Ever wonder who Martha was and how Martha’s Vineyard got its name in the first place? The answer has been lost to time but some sources claim that the island was named after an early Massachusetts explorer’s infant daughter or wife.
The Wampanoag natives who originally lived on the island called it by two names: Noepe, meaning “land between the streams,” and Capawack.
In 1524, when Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano visited New England he explored the waters around Cape Cod and named the island Luisa.
Many years later, in 1602, English explorer Bartholomew Gosnold embarked on an expedition to the East Coast during which he mapped and named many of the locations he saw, particularly Cape Cod.
During the expedition, Gosnold explored the Nantucket Sound and the waters around Martha’s Vineyard. There he observed a series of islands, including a small uninhabited island known as No-Man’s Land and another larger island now known as Martha’s Vineyard.
Some sources say that Gosnold decided to give No-Man’s Land the name Martha’s Vineyard, either after his daughter, Martha, who had died as an infant in 1598, or after his mother-in-law Martha Golding, who helped finance the expedition.
They also say that Gosnold gave the larger island the name Martin’s Vineyard, possibly after Gosnold’s shipmate, Captain John Martin.
One of the men onboard, Gabriel Archer, wrote an account of the expedition, later published in 1625, during which he described finding and naming No-Man’s Land:
“From this opening the main lieth south-west, which coasting along we saw a disinhabited island, which so afterward appeared unto us: we bore with it, and named it Martha’s Vineyard” (Archer 75.)
Gosnold was also responsible for giving Cape Cod its name, naming it after the abundant supply of cod fish in the waters around the cape.
The next explorer to visit the area was French explorer Sieur de Monts in 1605. De Monts had established a colony in nearby Nova Scotia and was looking for another location for a colony in New England.
De Monts’ cartographer Samuel de Champlain later wrote and published a 700-page account of his travels, titled The Voyages of Samuel de Champlain, in which he described visiting many areas of Massachusetts, including Martha’s Vineyard.
De Monts named the island La Soupconneuse, which means “the Doubtful” in French, because from a distance they originally thought that it was not an island at all.
In 1614, English explorer Captain John Smith visited New England in an expedition to establish an English colony.
Smith later published a manuscript about his travels in 1616, called A Description of New England, in which he referred to Martha’s Vineyard by its native name, Capawack.
Smith wasn’t the only Englishman to call the island by its native name. When the Mayflower Pilgrims arrived in 1620, they also referred to Martha’s Vineyard as Capawack, as can be seen in the passage of History of Plymouth Plantation where Bradford describes Captain Dermer and Squanto being attacked by the Wampanaog on Martha’s Vineyard:
“After ye writing of ye former relation he came to ye Ile of Cappawack (which lyes south in this place in ye way to Virginia) and ye foresaid Squanto with him, where he going ashore amongst Indians to trade, as he used to do, was betrayed and assaulted by them…” (Bradford 98.)
Sometime around 1700, the name Martha’s Vineyard was transferred to the island that bears its name today and the smaller uninhabited island continued to be called No-man’s Land.
Sources:
Gookin, Warner Foote. CapaWack Alias Martha’s Vineyard. Dukes County Historical Society, 1947.
Norton, Henry Franklin. History of Martha’s Vineyard. Henry Franklin Norton and Robert Emmett Pyne, 1923
Bradford, William. History of Plymouth Plantation. Privately Printed, 1856.
Van Riper, A. Bowdoin. “An Island called Luisa.” MV Times, 13 Sept. 2017, mvtimes.com/2017/09/13/island-called-luisa/
“Community.” Duke’s County MA, dukescounty.org/community
Archer, Gabriel. “Archer’s Account of Gosnold’s Voyage.” Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Volume 8; Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1843, pp. 72-81.
“About Martha’s Vineyard.” Martha’s Vineyard, mvy.com/about-marthas-vineyard/
“Batholomew Gosnold, the Founding Grandfather of the 13 Colonies (and Namer of Cape Cod).” New England Historical Society, www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/bartholomew-gosnold-the-founding-grandfather-of-the-13-colonies-and-namer-of-cape-cod/
“Bartholomew Gosnold: The Man Who Was Responsible for England’s Settling the New World.” British Heritage, 4 Oct. 2006, britishheritage.com/bartholomew-gosnold-the-man-who-was-responsible-for-englands-settling-the-new-world/