourne, Massachusetts The Wampanoag language, also known as Massachusett, is a Southern New England Algonquian language. Prior to English contact in the 17th century, the Wampanoag numbered as many as 40,000 people living across 67 villages composing the Wampanoag Nation. These villages covered the territory along the east coast as far as Wessagusset (today called Weymouth), all of what is now Cape Cod and the islands of Natocket and Noepe ( ...
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Veckatimest Island
Veckatimest Island is one of the Elizabeth Islands, part of the town of Gosnold in Dukes County, Massachusetts, United States. It used to be known as "East Buck." The island has a land area of and was uninhabited as of the 2000 census. The island received further recognition after Brooklyn band Grizzly Bear named their third studio album after it. The band's founding member, Ed Droste, is connected to the Forbes family, who own Naushon Island, through his mother Diana Forbes. History Veckatimest Island, formerly known as "East Buck" to some, was claimed as one of the many Elizabeth Islands by the colonist and explorer, Bartholomew Gosnold Bartholomew Gosnold ( – ) was an English barrister, explorer and privateer who was instrumental in founding the Virginia Company in London and Jamestown in colonial America. He led the first recorded European expedition to Cape Cod. He is co ..., in 1602. Prior to Gosnold's arrival, the islands were used by the local indigenous po ...
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Nonamesset Island
Nonamesset Island is the most easterly of the Elizabeth Islands of Dukes County, Massachusetts, United States. The island has a land area of or 345.5 acres The acre ( ) is a unit of land area used in the British imperial and the United States customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one chain by one furlong (66 by 660 feet), which is exactly equal to 10 square chains, ...) and was uninhabited as of the 2000 census. The island is part of the town of Gosnold, Massachusetts. Painter Robert Swain Gifford was born on the island in 1840. References {{authority control Elizabeth Islands Uninhabited islands of Massachusetts Coastal islands of Massachusetts ...
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Uncatena Island
Uncatena Island is one of the Elizabeth Islands of Dukes County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the most northerly of the Elizabeth Islands and lies just off the northernmost point of Naushon Island. Uncatena has a land area of 0.492 km2 (0.19 sq mi, or 121.6 acres The acre ( ) is a unit of land area used in the British imperial and the United States customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one chain by one furlong (66 by 660 feet), which is exactly equal to 10 square chains, ...), and was uninhabited as of the 2000 census. It is part of the Town of Gosnold. References Elizabeth Islands Gosnold, Massachusetts Uninhabited islands of Massachusetts Coastal islands of Massachusetts {{US-island-stub ...
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Gull Island (Massachusetts)
Gull Island is a small island located just off the southeast coast of Penikese Island. It is part of the Elizabeth Islands and is entirely part of the town of Gosnold in Dukes County, Massachusetts. At one point it contained the Gull Island Bomb Area, a United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ... bombing range. It is currently uninhabited. See also * Gosnold, Massachusetts * List of military installations in Massachusetts References Elizabeth Islands Coastal islands of Massachusetts Uninhabited islands of Massachusetts {{DukesCountyMA-geo-stub ...
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Penikese Island
Penikese Island is a island off the coast of Massachusetts, United States, in Buzzards Bay. It is one of the Elizabeth Islands, which make up the town of Gosnold, Massachusetts. Penikese is located near the west end of the Elizabeth island chain. History Penikese Island entered the historical record in 1602 AD when the English explorer Bartholomew Gosnold and some of his crew visited the island. Their visit frightened four visiting Wampanoag Indians into hiding, and the explorers stole their canoe. Originally tree covered, at some later time the tree cover was lost, and the island was later used for pasturing sheep. To this day, it remains primarily grass covered. Ownership changed hands several times before the island was purchased by John Anderson, a businessman, who used it for vacationing. In early 1873, Louis Agassiz, the famous Swiss-American naturalist, persuaded Anderson to give him the island and $50,000 to endow a school for natural history where students would ...
