Martha's Vineyard. Martha's Vineyard, often simply called the Vineyard, is an island in the Northeastern United States, south of Cape Cod in Dukes County, Massachusetts, known for being a popular, affluent summer colony. Martha's Vineyard includes the smaller adjacent Chappaquiddick Island, a peninsula, currently connected to the Vineyard. It is the 58th largest island in the U.S., with a land area of about 96 square miles, and the third-largest on the East Coast, after Long Island and Mount Desert Island. Martha's Vineyard constitutes the bulk of Dukes County, 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. The summer population swells to more than 200,000 people. About 56 percent of the Vineyard's 14,621 homes are seasonally occupied. 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. 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. There is no definitive source for the name 'Martha's Vineyard', but it is thought to be named for the mother-in-law or daughter, both named Martha, of the English explorer Bartholomew Gosnold, who led the first recorded European expedition to Cape Cod in 1602. 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. The island was subsequently known as Martin's Vineyard; many islanders up to the 18th century called it by this name. 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. According to historian Henry Franklin Norton, the island was known by Native Americans as Noepe or Capawock. It is referred to in the 1691 Massachusetts Charter as Cappawock. Gay Head Cliffs and Lighthouse, Aquinnah 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. 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. 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.In 1657, the younger Thomas 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. 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, New York was incorporated, including Martha's Vineyard.