MARTHA'S VINEYARD, an island of south-eastern Mass achusetts, five miles across Vineyard sound from the "heel" of Cape Cod. It comprises about I oosq.m., its greatest length being 191m. and its greatest width, from north to south, 9i miles. It figured largely in the whaling industry and merchant trade of f or mer times; now it is chiefly a summer resort, although its many and diverse fisheries continue to be of importance and increasing value. Martha's Vineyard has characteristic insular temperatures. Its topography, of glacial origin, includes picturesque hills, as high as 311 ft., strewn with boulders; broad, undulating plains cut by great ponds with many fingerlike coves; deeply indented harbours with contrasting coast lines; and extensive wooded areas. Gay Head, its western peninsula, ends in a stretch of cliffs, 6,000ft. in length and as high as 145ft., of brilliantly coloured sands and clay. Bartholomew Gosnold visited and named Martha's Vineyard in 1602. (It may also have been the Straumey of the Norsemen and the Luisa of Verrazano.) The first settlement was at Great Har bour (Edgartown), sent out by Thomas Mayhew, an English mer chant of Watertown, in 1642. The island was controlled by New York until 1692. With the Elizabeth islands it constitutes Dukes
county, so named with Kings and Queens, on Long Island, by the New York provincial assembly in 1683.
The six towns of Martha's Vineyard, with population in 1930, are as follows : Tisbury (1,541) is principally the village of Vine yard Haven, called Holmes Hole until 1871. Its fine harbour, of great beauty, made it an historic refuge and port of call for ships. Oak Bluffs (1,333) is the site of camp meetings, held annually, save for a single year, since 1835. Becoming a populous summer town it was incorporated as Cottage View in 188o and renamed in 1907. Edgartown (1,276) was one of the important whaling centres, serving as the port for Nantucket for many years. It retains much of its atmosphere. West Tisbury (27o) was separated from Tis bury in 1892. Chilmark (252) includes the fishing village of Men emsha and the small island of Nomans Land (named after Teque noman, an Indian). It was founded as Tisbury Manor, with feudal lords, in 1671. Gay Head OW, never relinquished by the Indians, has been an Indian town since 1870. Its men, peculiarly skilled as harpooners, played a noted part in whaling history.