Sleepy History - Martha's Vineyard

Episode Date: March 29, 2026

Narrated By: Heather Foster Written By: Alicia Steffann Martha’s Vineyard rises from the Atlantic like a quiet promise, its shores kissed by waves and wind. From the earliest Indigenous communities to the bustling harbours of fishermen and summer visitors, the island has carried stories of resilience, tradition, and peaceful beauty. Lighthouses, dunes, and quiet cottages echo with centuries of life by the sea. Tonight, wander through the history, landscapes, and enduring charm of Martha’s Vineyard, as you drift into a peaceful and dream-filled sleep. Includes mentions of: Colonialism, Death, American Civil War, Slavery, Archaeology, Religious Taditions, US History, Architecture, Deaf History, Civil Rights, WWII #history #sleep #bedtime #Marthas #Vineyard #USHistory About Sleepy History Explore history's most intriguing stories, people, places, events, and mysteries, delivered in a supremely calming atmosphere. If you struggle to fall asleep and you have a curious mind, Sleepy History is the perfect bedtime companion. Our stories will gently grasp your attention, pulling your mind away from any racing thoughts, making room for the soothing music and calming narration to guide you into a peaceful sleep. Want to enjoy Sleepy History ad-free? Start your 7-day free trial of Sleepy History Premium: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://sleepyhistory.supercast.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Have feedback or an episode request? Let us know at: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠slumberstudios.com/contact⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Sleepy History is a production of Slumber Studios. To learn more, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.slumberstudios.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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going back many thousands of years. Although it's thought of as a retreat for the rich and famous nowadays, the vineyard has an intriguing past that is surprising in its scope. But who were the first people to inhabit this island and how did colonization alter its course? More recently, how did the winds of war and cultural trends shape the island we know today? Tonight we'll start with native folklore

and geology, and then travel through history until we reach the island's glamorous modern image. So just relax and let your mind drift as we explore the sleepy history of Martha's Vineyard. According to the indigenous people of today's northeastern United States, there once was a giant, benevolent being called Moshup. As the legend goes, Moshup lived on a nearby island, the native people called Noepe, and which is now referred to by others as Martha's Vineyard. He was responsible for creating many aspects of its landscape. In the stories, Moshup's main sustenance was broiled whales.

Sometimes throwing rocks into the water, he would wade out to the whales from his dwelling in the cliffs of Aquina and fling them onto the shore. According to the Wampanoic people who first populated the island, the deity also did this as a gift to them to help them survive. The abundance of Mashup's whales is credited for some of the bones that even now, are embedded in the cliffs there. Mashup did not just provide the tribe with food. According to their stories, he also cared for their mental and emotional well-being, teaching them to be respectful and charitable by his example.

The first peoples hold that Mashup was responsible for shaping other geographical features nearby, including Nantucket and parts of Cape Caj. They say that once he felt his work was done, teaching the Wampanoag how to live on Noepe, he transformed into a white whale and swam off into the ocean, confident that they would be safe and secure for the future. According to the Wampanoag tribal website,

the island had once been a peninsula. As the story goes, it first became seven, separated from the mainland when Mashup, weary from a day's journey, dragged his foot. When he did, a trickle of water grew in the depression he left behind. The stream that appeared kept widening until Noepe was an island. If you consult today's scientists, they have a somewhat more detailed explanation for the early formation of Martha's Vineyard, but it certainly shows some similarities. According to an article in the New York Times, geologists believe the island was initially created

by the slow movement of enormous sheets of ice, beginning roughly 2.5 million years ago. At that time, glaciers as large as two miles thick, edged all the way from the far north and then to Europe, where they traveled on to North America. Moving ever so gradually, the ice churned up everything in its path, creating mounds of earth and rock. This progress took literally thousands of millennia, which is a little hard for the human mind to comprehend. end, but eventually the ice reached warmer parts of the earth and began to slow down. Then in a comparatively recent period 20,000 years ago, finally the ice began to recede. At that point, the places off of Cape Cod that we now know as islands were still attached to the mainland.

