USA > Massachusetts > Dukes County > Marthas Vineyard > The history of Martha's Vineyard, Dukes County, Massachusetts, Volume I > Part 2
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50
The surface of the Vineyard is distinctly divided into three parts. On the north side, extending from West Chop to Gay Head, there is a belt of hills composed of sand, gravel and bowl- ders, averaging a mile and one-half in width, and rising in height from about fifty feet at its eastern extremity to three hundred and ten feet at Peaked and Prospect hills in Chilmark. South of this belt the surface passes suddenly into a plain on the east- ern half of the island, gradually sloping to ten feet above the sea level at the shore. West of this is the Gay Head peninsula, where the district is again hilly, rising to an average height of about one hundred and fifty feet above the sea level. The ex- ternal aspect of this island differs materially from Nantucket,- although both are of the same geologic formation, the detritus of glacial floes, probably representing the extreme southern edge of the drift deposits. Nantucket is practically devoid of trees, while the greater part of the Vineyard is forest-clad, and in
'The channel of Vineyard Sound does not exceed seventy-five feet in depth.
18
General and Statistical
earlier days undoubtedly had a much heavier growth than at present.1
The drift material of which this island is composed consists of four groups of glacial deposits :- ground moraines or till, left by melting of the ice sheet, frontal moraine deposits pushed be- fore the glacier, kame (i. e. comb-like) deposits brought hither by sub-glacial streams, and terrace deposits formed by tidal action.2 Of the first named the example is the Gay Head pla- teau, which rests on a bed of tertiary clay. The deposit averages about ten feet in depth, and is composed of sand, pebbles, and the pulverized granitic rocks from the mainland. The second group, or frontal moraine, is represented by the hills on the north shore between Tashmoo and Menemsha, which were pushed up by the face of the floe, and the surface is marked by the depo- sition of countless massive blocks of syenite, so numerous "that on the steeper parts of the hills the bare masses of angular frag- ments remind the observer of cyclopean masonry." The amount of detrital deposit in this belt is greater than any of a similar nature in New England.3 None of these large blocks or bowlders are believed to have come from a greater distance than fifty miles, and the total deposit represents an erosion of about a thousand square miles.
The third named group, the kames, from a Scotch word signifying a comb, is represented by the drifts on the eastern shore of Lagoon pond, on Chappaquiddick and on the north- east shore of Tashmoo pond. They are composed of the usual detrital material in strata formed into plateaux having irreg- ular depressions or valleys as a result of swift currents of sub-glacial streams cutting through them. The last, or terrace drift, composes the great "Ragged Plain" sloping southward with gentle undulations to the sea, a formation better shown on this island than in any other part of New England.
The source of all this deposit, from its character, is believed to have been the region between Newport and the head of Buzzard's Bay. The great bowlders of quartz, feldspar, and
1Prof. Shaler thinks it due to greater exposure to sea winds on Nantucket, and the browsing of young trees by sheep in open pastures on that island.
"There are no lenticular hills or "drumlins" on the island, and but one group of "Indian ridges" or warlike variety of the kames.
3Prof. Shaler estimates this at half a cubic mile, or a mass as large as Monad- nock Mountain. He further estimates that the ice front remained at this point twelve to twenty-four thousand years. There is no trace of it in the sea south of the island.
19
History of Martha's Vineyard
hornblende, the largest of which contains about a hundred cubic feet, now to be seen on the Chilmark hills, are typical of the region indicated on the mainland. There are many other rare varieties of rock found in the Gay Head district, such as ilmenite, or titaniferous magnetic iron ore, which only occurs in a solitary circumscribed area in the town of Cumber- land, R.I., the only known place in New England. A fragment weighing ten pounds was discovered near the western end of Squipnocket pond, actually imbedded in the drift deposit. Cretaceous rocks occur at two points; one south of Indian hill and east of a ruined building known as the "Wood school house," and the other on the eastern shore of Lagoon pond, both of very limited areas. The tertiary beds of the island are the most northern of all the known deposits of that age on the eastern versant of North America, but only a small portion of these beds is exposed to view, at Gay Head and the base of the Nashaquitsa cliffs.
