99 topographic sheets and 24 fire insurance atlases across 4 places.
This curated hub for Dukes County, Massachusetts brings together the page's documented record links, visible map or image evidence where published, and routes to related local records.
Use the page's provenance and linked records to distinguish the source material from the site's navigation and summaries.
Open the original record, preserve its repository and identifier, then use the citation tool for this page as a path back to the source.
Follow the county or state hub for related places and records, then use the guide for a source-aware research sequence.
11 National Register listings, of which 1 are National Historic Landmarks · 26 businesses named in the fire insurance atlases from 1887 to 1914 · the 1911 county history tells 0 stories and names 34 people · people the book names include Early Transient Residents John Baxter (Tisbury Town, 1911) · Ministry Of Andrew Boardman (Chilmark Town, 1911) (machine-read).
Sources: the county history on the Internet Archive · the National Register database, National Park Service
Taken for the Office of War Information and the Farm Security Administration, who photographed the country between 1935 and 1944. Works of United States government photographers, with no known restriction on use. Each opens its catalogue record.
Every property in this county listed on the National Register of Historic Places, with the year it was listed and the federal nomination document.
| Photograph | Property | Type | Listed | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Arcade, The | building | 1994 | 94000813 |
 | Cape Poge Light | structure | 1987 | 87002040 |
 | East Chop Light | structure | 1987 | 87001480 |
 | Edgartown Harbor Light | structure | 1987 | 87001465 |
 | Gay Head Light | structure | 2017 | 87001464 |
| MVCMA Tabernacle | building | 2005 | 05000458 | |
 | Ritter House | building | 1977 | 77000169 |
 | Tarpaulin Cove Light | structure | 1987 | 87001505 |
 | Tucker, Dr. Harrison A., Cottage | building | 1990 | 90000678 |
 | Union Chapel | building | 1990 | 90000677 |
 | West Chop Light Station | structure | 1987 | 87001506 |
Dukes County holds 0 covered bridges on the National Register, more than any other property type here. Each is a listed structure with a federal nomination on file.
Drawn when these were printed as single large sheets: the town seen from the air, and the county divided into its farms with every owner named. Each opens the original at the Library of Congress.
Selected from the Digital Public Library of America's 2,463 image records catalogued for this county. Every one shown here carries a public-domain status or a licence that permits reuse on a site that carries advertising; non-commercial, share-alike and restricted images are excluded. The selection is spread across the county's towns (at most eight per town), so no single institution's bulk upload crowds out the rest. Each opens the holding library's record, and the complete set at the Digital Public Library of America is one click away.
![Tents on Broadway east of Offinct[?], Boston Public Library - undated](assets/dpla_239038396aa50496.jpg)
Flown by the U.S. Geological Survey between 1937 and 1989, the Aerial Photo Single Frames collection is the definitive mid-century view of the land: fields, roads and rivers as the camera saw them. 679 frames touch this county; the selection below spreads across the decades of flights (at most four per year), so one flight cannot crowd out the rest. The full set is free to browse and download at EarthExplorer under the dataset Aerial Photo Single Frames.
The thermometers that kept this county's weather, and the gages that watched its rivers, as the federal records hold them. The extremes below are measured values from those records, not estimates.
Who lived here in 1950, one enumeration district at a time, as the Census Bureau described each district. Each row opens its official National Archives result, with Population Schedules and ED Maps available there.
Every Sanborn volume opens with a printed index naming the town's mills, tanneries, hotels and works by proprietor. Those indexes were read off the scanned sheets by machine and then matched to each other, so a business surveyed four times appears here once, with the years it survived. 10 of these 26 were named in more than one atlas. Each carries a crop of the line it was read from: the spelling is the recogniser's and the 1880s lithographer's, and the scan behind it is the proof.
Church
1892 to 1904, named in 2 atlases
Read elsewhere as Congregational Church.