Because of that, humans were able to trek out to these locations on foot. But then slowly, the ice sheets began to melt. As the water rose, these far-flung points became islands. Some scientists believe the sea may have risen as much as 400 feet. The receding glaciers also left behind. a gift. They created cavities in the earth that joined with underground springs to give the islands their freshwater ecosystems. And as they plowed their way backwards, the glaciers also pushed around the earth, creating the unique modern-day terrain of that place that would become

known as noepe which means land amid the waters or land amid the streams on that dry land there was now a profusion of hills and large stones especially on the western side of the island meanwhile the eastern or southern coastal portions were predominantly gentle plains not all of the Wampanoags settled there. According to the tribe website, the Wampanoag nation once encompassed all of what we now consider southeastern Massachusetts and eastern Rhode Island.

Reportedly, there are more than 67 distinct tribal communities. Wampanoag means people of the first light. And the tribe says that they've been living on Noepe for more than 10,000 years. Carbon dating can account for at least a few thousand of those. Apparently, camps have been uncovered that are thought to be from roughly 2270 BCE. Certainly, there is a general agreement that the Wampanoag were, as the tribe states, the island's first people. The Wampanoig lived peacefully on the island for millennia.

According to the New York Times, some historians theorize that Vikings attempted to settle the New England area about 500 years before the arrival of Columbus, but were repelled by the indigenous people. Evidences, however, inconclusive, and there is absolutely no indication that any Vikings landed on Noepe. In 1524, an Italian explorer named Giovanni di Verrazano, some of whom may recognize from the name of the Verrazano Narrows Bridge in New York, mapped much of the east coast of today's United States on a mission from the King of France. He never seems to have landed on Noepe either, but he named the Irish.

island Luisa when he made a map of the area. But that was just cartography. Nobody trekked onto Nueppe at that time. So it seems the Wampanoic were not actually disturbed by Europeans until an Englishman named Bartholomew Gosnold arrived in 1602, making yet another map, this one for the British Crown. There are complete. conflicting stories about how he gave the island his own preferred name. Some say that he named the main island Martin's vineyard and a smaller nearby island Martha's vineyard after either his mother-in-law or daughter. In either case, the vineyard portion of the name is attributed to the wild grapes that grew

in abundance there. It seems that Gosnold didn't hang around Noepe. But just three years later, according to the widely cited blog, History of Massachusetts, a Frenchman by the name of Pierre Du Guas de Montes, happened by on an expedition. He may have called the place La Soup Senus, which means the doubtful or the suspicious. Apparently, this was because the crew originally thought the landman, wasn't even an island.

Unsurprisingly, that name didn't stick. In 1610, a man named Edward Harlow sailed his ship among the islands of New England and kidnapped indigenous men. His aim was to bring them back to England for his own financial gain. He took a sachem or chief named Epinow from the Nasset tribe,

and included him in that number. After three years of being exhibited in Europe as a curiosity, Epanow escaped by convincing his then-captor, Ferdinando Gorghese, that he could lead him to a gold mine on Martha's Vineyard. His ruse worked. Epanow was sent on a voyage to the island with a captain Nicholas Hobson, holding a position as a translator and guide. When the ship arrived, Hobson's crew were greeted peacefully by the Wampanoag,

including Epanow's own relatives. By the next day, the tribe showed up with weapons and canoes and battled the English while Epanow escaped. The Englishman returned home in disgrace. Years later, in 1619, a famous English explorer named Thomas Dermar sailed to Martha's vineyard in an attempt to locate Epinow. He was also peacefully received by Epinow and his tribe, and the Seychum told the story of his escape from Hobson

in an apparently humorous tone. Dermer departed without incident. But when the explorer returned to Noepe a year later, Epanow considered him a threat and responded with hostility. Most of Dermar's men were killed, and he himself was wounded and taken prisoner. Although he did escape to Virginia afterward, he soon passed away, either from his injuries or from disease. Many expeditions tried and failed to leave their mark on Noepe in the first half of the 17th century. It wasn't until 1642 that colonists really arrived permanently.