Gay Head deserves special mention, as it is one of the most striking geologic phenomena on the Atlantic coast, and is a unique exhibition of Nature in one of her rococo moods. With its escarpment of over six thousand feet showing parti- colored sands and clays to the height of eighty feet, it well merits the name of "Gay," although its earliest name, given by Gosnold, was Dover Cliffs, in honor of the English seaport.1 Divided into three portions, it faces north, west, and south- west, showing steep beds of extremely vivid clays of contrasting colors from dazzling white to the nearly pure black carbon- aceous layers, and intermediate hues of red, brown, green, and yellow. The white sandbeds of powdered granitic rock are the most abundant element, and the next most conspicuous beds are those of red clay, probably pulverized sandstone like that of the Connecticut valley. The "greensand" so called, consisting of the brownish, yellowish, and greenish clays, are at the northern end of the cliffs, and in them are found numerous fossils, such as vertebræ of whales, sharks' teeth, crabs, many lignites, and some few specimens of fossil resin.2 From this,
'It will be remembered that the Dover cliffs are a pure white. It seems proper to suggest here that this unique natural phenomenon at Gay Head should be made a public reservation, and thus save it from despoilment by commercial exploiters, who are denuding it, as they did the Palisades of the Hudson, of its wonderful natural attractions.
2 In the Boston Journal of Natural History (1863) is a description of "The Fos- sil Crab of Gay Head." In the region of Cotamy bay there have been found a number of molluscan fossils, an oyster of exogyron aspect, a pecten of costata type,
20
General and Statistical
Professor Shaler argues that the Gay Head was part of a delta of a great river, which he terms the Vineyard river.
The geology of the Elizabeth Islands and Noman's Land differs in no important particular from that of the Vineyard, being of the same general character.
The shore line of the Vineyard, particularly on its south- ern littoral, presenting an unobstructed and projecting front beyond the trend of the mainland to wave action, is under- going gradual erosion. The late Professor Henry L. Whiting estimated the recedence on the south beach at about two hun- dred feet, at Nashaquitsa cliffs two hundred twenty feet, and at Chilmark pond, one hundred eighty feet in a period of forty years covering his work in the coast survey. In addition to this, what he terms the "overshot" into the ponds on that side represents encroachments greater than the effects of normal sea-dash, amounting to between five and six hun- dred feet in the Chilmark and Tisbury ponds.1 In conse- quence of this, a group of small ponds connecting the Great Herring pond with Katama bay have been obliterated. This included the Crackatuxet pond of the first settlers. The tip end of Chappaquiddick on which the lighthouse now stands was once an island known early as Capawack and later as Natuck. It was doubtless connected by the great storm of 1722, which also closed an opening into Pocha pond.2 The whole eastern fringe of Chappaquiddick was probably an outer bar of beach separated from the rest of the island. From analogy and historic references it can be inferred that Squip- nocket pond was open to the sea on the south after the settlement by the whites. A document dated 1694 refers to the neck of land joining Gay Head to Chilmark, where the main road now runs, as "the place where the casks were rolled over out of one into the other pond when a shippe was left on the south side of the island."3 The present drawbridge on the "Beach road" connecting Cottage City, spans an opening into Lagoon pond which was made about sixty years ago. The original opening was at the western end of the beach, adjoining Vine- yard Haven, and the ferry to Woods Hole in early days found its harbor inside the opening. Similar phenomena have been
and about a dozen other allied varieties of the Lower Cretaceans. Post-glacial fos- sils have also been found at Gay Head, similar to those discovered at Sankaty Head, Nantucket.
1Letter dated September 15, 1886.
2Dukes Deeds, VI, 401. Testimony of Benjamin Norton.
3Ibid., I, 27.
2I
History of Martha's Vineyard
observed at the south opening of Katama bay in very recent years, and the changes in that strip of beach due to sea-dash have been frequent and striking. The north side of the island has suffered less, but both East and West Chops have shown considerable erosion, and within the past decade the general government has fortified these two points by jetties and rip- rap to prevent further loss and the shoaling of Vineyard Haven harbor.
METEOROLOGICAL CONDITIONS.
The climate of the Vineyard is obviously an insular cli- mate and therefore the temperature ranges are not as marked as on the mainland, due in a great measure to the mitigating effects of the ocean.
From official data of the weather bureau the annual mean maximum temperature is found to be 59.2°: and the annual mean minimum, 43.7º: thus making an annual mean of 51.4°. The records show that the hottest month in the history of the station at Vineyard Haven was July, 1894, with a mean of 73.4°: and the coldest month was January, 1893, with a mean of 24.9º. The minimum temperature rarely goes to zero-about once each season-and remains only a few hours at most. It does, however, go below 32º on an average of 86 times each year. The absolute minimum record is -7º on Jan. 29, 1888. The maximum reaches 90° about three times in each two years. The absolute maximum noted is 96° on July 29, 1892.