Mill
1892 to 1904, named in 2 atlases
Read elsewhere as Rotch, Wm. J., Flour & Feed Mill.
Planing Mill
named once, in the 1904 atlas
Appears in 1904
Every wildfire the federal occurrence database records inside this county: 63 of them, burning about 55 acres. 0 started naturally and 1 were recorded as arson. Each settlement page carries the fires within five miles of it.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Debris and open burning | 25 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 22 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 6 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 6 |
| Fireworks | 1 |
| Smoking | 1 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 1 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 1 |
The five largest, by the area the report gives. None of them was recorded as arson.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 May 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 acres | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 22 March 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8.0 acres | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 21 September 2020 | Recreation and ceremony | 1.3 acres | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 6 April 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.0 acres | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | 5006779 |
| 30 March 2019 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 12 April 2018 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 1.0 acres | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 20 April 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 27 July 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
Every settlement page carries the fires within five miles of it - see the settlement index below.
The NOAA Storm Events Database holds 51 reports for this county, causing 0 deaths, 0 injuries and about $39,300 in recorded property damage. Each settlement page carries the reports that name it.
| Kind of event | Reports |
|---|---|
| Thunderstorm Wind | 19 |
| Hail | 10 |
| Heavy Rain | 9 |
| Flood | 8 |
| Waterspout | 2 |
| Lightning | 2 |
| Tornado | 1 |
The most serious of them, by death, then injury, then recorded damage. The accounts are quoted exactly as the forecast office filed them.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 2017 | Lightning | Tisbury | $15,000 | At 6:09 PM EST, Lightning struck a house in Vineyard Haven, causing damage to the roof. |
| July 2015 | Flood | Edgartown | $5,000 | Beach Road and Main Street were closed in Edgartown due to flooding. In Vineyard Haven, a car was stuck in flood waters on Water Street near the Black Dog bakery. The bakery itself was flooded with a foot of water. Circuit Avenue in Oak Bluffs was flooded and impassable. In West Tisbury, Beach Road was flooded and impassable in the area of the gas tanks. |
| November 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Chilmark | $5,000 | A large tree was downed blocking Menemsha Inn Road in Chilmark. |
| August 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Edgartown | $5,000 | Two trees on Davis Lane were downed by thunderstorm winds and blocked the road. |
| July 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Tisbury | $3,000 | A tree was downed by thunderstorm winds. It was downed in such a way that it blocked the road. |
| July 2009 | Hail | Tisbury | $2,000 | Ping pong ball to golf ball sized hail fell in portions of Martha's Vineyard. Several cars were dented by the hail. |
| July 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Tisbury | $1,500 | In West Tisbury, two trees were down on Lamberts Cove Road. One tree and wires were down on State Road. |
| April 2017 | Lightning | Oak Bluffs | $1,000 | At 6:16 PM EST, a house was struck by lightning on Great Rock Road in Oak Bluffs. |
| July 2009 | Thunderstorm Wind | Chilmark | $1,000 | A tree on North Road was downed by thunderstorm winds. |
| July 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Oak Bluffs | $500 | In Vineyard Haven, a tree and wires were reported down on California Avenue and on Hudson Avenue. |
| November 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Edgartown | $300 | Amateur radio operators reported two mesonet wind gust observations from Edgartown...58 mph at Cape Poge at 615 PM EST and 69 mph at Chappy Ferry Point. The Edgartown Police reported half of a tree down on School Street at 630 PM EST. |
