Martha's Vineyard Martha's Vineyard Martha's Vineyard (Wampanoag: ; often simply called The Vineyard) is an island located south of Cape Cod in Massachusetts that is known for being an affluent summer colony. Martha's Vineyard includes the smaller Chappaquiddick Island, which is usually connected to the Vineyard, though storms and hurricanes have separated them, as in 2007. It is the 58th largest island in the United States, with a land area of , and the third-largest on the East Coast of the United States, after Long Island and Mount Desert Island. Martha's Vineyard constitutes the bulk of Dukes County, Massachusetts, which also includes
Martha's Vineyard on the island, and it was also the setting for Robert Harris' 2007 novel "The Ghost". Martha's Vineyard was known as an "everyone signed" community for several hundred years, and many Deaf people view Martha's Vineyard as a utopia. A high rate of hereditary deafness was documented on Martha's Vineyard for almost two centuries. The island's deaf heritage cannot be traced to one common ancestor and is thought to have originated in the Weald, a region that overlaps the borders of the English counties of Kent and Sussex, prior to immigration. Researcher Nora Groce estimates that by the late 19th