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Cuttyhunk Island
Cuttyhunk Island is the outermost of the Elizabeth Islands in Massachusetts. A small outpost for the harvesting of sassafras was occupied for a few weeks in 1602, arguably making it the first English settlement in New England. Cuttyhunk is located between Buzzards Bay to the north and Vineyard Sound to the south. Penikese Island and Nashawena Island are located to the north and east respectively. The island has a land area of , and an estimated population of 10 residents, swelling to around 400 in the summer months. It is the fourth largest in area of the Elizabeth Islands and home to the village of Cuttyhunk. It lies entirely within the town of Gosnold. Geography Ecology Cuttyhunk is about a mile and a half long, and three-quarters of a mile wide, with a large natural harbor at the eastern end of the island. Fully half of the main part of the island is set apart as a nature preserve. It is home to a wide variety of birds such as piping plovers, least terns and Massachuse ...
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Pasque Island
Pasque Island is one of the Elizabeth Islands of Dukes County, Massachusetts, United States. It lies between Nashawena Island to the west and Naushon Island to the east. The island has a land area of 3.45 km2 (1.333 sq mi or 853 acres) and had a population of 2 persons as of the 2000 censusThe island is part of the town of Gosnold, Massachusetts Gosnold is a town that encompasses the Elizabeth Islands in Dukes County, Massachusetts, United States. At the 2020 census, the town population was 70, making it the least populous town in Massachusetts. Most of the residents live in the isla .... It is owned by the Forbes family. {{authority control Elizabeth Islands Coastal islands of Massachusetts Populated coastal places in Massachusetts ...
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Nashawena Island
Nashawena Island is the second largest of the Elizabeth Islands of Dukes County, Massachusetts, United States. It lies between Cuttyhunk Island to the west and Pasque Island to the east. The island has a land area of and a population of 2 persons as of the 2000 U.S. CensuThe island is part of the town of Gosnold, Massachusetts Gosnold is a town that encompasses the Elizabeth Islands in Dukes County, Massachusetts, United States. At the 2020 census, the town population was 70, making it the least populous town in Massachusetts. Most of the residents live in the isla .... Nashawena is a Wampanoag word meaning "middle island". Rock Island and Baret Island are two small islands located north of Nashawena. References {{Islands and Peninsulas of Massachusetts Elizabeth Islands Coastal islands of Massachusetts Populated coastal places in Massachusetts ...
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Naushon Island
Naushon Island is the largest of the Elizabeth Islands in southeastern Massachusetts. It is part of the town of Gosnold, Massachusetts, and is currently owned by the Forbes family. As of the 2000 census, the island had a permanent population of 30 people. The island is long and 7.4 square miles in land area (19.18 km2). It is separated from Cape Cod by a narrow strait and the smaller islands of Uncatena and Nonamesset, and is located four statute miles (6 km) northwest of Martha's Vineyard. History Early ownership Along with the rest of the Elizabeth Islands, Naushon Island was under British jurisdiction following its discovery in 1602 by Bartholomew Gosnold. At this time, Naushon was named "Cataymucke" by the Native Americans inhabiting the island. In 1654, Thomas Mayhew, and his son, John Mayhew, deprived the Native Americans’ of their own land by claiming to buy out their shares of the island, that knew of no shareholders. During the Mayhew's ownership of ...
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Nantucket County, Massachusetts
Nantucket () is an island in the state of Massachusetts in the United States, about south of the Cape Cod peninsula. Together with the small islands of Tuckernuck and Muskeget, it constitutes the Town and County of Nantucket, a combined county/town government. Nantucket is the southeasternmost town in both Massachusetts and the New England region. The name "Nantucket" is adapted from similar Algonquian names for the island. Nantucket is a tourist destination and summer colony. Due to tourists and seasonal residents, the population of the island increases to around 80,000 during the summer months. The average sale price for a single-family home was $2.3 million in the first quarter of 2018. The National Park Service cites Nantucket, designated a National Historic Landmark District in 1966, as being the "finest surviving architectural and environmental example of a late 18th- and early 19th-century New England seaport town." History Etymology Nantucket probably takes ...
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