Light frosts occur generally during the first week of Octo- ber, the earliest record being September 22. The average date of the first killing frost in autumn is October 25. The average date of the last killing frost in spring is April 18, and the date of the last killing frost known, is May 24.
The average precipitation of the seasons is: spring, 11.7 inches; summer, 9.9 inches; fall, 12.4 inches; winter, II.I inches; making an annual mean of 45.1 inches. The annual mean snowfall is 33 inches. Precipitation in measurable amounts occurs on 130 days of the year. The wettest month within the history of the station was September, 1888, with a total of 11.4 inches, and the dryest was the month of the same name in the year 1897, with a total of only o.80 inch.
The prevailing winds are from the northwest during the colder months, and from the southwest during the remainder of the year. The average hourly velocity is 9.6 miles. The
22
General and Statistical
average number of gales (40 miles or over) is eight per year. Dense fog prevails on thirty-five days of the year, hail on one day, thunderstorms on thirteen; the average number of clear days is 137, partly cloudy, 80, and cloudy, 148.1
The temperature of Martha's Vineyard is much more favorable than in most of the state, not varying much from that of Nantucket, where there are 230 days without frost, while the other parts of the state only enjoy from 140 to 160. The Vineyard, however, has some advantages over Nantucket in not receiving the sharp northeast winds which sometimes sweep down around Cape Cod but hardly ever touch this island. It is a noticeable fact that while the mean summer temperature of the water in Massachusetts bay is 52º, in Buz- zard's bay on the south and in the Sound it is 72º. The in- fluence of the Gulf Stream seems to be very perceptible on the south shore; a number of times within the past thirty years the island has been visited by the golden mullet, a very delicate fish of the South, and never known to be north of the Caro- linas. Some years ago a true pelican was shot in one of the salt ponds opening into the sea.
Once or twice in a generation the harbors and the surround- ing waters will be frozen enough to prevent navigation, as in the recent winter of 1905. The winter of 1856-7 is also remembered by the older inhabitants as one of such severity as to cause similar effects, but as a rule the winters are "open" for the reasons above given. Parson Homes of Chilmark records the winter of 1725-6 as of exceptional severity, the snow lasting from November through the middle of March.
FLORA.
The flora of the islands first attracted the attention of the historian of the Gosnold expedition. He said that "the chiefest trees of this island are Beeches and Cedars," and in another place he refers to the "Cedars tall and straight, in great abundance." The other trees mentioned by him are the following: "Sassafras, Cypres trees, Oakes, Walnut trees great store, Elmes, Beech, Hollie, Haslenut trees, Cherry trees, Cotten trees, Other fruit trees to us unknowen." He said the islands were full of "high timbered Oaks, their leaves thrice
"These facts were compiled for the author by William W. Neifert of the Weather Bureau, who was in charge of the local station at Vineyard Haven for a number of years. This station was established Nov. 6, 1886, and discontinued June 18, 1900. These records, therefore, cover a period of fourteen years.
23
History of Martha's Vineyard
so broad as ours," and that the walnut trees were in abundance, "the fruit as bigge as ours, as appeared by those we found under the trees, which had lien all the yeare ungathered." Of the cherry trees he noted that "the stalke beareth the blossomes or fruit at the end thereof, like a cluster of Grapes, forty or fifty in a bunch." Sassafras trees were in "great plentie all the Island over." Among the edible flora he reported some "low bushie trees, three or foure foot in height, which bear some kinde of fruits," which may have been the beach plum, a variety of the prune family, now common on the island. Others noticed and listed were "Strawberries, red and white, as sweet and bigger than ours in England, Rasberries, Goose- berries, Hurtleberries ( i. e. huckleberries), and such an in- credible store of Vines, as well in the woodie parts of the Island, that we could not goe for treading upon them." He said they
were "in more plenty than in France."1 The only vegetable mentioned by him are Peas, "which grow in certeine plots all the Island over." It seems certain that he failed to observe the other legume, cultivated by the natives, the bean,2 and it is quite probable that, had he gone into the interior of the Vineyard, he would have found fields of corn, and squash vines trailing through them.3 Corn was pre-eminently the Indian's cereal, called by him "weatchimin," and our word "succotash" is derived from their term "msickquatash" which means literally, corn beaten in pieces. Ground-nuts, "good meat, & also medicinable," probably the bulbs of the lily family, such as may be found now at Squipnocket, which de- rived its name from the red lily growing in its marsh soils, were also noted by the journalist of the expedition who adds :- "They also gave us of their Tobacco, which they drinke greene, but dried into powder, very stronge and pleasant and much better than I have tasted in England."4 This was, probably, the so-called "Indian tobacco" of this region, the lobelia, although they may have obtained the Virginian variety by a
'These vines gave the island its name. Remains of them may be seen on north - ern and western hills of Chilmark and Gay Head.