| May 2025 | Heavy Rain | (Mvy)Marthas Vinyrd | - | While no flooding issues were reported, parts of Martha's Vineyard got 5 to 6 inches of rain. |
| August 2024 | Hail | Tisbury | - | In Vineyard Haven, penny sized hail fell. |
| May 2020 | Flood | Oak Bluffs | - | The intersection of Circuit Avenue, Narragansett Avenue, and Kennebec Avenue was flooded. An officer was on scene to assist motorists. |
| May 2020 | Flood | Oak Bluffs | - | County Road at Webaqua Road in Oak Bluffs was closed due to flooding, as was Worcester Avenue, Carol Lane at County Road, and the intersection of Norris Avenue and Wing Road. |
| May 2020 | Flood | Tisbury | - | Amateur radio operators reported that Beach Road was flooded with Mass Highway called in for support. |
| May 2020 | Flood | Oak Bluffs | - | Nantucket Avenue was closed for several hours due to flooding. |
| January 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Edgartown | - | At 335 PM EST, an amateur radio operator in Edgartown reported a wind gust to 58 mph. |
| July 2017 | Flood | Chilmark | - | At 1226 PM EST, significant street flooding was reported on State Road in Chilmark, between Catherine's Way and Millbrook Road. |
| July 2017 | Flood | Oak Bluffs | - | At 112 PM EST, a car was stuck in flood waters on Circuit Avenue in Oak Bluffs. |
| November 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Oak Bluffs | - | An amateur radio operator in Oak Bluffs recorded a wind gust of 62 mph on their home weather station. |
| November 2014 | Flood | Edgartown | - | Church Street at Peases Point Way is closed due to flooding. |
| July 2009 | Hail | Edgartown | - | Penny to quarter size hail fell across Martha's Vineyard. |
| July 2009 | Hail | West Tisbury | - | Quarter to hen egg size hail fell on Martha's Vineyard. |
| July 2008 | Hail | North Tisbury | - | Penny size hail fell in the Elizabeth Islands, specifically on Naushon Island. |
| July 1995 | Thunderstorm Wind | Menemsha | - | A fast moving sqaull line of severe thunderstorms caused numerous reports of damaging winds in the western two-thirds of Massachusetts and more scattered reports of damage farther east. The storms were part of a major mesoscale convective complex (derecho) which had tracked across the Great Lakes region and New York state during the early morning hours. The line of storms entered Berkshire County at about 0700 local time and raced to the southeast portion of the state, including Cape Cod and the islands by around 0930. There was widespread damage to trees and power lines in Berkshire, Franklin, Hampshire, and Hampden Counties. in Burkshire, a woman was injured in Pittsfield when a tree fell on her car. A wind gust of 92 mph was reported from the town of Otis, where a woman was killed by electrocution while standing in wet grass after an electric power line fell and caught fire. A tree fell on a house in North Adams and a wall of a mall was blown out in Lenoxdale. In Franklin, Hampshire, and Hampden Counties, some of the most severe damage occurred in the hill towns or in the higher elevations. Widespread power outages and roads blocked by fallen trees prompted authorities to declare states of emergency in five towns, including Greenfield, Huntington, Ashfield, Conway, and Middlefield. About 30,000 electric customers lost power and a power company in western Massachusetts reported outages in 57 out of 59 of the towns that they serve. Thousands of people remained without power more than 48 hours after the storms moved through, especially in the rural towns which took the brunt of the high winds. In Holyoke, 50 people were left homeless after winds gusting to 70 mph blew the roof off of their apartment building. Three people were injured in Deerfield after their hot air balloon was caught by the winds and went spinning out of control for five miles before crashing into a tree. In Charlemont, a six-year-old boy was injured by lightning while talking on the telephone during the storm. Falling trees and tree limbs damaged houses, barns, and automobiles throughout the area. Scattered wind damage and power outages occurred in the central and eastern portions of the state. Several thousand power outages were reported from central Massachusetts. A peak gust of 59 mph was