The History
The island was originally called “Noepe” by the Wampanoag - meaning “in the Midst of the Sea.” It is the largest island on the southeastern coast of Massachusetts.
It was named "Martha's Vineyard" by the English explorer Bartholomew Gosnold, who sailed to the island in 1602. It is the eighth-oldest surviving English place-name in the United States.
The island's namesake is not positively known, but it is thought that the island was named after Gosnold's mother-in-law or his daughter, both of whom were named Martha.
English settlement began with the purchase of Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, and the Elizabeth Islands by Thomas Mayhew of Watertown, Massachusetts from two English "owners". His son, also named Thomas Mayhew, began the first English settlement in 1642 at Great Harbor (currently Edgartown)
Notables:
The island received international notoriety after the July 18, 1969, Chappaquiddick incident, in which Mary Jo Kopechne was killed in a car driven off the Dike Bridge by U.S. Senator Edward "Ted" Kennedy.
On November 23, 1970, in the Atlantic Ocean just west of Aquinnah, Simas Kudirka, a Soviet seaman of Lithuanian nationality, attempted to defect to the United States by leaping onto a United States Coast Guard cutter from a Soviet ship.
In 1974, Steven Spielberg filmed the movie Jaws on Martha's Vineyard, most notably in the fishing village of Menemsha and the town of Chilmark.
In 1977, distressed over losing their guaranteed seat in the Massachusetts General Court, inhabitants of Martha's Vineyard considered the possibility of secession from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Although the idea of separation from Massachusetts eventually proved impracticable, it did receive attention in the local, regional, and even national media.
On March 9, 1982, John Belushi was buried in Abel's Hill Cemetery in Chilmark. Belushi often visited the Vineyard and his family felt it fitting to bury him there. On his gravestone is the quote: "Though I may be gone, Rock 'N' Roll lives on."
Bill and Hillary Clinton spent vacation time on the island during and after his presidency, along with their daughter, Chelsea. Clinton was not the first president to visit the islands; Ulysses S. Grant visited the vacation residence of his friend, Bishop Gilbert Haven on August 24, 1874.
On August 23, 2009, Barack Obama arrived in Chilmark with his family for a week's vacation at a rental property known as Blue Heron Farm. They vacationed here many times during his presidency.
On July 16, 1999, a small plane crashed off the coast of Martha's Vineyard, claiming the lives of pilot John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife Carolyn Bessette and her sister Lauren Bessette. Kennedy's mother, former U.S. first lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, maintained a home in Aquinnah (formerly "Gay Head") until her death in 1994.
Other points of island notoriety include residents and summer vacationers such as:
Carly Simon, James Taylor, Peter Norton, Reese Witherspoon, Jake Gyllenhaal, David Letterman, Meg Ryan, Chelsea Handler, Rosie O’Donnell, Bill Murray, Neil Patrick Harris, David Duchovny, Cam Neely, Spike Lee, Kelly Ripa, Jon Bon Jovi, Diane Sawyer, Ethan Hawke, David Schwimmer, Larry David, Yoko Ono, Jeff Gordon, Kristen Wiig, and Amy Brenneman.
The Brush House, circa 1840 at 12 Spring Street
Original Captain Spring home circa 1798, Biddeford, Maine
Bodfish & Call Grocery, Main Street, Vineyard Haven circa 1906
Spring and Main Street, Vineyard Haven circa 1911