At that time, in the eyes of the colonial government, the rights to the island were acquired by a businessman from Medford, Massachusetts, named Thomas Mayhew. According to some sources, he purchased the island known as Martha's Vineyard, along with Nantucket, and the Elizabeth Island, from two other settlers. He sent his son Thomas there with 40 English families to create a settlement. Four years later, Thomas the Elder, joined them

and was considered by the colonists to be governor of the island. Of course, in reality, he was only the governor of the colonist settlement, which evolved into what is now Edgartown on the eastern coast. Meanwhile, there were about 3,000 Wampanoag people living happily on the island who did not seek his leadership. Mayhew started off relatively well with the tribe. He didn't interfere with their lives at first, and the local sachems continued their political institutions as before. The Wampanoic people responded to them generously by teaching them how to hunt whales, first on shore, and later at sea.

With their help, the European settlers learned to live well on the island, surviving by both farming and fishing. However, the elder and younger Thomas Mayhew's eventually tried to Christianize the indigenous people. They did so with the backing of a missionary society called the New England Company, which still exists today. At the same time, they also taught members of the tribe to read and write. In fact, a man named Peter Folger assisted with that task. And while you might not have heard of him, you'll certainly know of his grandson, Benjamin Franklin.

In fact, due to Peter Folger, two Wampanoag men named Caleb Chishatamak and Joel Hayagum's went to school on the mainland, and eventually were among the first Native American students to study at the Indian College of Harvard University. Joel perished in a shipwreck just before commencement, but Caleb is still celebrated as the university's first Native American graduate. Their story was reimagined in a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Geraldine Brooks called Caleb's Crossing. Predictably, the European settlers began to spread out on Martha's Vineyard.

In 1660, they settled in the northern area, now known as Tisbury. Less than a decade later, they also settled in Aquina in the Southwest, which was and still is sacred territory for the indigenous people, the name meaning land under the hill. The younger Thomas Mayhew passed away on a sea voyage in 1657, but his sons, Matthew and John, continued his work on Martha's vineyard. In 1671, the entire island was granted to the Duke of York, becoming a holding of the province of New York, but the Mayhues were allowed to stay on in their current capacity.

In 1675, a conflict between the Wampadipa, Noag tribes and European settlers on the mainland had the effect of creating heightened tensions on Martha's vineyard. Led by a sachem named Metacomet, whom the English dubbed King Philip, the mainland Wampanoigs joined with other native tribes and rose up against the encroachment of the colonists. The violent conflict was devastating for the Wampanoigs, drastically reducing their numbers. Even Metacomet himself fell in battle. Although the Wampanoigs on Martha's Vineyard had remained neutral, the event created distrust between the colonists and the native people living on the island. Perhaps in response to that, the English stepped up their efforts to convert the Wampanoigs

to Christianity, persuading as many as possible to embrace their religion. In 1680s, Matthew Mayhew succeeded his grandfather as governor, and in 1692, the island was transferred from the province of New York to the province of Massachusetts Bay. Most histories of the island gloss over much of the early 18th century, jumping straight from the era of the Mayhew's to the American Revolution. But it is worth mentioning that during this time, colonists continued to deepen their roots, creating more formal communities, and establishing

meeting houses and the like. And it wasn't just land that was lost to the native people. Although the Wampanoigs on Martha's Vineyard had not fallen victim to all of the health epidemics colonists brought to New England, they were caught up in a particularly bad one that started in Nantucket in 1763 and killed hundreds. Historians only have theories about which sickness was to blame, but epidemics such as these, combined with other factors, strange the Wampanoag population everywhere, including on Martha's Vineyard.

Additionally, it's important to note that, not long after the early colonists had arrived, There were also people from the African diaspora living on the island, often brought by white settlers as enslaved people or indentured servants. As it happens, the mid-1700s marked a notable event in the black community there. According to historical records, that year, a formerly enslaved woman named Rebecca Amos, who had been born in West Africa, became. the first black resident to own her own home.

