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
Nomans Land (Massachusetts) wildlife habitat, the island is closed to all public use. In 1602, during the British ship "Concord"'s exploration of Cape Cod, Captain Bartholomew Gosnold named Nomans Land "Martha's Vineyard" after his eldest daughter, Martha. However, the name was later transferred to the larger island currently known as Martha's Vineyard, which is located northeast of Nomans Land. The island was probably named "Nomans Land" after a Martha's Vineyard Wampanoag sachem, Tequenoman, who had jurisdiction over the island when the English came in the early 17th century: named from ""Teque"Noman's Land" (figurative phrase). An entail of 1695 mentions that William Nicoll of