? It is possible that he mistook beans for pease, of which he saw a large quantity. The English-Natick dictionary of Trumbull does not contain an Algonquian word for " pease," and it seems that the journalist must have seen the bean, which we now know as one of the native vegetables.
"Indian corn or maize was also known as " turkey wheat" by our ancestors.
"" Drinking" tobacco is the ancient term for smoking that weed. " I did not, as you barren gallants do, Fill my discourses up drinking tobacco."
CHAPMAN, All Fools, II, I.
24
General and Statistical
system of barter from tribe to tribe.1 "We had, also," writes Brereton, "of their Flaxe, wherewith they make many stringes and cords, but it is not so bright of collour as ours in England : I am persuaded they have great store growing upon the maine."2
Of the trees mentioned in Brereton's list, the cypress has disappeared, and if there be any hazelnut or "cotton" trees on the island at present, they are unknown to the author. The cedar, also, has practically vanished, and only gnarled and bent specimens survive as the relics of "tall and straight" ones seen by the first explorers. The evergreen trees, pines, firs, spruce, have scattered growth still on the island, but their early extent is problematical. Oaks, great and small, are the principal constituents of our forests, and the great plain land is a dense jungle of the "scrub oak" which thrives despite repeated devastating fires covering large areas. Professor Sha- ler states that "originally this region was heavily wooded, mainly with coniferous trees, the present prevalence of the deciduous species being due to the peculiar endurance of their roots in the fires, a capacity which does not exist in the con- ifers."
Apple trees were brought to Massachusetts in 1629, but there is no record of the date when this fruit was first cultivated here on the island. The earliest mention of it is in 1660, when "sider" was made a prohibited article of sale to the Indians, but apple trees are not specifically named until 1744. Quince trees were found at Tashmoo in 1721, but both these dates are accidental references, and it is probable that they were planted many years before. An "orchard" is mentioned at Chickemmoo in 1688.
Additions to the list of small fruits given by Brereton, now to be found on the island, will include the blackberry and cranberry, both undoubtedly native products. Cran- berries were first mentioned in the records in 1755, at Nasha- moiess.
To attempt an enumeration of the Vineyard flora would require space out of proportion to its relation with the scope of this work. It will be sufficient to say that a specialist who has made a study in this field for fifteen years has analyzed and classified over seven hundred species of plant life found upon the island. Similarly, the marine algæ show almost an infinite variety of delicate beauty in form and color.
1 Brereton refers to their pipes, made out of "red and white clay" hard dried, showing that they were of the Gay Head clay.
2 Flax was sown at Pocha in 1723. (Dukes Deeds, IV, 14.)
25
History of Martha's Vineyard
FAUNA.
Brereton is our first authority on the fauna of the Vine- yard, although we cannot be sure that he has not included in his lists some animals seen by him on the mainland. He enumerates "Deere in great store, very great and large, Beares, Luzernes (lynx), Blacke Foxes, Beavers, Otters, Wilde-Cats, verie large and great, Dogs like Foxes, blacke and sharpe nosed (and) Conies (hares)." It is known that deer can swim across a stretch of water as wide as Vineyard Sound, and their habitat on the island is not improbable, but the same cannot be said of the "beares."
The wild animals of the Vineyard have practically disap- peared, and the formidable list of Brereton contains only two which can be said to exist today, the fox and rabbit. It may be that some of our dogs might claim a pedigree dating from the "sharp-nosed" kind seen in the beginning of the 17th century, but they have long since been domesticated.
Brereton also speaks of reptiles, but confines himself to "Snakes foure foot in length, and sixe inches about, which the Indians eat for daintie meat, the skinnes whereof they use for girdles." There are but a few varieties of snakes on the islands, all of a harmless species.
His list of birds includes the following varieties, some of which are evidently extinct at the present day: "Eagles, Hern- shawes (herons), Cranes, Bitters (bitterns or small herons), Mallards, Teales, Pengwins, Ospreis, and Hawks, Crowes, Ravens, Mewes (gulls), Doves, Sea-pies (oyster catchers), and Blacke-birdes with carnation wings." The penguin is essentially an inhabitant of the Southern hemisphere, and has disappeared from these waters if it ever came here.