This came to pass after her Wapanoag husband died, leaving her the property. She is now recognized on the African American Heritage Trail on the island. The year 1778 brought a misfortune so widespread that it negatively affected every group of people living on the island. On September 10th, in the midst of the American Revolution, a British fleet of 40 ships stormed Martha's vineyard. Amid the devastation, 30 vessels and assault works were burned. Perhaps even worse, more than 10,000 sheep were taken,

as well as 300 cattle and 30 firearms. The economic setback was so severe that it ended. echoed down through the decades, hampering the formerly prosperous islanders, until a rise in whaling filled the void for more than a half century later. However, better times did come. In fact, the 1820s heralded what some consider to be the golden age of whaling on the island. Although the whaling trade there was not as grand as that of Nantucket or New Bedford, a fair amount of wealth flowed into the island economy.

As proof, the Martha's Vineyard website and the New York Times cite the large number of lavish captains' homes that were built in Vineyard Haven and Edgartown between 1820 and 1845. Further, the history of Massachusetts site lists a number of other important buildings and enterprises that appeared in that era, such as the Thaxter Academy and the Customs House and First Methodists and Congressional Churches in Edgertown. In 1844, there was even a rebuild of the wooden Cape Hogue Light on Chappaquitic Island, which had deteriorated since its original construction in 1801. Whaling was not just important to the white colonists. According to historical

records, both the native people and many African Americans also made their living at sea. Official correspondence about the Wampanoag who were still living on Chappaquittic Island discussed the fact that it was actually one of the few ways they could still support themselves. with their land ever more encroached upon by the white population. Many were sailors out of necessity rather than by choice. In fact, living among the Wampanoags on Chappaquitic was an African-American man named William A. Martin. He was married to a member of the tribe and has the distinction of being the era's only master of whaling ships on Martha's.

Vignard who was black. Adding to the diverse group of people living and working on the island at the time, there was a particular community that now comes as a surprise to many people. By the early 1800s, Martha's Vineyard, particularly the northern town of Chilmark, had attracted notice for its extremely high concentration of people who had been born deaf. Not only did the island exhibit the highest rates of deafness in all of New England, but many of the people on the mainland who were born deaf happened to be related to people on Martha's Vineyard. More than 200 years later,

listeners like ourselves would naturally conclude there was a genetic link. But in the 19th century, genetics was very much an emerging field. In fact, Alexander Graham Bell of telephone fame had a special interest in that area of science. He was a foremost expert in the education of deaf people, and in the beginning of the 19th century, he set about trying to explain how deafness might be inherited. His methodology was to trace the genealogy of residents of New England, who had two or more deaf children. This is how he stumbled upon the large concentration

of deaf people on Martha's Vineyard. We now know, of course, that he was on the right track. But he was never able to account for the fact that some parents had both deaf and hearing children and that hearing parents also had deaf children. His work went unfinished. We now know that the reason this was happening was because of recess of genes.

Some hearing parents carried the gene without being deaf. When combined with the same gene in another parent, deafness would be present. A 1981 article published by the Duke's County Historical Society explained how this genetic trend was magnified by Island. life. Since a regular ferry was established only in 1800, in the early days, the island was much more isolated and travel was far more difficult. Further, Chilmark was not near any busy ports. Even for other residents, it was an arduous journey across the island to reach it in those days.

As such, people living there were fairly. Insular, the first deaf islander was a man named Jonathan Lambert, who arrived with his family in 1692, and his wife must have carried a recessive gene for deafness. His will revealed that two of his seven children were also deaf, and his hearing children also carried the gene, and it took to their marriages. According to the article, by 1807, 75% of the island's families came from a pool of only 32 names. So it's easy to see how the number of deaf people could become so great. But what's truly fascinating and inspiring about this story

is how the people of Martha's Vineyard included and accommodated deaf residents in mainstream life. In fact, the people on the island developed their own sign language known as MvSL for Martha's Vineyard Sign Language, and it was widely used, which made life much easier for the deaf residents. Interviews with elders demonstrate that deaf people were considered to be just one of the many varied groups of people on the island. Tax records show deaf residents were always as gainfully employed as anyone else and were involved in social affairs. In other words, deaf people on Martha's Vineyard encountered few barriers, especially compared to other places.

