Stories From Marthas Vineyard - 23 stories, myths and legends from Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, Block Island and Cape Cod

By Various Unknown and Compiled By John Halsted

VINLAND, Claudia and Cabo de la Arenas have been but a few of the names given previously to Cape Cod. As far back as 985AD the Cape had been visited by the likes of Leif Eiriksson, although this is disputed, Giovanni da Verrazzano (1524AD), Estêvão Gomes (1525AD), Samuel de Champlain (1606AD), Bartholomew Gosnold (1602AD), Henry Hudson (1609AD) and Captain John Smith (1614AD). It was Gosnold who had the honor and privilege of being the final arbiter of the Cape’s name in 1602AD.

With such a long history it is therefore not surprising that much has been written and said about Cape Cod. Herein readers will find 23 such stories, collected from various sources, with origins in Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket, Cape Cod and Block Island. Stories like The Headless Skeleton of Swamptown, The Crow And Cat Of Hopkinshill, The Old Stone Mill, The Windam Frogs, Moodus Noises and many more. Appropriately, the book is commenced with a facsimile of The Mayflower Compact and ends with the Story of King Philip, Grand Sachem and Chief of the Wampanoag Tribe.
MARTHA'S VINEYARD, called "Noepe" by the Native Americans, which in their picturesque language means "In the Midst of the Sea," is the largest island on the south-eastern coast of Massachusetts. However, there are those who correctly point out that there is no such place as Martha's Vineyard, except in geography and common speech. That it’s correct name is Martin Wyngaard's Island, so was named by Skipper Block, an Albany Dutchman. Sea fog is not uncommon in the area. When a fog started rising the Native Americans would say, "Here comes old Maushope's smoke"—but you will have to read the book to find out just why they say this.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Abela Publishing
• Release date: May 27, 2017
• ISBN: 9781909302907

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Frontispiece

The Edgartown Lighthouse

CONTENTS

The May-Flower Compact

Martha's Vineyard And Nantucket

Introduction

Love And Treason

The Headless Skeleton Of Swamptown

The Crow And Cat Of Hopkinshill

The Old Stone Mill

The Origin Of A Name

Micah Rood Apples

A Dinner And Its Consequences

The New Haven Storm Ship

The Windam Frogs

The Lamb Of Sacrifice

Moodus Noises

Haddam Enchantments

Block Island

Introduction

The Buccaneer

Robert Lockwood's Fate

Love And Rum

The Whole History Of Grandfather's Chair

Chapter I

Chapter II

The Lady Arbella

Chapter III

The Red Cross

Chapter IV

Chapter V

The Loyalists Of Massachusetts

Punishment For Wearing Long Hair In New

England

School Discipline In The State Of

        Massachusetts

The Schoolmaster's Soliloquy

The Story Of King Philip

I. Philip's People

II. Philip's Childhood Home

III. Massasoit And His Two Sons

IV. Philip Hears Of The English

V. Philip Meets The English

VI. Philip's Education

VII. Philip's Daily Life

VIII. Philip's Relations With The English

IX. Philip Becomes Grand Sachem

X. Philip's Troubles With The Whites

XI. Philip And The Indian Councils

XII. King Philip's War

XIII. The Last Days Of Philip

A Facsimile Of The Treaty Made At

Taunton

THE MAY-FLOWER COMPACT

In ye name of God, Amen. We whose names are underwriten, the loyall subjects of our dread soveraigne Lord, King James, by ye grace of God, of Great Britaine, Franc, & Ireland king, defender of ye faith, &c., haveing under taken, for ye glorie of God, and advancemente of ye Christian faith, and honour of our king & countrie, a voyage to plant ye first colonie in ye Northerne parts of Virginia, doe by these presents solemnly & mutualy in ye presence of God, and one of another, covenant & combine our selves together into a civill body politick, for our better ordering & preservation & furtherance of ye ends aforesaid: and by vertue hearof to enacte, constitute, and frame such just & equall lawes, ordinances, actes, constitutions, & offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meete & convenient for ye generall good of ye Colonie, unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. In witnes wherof we have here under subscribed our names at Cape-Codd ye 11. of November, in ye year of ye raigne of our soveraigne lord, King James, of England, France, & Ireland ye eighteenth, and of Scotland ye fiftie fourth. Ano. Dom. 1620.

MARTHA'S VINEYARD

AND

NANTUCKET

Introduction

An excerpt from

MARTHA'S VINEYARD by Henry Franklin Norton, 1923.

MARTHA'S VINEYARD, called Noepe by the Indians, which means in their picturesque language In the Midst of the Sea, is the largest island on the southeastern coast of Massachusetts. It is twenty miles long and nine miles wide and but a few feet above the sea level in the eastern part, which is known as the Plains, one of the largest tracts of level ground in New England. However, the land gradually rises to an elevation of over three hundred feet above the sea level at Peaked Hill in Chilmark, not Indian Hill as believed by many summer visitors.