It is not known that a comprehensive study of the birds which nest on the Vineyard has ever been undertaken, but observers have made records of the arrival of the migrants in their annual flights to the North. The list may serve to show the varieties which find their way to our woods and fields, although it is not offered as a complete enumeration of the many aerial and aquatic birds which become temporary so- journers on the island. It is as follows: robin, crow and red- winged blackbird, meadow lark, blue jay, chickadee, red- headed and golden-winged woodpeckers, song, tree, and vesper sparrows, orchard and Baltimore orioles, white-breasted nut- hatch, fish, hen, pigeon, and sparrow hawks, gray owl, grosbeak,
26
General and Statistical
chewink, king fisher, red thrush, flycatcher, barn and chimney swallows, cuckoo, redstart, whippoorwill, and the yellow, blue, cow, cat, king, snow, humming, and cedar birds.
The many ponds on the south side of the Vineyard offer attractive feeding grounds for the game birds, and with the exception of the marshes of the Cape this region is one of the few virgin sections left for these hunted birds to find a resting place at night, or in stormy weather.
The list of birds would not be complete without special mention of the heath-hen or pinnated grouse, which has been on the island for at least a century. It was probably brought here for breeding as a game bird, and in 1824 laws for its pro- tection were passed by the voters of Tisbury, where it is found to-day in its feeding grounds on the plains. A cock, hen, and their young may frequently be seen from the state highway in that town.1
Brereton gives a list of fishes which he said he saw "not- withstanding our small time of stay." These are comprised in the following list: "Whales, Tortoises, both on land and sea, Seales, Cods, Mackerell, Breames, Herrings, Thornbacke (ray or skate), Hakes (codlings), Rockefish, Dogfish, Lobsters, Crabbes, Muscles, Wilks (snails), Cockles, Scallops, (and) Oisters."
To the shell fish named by Brereton should be added that valuable bivalve the clam, of which there are two abundant varieties, the "poquauhock" of the Indian, or round clam ("little necks"), and the "sikkissuog" or long clam, with soft shell. These are found principally in the waters about Chappaquiddick and Capoag pond, and their gathering for the market constitutes a large business for the fishermen of that section. Oysters have practically disappeared, but at one time must have been plenty in the ponds bordering the south beach. Indeed, one of them is named Oyster pond, presumably because of its being one of the principal places where the beds existed. In 1792, the citizens of Tisbury found it necessary to pass a vote prohibiting all persons "from Catch- ing Oysters in the Pond Called Newtown Pond, to carrey to Market off the Island of Marthasvineyard, or to sell by Cart Loads on the Island."
The fish which inhabit these waters and form one of the profitable industries of the island, are in addition to those
1It is traditional that when an effort was made in the State Legislature to secure a law for the protection of the heath hen, an error of the printer in the title of the bill made it read " An Act for the protection of the Heathen of Martha's Vineyard."
27
History of Martha's Vineyard
enumerated by the journalist of Gosnold's voyage, the striped bass, blue fish, sword fish, porgie, tautaog, chogset, sque- teague, eels, "spanish mackerel," so-called.1
Of the fresh water fish, it is difficult to determine what varieties are native and what may be artificially stocked, but the various ponds and streams yield trout, perch, black bass, and pickerel.
POPULATION.
From 1641 to 1670, the period elapsing between the first settlement at Great Harbor and the beginning of the new town at Takemmy, the entire English population was resident at the east end of the island. We have no records bearing upon this subject at that early date, but we can reach some proximate and satisfactory conclusion from a knowledge of the families who lived here at that time. The first list of proprietors em- braces nineteen men, some of whom were not then married, and of the others we are in possession of the number of their children. It is possible to estimate sixty-five persons as con- stituting the total of whites at that time. In 1660, a second list gives twenty-six different proprietors, and the same process yields about eighty-five persons, and by the end of the next decade there might have been a hundred, in round numbers. The settlement of Tisbury brought, between 1670 and 1680, about a dozen families, so that in a statement of the relative strength of the Indians and whites on the Vineyard in 1675, it was reported that there were "not above forty men on the island capable of bearing Armes."? This means men between the ages of sixteen and sixty, and reckoning three-fourths of them as married and heads of families, with six as a multiple, we can place the population at 180, at the time of King Philip's War. No further data until 1692 enables us to estimate the intervening increases. In that year Simon Athearn informed the General Court: "We are but about fifty 7 or 8 famelys on the Iland," and allowing two families for the Elizabeth Islands, making sixty, and computing the ratio which has since obtained in the county, we are justified in calculating 350 as the total at that time.3 Probably at the close of the 17th century there were four hundred English people residing within the limits of Dukes County. There is no subsequent
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.