By mid-century, improvements in transportation resulted in much more mobility and the concentration of people carrying the deafness gene dissipated. But the story is such an important one, providing a model for inclusion that is still relevant today. Speaking of transportation and mobility, by the mid-19th century, the same routes that allowed people to leave the island were also allowing them to arrive.

That's relevant to a very notable development in 1835, which was the year that the Methodists first held what they called a camp meeting in Wesleyan Grove. Religious activities were nothing new on Martha's Vineyard. However, this particular two-week campground retreat would go on to catapult the New England Island to the status of a resort, eventually creating the glamorous getaway that people think of in popular culture today. If you're wondering how a Methodist camp meeting could veer off in that direction, you're not alone.

It's a very interesting aspect of Martha's Vineyard History. To begin with, the 1835 retreat was such a success that it began to happen annually. As it did, the word spread and more and more people joined in. By 1857, the original cluster of nine-tenths had expanded to 250. Gradually, people began to build permanent platforms to camp upon. And then the platforms gave way to actual cottages. The first of these old-school tiny houses were what we would call prefab, and were brought in on horse-drawn wagons in 1864.

So even as the Civil War brought an end to the golden age of wailing and presumably some of its abundant income, the Methodist camp, which was named Wesleyan Grove after Methodism founder John Wesley, continued to grow. By 1880, the Grove had become a community of 500 tiny cottages. It just so happens that Wesleyan Grove was being built during a time when carpentry was getting fancier and cheaper thanks to the power-driven jigsaw.

Lots of us have seen Victorian-era homes that are covered in lacy woodwork. This style is often called gingerbread. So it's easy to understand why the people building these cottages took advantage of the trend, constructing their tiny houses in a manner that the New York Times

describes as a hybrid of Euro-Gothic revival styles. The result was a look that was sometimes referred to as Carpenter Gothic, In keeping with the mood of a tent, with its flaps always open to conversation, the little houses were modeled in a triangle with steeply pitched roofs. During this period, while all the cottages were being built, Wesley and Grove continued to attract attention. Naturally, where there was a popular destination,

spectators were going to try to take advantage. In 1867, a secular community was built near Wesleyan Grove, accommodating people who may not even have cared about the camp meeting. And by 1869, lo and behold, the former campground got its very own post office. In 1880, the area was incorporated officially as Cottage City. Meanwhile, in 1874, former President Ulysses S. Grant arrived in a steamer called the River Queen and visited many locations on the island, including the Methodist camp meeting. After a whirlwind day and a fireworks display, he wished his supporters farewell with the words, I thank you for your cheerful greeting. No doubt you are tired and sleepy, as am I,

so I will not detain you. But however short his visit may have been, it did make an impression. As it turns out, he was a precursor for a parade of political celebrities who would follow a century later. However, it's important to remember that vacationers were late to come to Martha's vineyard in the scheme of things. There was another official change a decade earlier in 1870 that is important to note. That was when, over the objection of the Wampanoag people, their tribal lands in Aquina were incorporated under the name the colonists had assigned to it in the 1600. It was now known as Gayhead.

Although the government of Gayhead continued to be controlled by tribal leaders, its incorporation under that name was an act that the Wampanoag would seek for many years to overturn. As the 19th century moved on, steamer ships brought more and more vacationers to Martha's Vineyard from the big cities of the East Coast. Far from roughing it in a tent, people were playing lawn games, swimming, and enjoying nature. And as the century waned, Martha's vineyard became a luxurious haven with grand hotels popping up around Oaks Bluffs Harbor.