Martha's Vineyard, with Chappaquiddick, No-Man's-

Land, and the Elizabeth Islands comprise the County of Dukes County, which was incorporated November 1, 1668. The county was named for the Duke of York by the first governor, Thomas Mayhew, who was hoping thereby to gain royal favor. There are six towns on Martha's Vineyard. Edgartown on the east, named for Edgar, son of James II, who bore the title of Duke of Cambridge; Oak Bluffs on the northeast, named for its location and oak trees; Tisbury for the Mayhew Parish in England; later the village post-office was named Vineyard Haven because of its location; West Tisbury; Chilmark, for the English Parish of Governor Mayhew's wife, and Gay Head on the west, named for its wonderful cliffs of different colored clay.

DISCOVERED BY NORTHMEN IN A. D. 1000

The first Europeans that visited Martha's Vineyard were the Northmen, or Vikings, who landed about the year 1000AD, naming it Vineland. In some of their writings have been found descriptions that can be of no other place than Martha's Vineyard.

Another discoverer of this island was Verrazano, an Italian explorer, who first sighted the western extremity in 1524, and called it Claudia, in honor of the mother of Francis II of France.

The next explorer, and the first one to leave any account of the island, was Bartholomew Gosnold, of Falmouth, England. In 1602AD he sailed for Virginia. Contrary winds drove him to the Azores; thence he sailed a little north of west, and struck out boldly

The Famous Cliffs at Gay Head

across the Atlantic. He was the first Englishman to sail directly to the American coast, thereby saving nearly a thousand miles in distance and at least a week in sailing time. He landed on a cape which he named Cape Cod from the abundance of codfish found there. Then doubling the cape and sailing to the southward he landed on a small island about six miles southeast of Gay Head. He called this small island Martha's Vineyard. The next day he landed on the larger island. After exploring it and finding it so large, well wooded, and with such luxuriant grape vines, many beautiful lakes, and springs of the purest water, he transferred the name and called it Martha's Vineyard, in honor of his mother whose name was Martha. The other island he named No-Man's-Land.

GOSNOLD BUILDS FIRST HOUSE AND FORT IN NEW ENGLAND

Soon after Gosnold explored the group of islands to the northwest of the Vineyard, naming them the Elizabeth Islands in honor of Queen Elizabeth who was still reigning. There are eight islands in this group, named as follows: Naushon, Nonamesset, Uncatena, Wepecket, Nashawena, Pasque, Cuttyhunk, and Penekese. On May 28, 1602, Gosnold founded a colony on Cuttyhunk. Here he built the first house and fort erected in New England, intending to leave a colony there, but when he had loaded a cargo of sassafras root and cedar logs, the settlers were determined to return with him because they were afraid of the Indians.

The sassafras root was then in great demand in England as a popular medicine and cure-all. Gosnold counted on getting a great sum for it, but Sir Walter Raleigh accused him of trespassing on his land, which was from north latitude 34 to 45, and seized the whole cargo, much to the disappointment and disgust of the industrious sassafras diggers.

Referring to Gay Head Cliffs in one of his accounts, Gosnold called them Dover Cliffs, because they somewhat reminded him of the white cliffs of the same name in England. He found on Martha's Vineyard an abundance of trees and vines of luxuriant growth.

Cuttyhunk Light and Gosnold Monument

His expedition was not a failure because it showed Europe a shorter and more direct route to America and kept up the interest in the new country. The Mayflower followed this route eighteen years later. In 1902 a large monument was erected to Gosnold's memory on Cuttyhunk, where the first fort was built three hundred years before.

CAPTAIN PRING TRADES WITH INDIANS

About five years later, in 1607AD, Captain Martin Pring, with a more courageous company than Gosnold's, anchored in what is now Edgartown harbor on Whit Sunday and called it Whitsun Bay. He built a stockade on Chappaquiddick Bluffs which he called Mount Aldworth. Pring traded with the Indians, amused them with music, but enjoyed terrifying them with the sound of the cannon, and with two large mastiffs which he had on board his ship. He sailed away at the first sign of hostility with a cargo of the precious sassafras root. Those who attended the Tercentenary Pageant at Plymouth will remember the scene representing Pring trading with the Indians.

By this time the Vineyard had become known to the English by the Indian name of Capawock, and it seems to have been considered one of the most important places on the newly-discovered American coast. This was of course because of its geographical location, harbors and springs of purest water.

The following noted discoverers and explorers, the Cabots, Champlain, Cartier, and Captain John Smith, must have passed through Vineyard Sound and may have stopped for water at these wonderful springs; especially the one known as Scotland Spring at