Accordingly, a railroad was built to connect the town with the beach at Catamah on the southern shore. As the 20th century dawned, Cottage Seventh century dawned, Cottage City was renamed Oak Bluffs. This part of the island became, in particular, a center of activity for affluent black visitors. In 1912, a man named Charles Shearer, whose mother had once been enslaved, turned a cottage in Oak Bluffs into the first inn for black vacationers. The popularity of the island in the black community continued to grow when Reverend Adam Clayton Powell Jr. and his wife Isabel bought a house there in 1837. Isabel was a well-known figure in the Harlem Renaissance and a former dancer at the famous Cotton Club.

Powell was a minister at the Obscenian Baptist Church in Harlem at the time. time. They lived together at their house in Oak Bluffs, hosting many influential figures of the era until they divorced in 1945. At that time, Powell began his impressive career as a congressman in New York, eventually figuring prominently in the civil rights movement. Their home is now a stop on the African American Heritage Trail on Martha's Vineyard. With the 1940s, the onset of World War II presented major challenges to normal life on the island. All three branches of the American military used it as a training ground, with activities ranging from beach landings to cliff climbing to simulated gunfire and bombing rounds.

The maneuvers were designed to replicate planned landings in Normandy on D.D.E. day. Thankfully, with the end of the war, Martha's Vineyard was able to return to its prior lifestyle. The latter half of the 20th century saw the development of Martha's Vineyard into the elite haven most people would recognize today. Although the island is only about 96 square miles, and has a year-round population of fewer than 21,000 people, that number grows to over 200,000 people in the summertime. Further recent data suggests that more than half of the 14,000 homes on the island are only occupied seasonally. Unfortunately, only about 300 of the current residents are Wampanoic. But in 1997, the region's native people rallied enough support to return the area of Gayhead

back to its original name of Aquina. The island, and especially the Oak Bluffs area, has continued to be a locus of activity for successful figures in the black community. Author Maya Angelou was quoted as saying that it was, a safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned. Although the Kennedy family may have been the first political clan most strongly associated with Martha's Vineyard, the island has also become known for hosting the Clintons in the 1990s

and the Obama family, who visited in 2009 and purchased a 30-acre homestead on Edgerton Great Pond in 2019. As history has shown, of course, life on Martha's Vineyard can always pose unexpected perils. The Kennedy family did suffer more than their share of misfortune during their extensive time on the island. First, in 1969, when Senator Edward Kennedy drove off a bridge on Chappaquittic, causing his passenger Mary Jo Capechnie to drown. Then in 1999, when the private plane carrying John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife Carolyn Bessette, and her sister Lauren was lost. These were high-profile tragedies that will always be associated with the history of

the island. In recent years, Martha's Vineyard has also been jokingly called Hollywood East. To begin with, in 1974, the island gained broad national attention when, the hit movie Jaws was filmed there, featuring local residents in some roles. Just a few years later, in 1977, there was actually a movement for Martha's Vineyard to secede from Massachusetts after losing a guaranteed seat in general court. Vermont and Hawaii both offered to annex the island, and the residents even discussed trying to become a separate territory or perhaps a state. Ultimately, the effort failed. But the separatist flag, which features a white seagull flying over an orange disc, is still proudly flown by some enthusiasts today.

All kinds of celebrities have flocked to Martha's Vineyard for recreation in recent decades. It has remained popular with artists, writers, musicians, and and actors. John Belushi is actually buried on Martha's Vineyard, and the list of modern stars who have frequented the island include people like David Letterman, Bill Murray, spouses Ted Danson and Mary Steenbergen, and Quincy Jones. Even news figures such as Mike Wallace and Walter Cronkite have vacationed there.

This profusion of stars and politicians has its downside, as they bring with them security details that further complicate traffic on the island. And even for the common visitor, the summer ferry is notoriously busy. But people who love the vineyard say that, despite it all, it's a place of respite and enjoyment for them. They are happy to put up with the hassle. For an area less than a hundred square miles in size, The island known as Noepe or Martha's Vineyard has created a stage for a staggering amount of history. Rich with the interwoven lives of so many people who came from so many different backgrounds, its allure continues to be undeniable, perpetually beautiful.

Although often controversial, the former stomping grounds of Mashup seems likely to endure with dignity.