recorded at the Worcester Municipal Airport at 0804 local time while a peak gust to 85 mph was reported from Upton, just to the southeast of Worcester. In northern Worcester County, a peak gust to 72 mph was recorded at the Fitchburg Airport. Generally, though, most wind gusts were reported to be in the range of 50 to 65 mph. The Blue Hill Observatory, at an elevation of 635 feet in Milton recorded a peak gust to 63 mph. The intensity of the storms was diminishing upon reaching coastal sections of the state, but even Menemsha on Martha's Vineyard recorded a gust to 58 mph and many tree limbs were reported blown down throughout the greater New Bedford area. |
| July 1995 | Thunderstorm Wind | Martha's Vineyard | - | An intense early morning thunderstorm was accompanied by gusty winds, torrential rain, and half-inch diameter hail. Trees and branches were reported blown down and there were widespread power outages caused by the winds and numerous |
| August 2011 | Hail | Tisbury | - | no account filed |
| June 2011 | Hail | Tisbury | - | no account filed |
| July 2006 | Hail | West Tisbury | - | no account filed |
| March 2003 | Heavy Rain | Countywide | - | no account filed |
| March 2000 | Heavy Rain | Marthas Vineyard Arp | - | no account filed |
| May 2000 | Hail | Oak Bluffs | - | no account filed |
| August 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | Edgartown | - | no account filed |
| January 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | Marthas Vineyard Arp | - | no account filed |
| October 1999 | Waterspout | Gay Head | - | no account filed |
| October 1999 | Heavy Rain | Marthas Vineyard Arp | - | no account filed |
| August 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | West Tisbury | - | no account filed |
| August 1997 | Heavy Rain | Countywide | - | no account filed |
| August 1997 | Hail | Tisbury | - | no account filed |
| December 1996 | Heavy Rain | Countywide | - | no account filed |
| September 1996 | Heavy Rain | Countywide | - | no account filed |
| July 1996 | Thunderstorm Wind | Martha'S Vineyard | - | no account filed |
| September 1996 | Heavy Rain | Countywide | - | no account filed |
| July 1996 | Waterspout | Gay Head | - | no account filed |
| October 1996 | Heavy Rain | Countywide | - | no account filed |
| June 1986 | Thunderstorm Wind | not stated | - | no account filed |
| June 1981 | Thunderstorm Wind | not stated | - | no account filed |
| July 1973 | Thunderstorm Wind | not stated | - | no account filed |
| July 1973 | Thunderstorm Wind | not stated | - | no account filed |
| December 1951 | Tornado (F2) | not stated | - | no account filed |
The Survey's mineral resources record lists 3 workings inside this county. 1 still produces and 2 are closed or unrecorded. Each settlement page carries the workings within five miles of it.
| Commodity | Workings |
|---|---|
| Sand and Gravel, Construction | 3 |
The least common of them first, because a county's hundredth gravel pit says nothing its first ten did not.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dump Road Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Grant Brothers Inc Pit and Plant | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | Sedimentary | |
| Red Hill Pit and Plant | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer |
Museum specimens collected inside this county and catalogued with a date and a place: 20,985 of them, by kingdom 12,979 animalia, 5,249 plantae, 1,351 chromista, 814 fungi, 359 unrecorded. Each is a physical object in a named collection, not a sighting. Held by USNM, YPM, NY, NHA, PH, BPI among others, and each settlement page carries the specimens collected near it.
The oldest of them. A specimen proves something was collected on that day; its absence proves nothing.
| Photograph | Year | Species | Kingdom | Where | Collector | Catalogue |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 1828 | Tipularia discolor (Pursh) Nutt. | Plantae | Martha's Vineyard | Oakes | NY 4169635 |
 | 1839 | Polysiphonia flexicaulis (Harvey) F.S.Collins | Plantae | Woods Hole | unknown | MSC MSC0184268 |
 | 1841 | Ectocarpus littoralis (L.) Lyngb. | Chromista | Woods Hole, Nobska Point, wash | B. F. D. Runk | NY 03056216 |
 | 1844 | Polysiphonia fibrata (Dillwyn) Harvey | Plantae | not stated | Collector unknown | NY 02186865 |
 | 1852 | Alosa aestivalis (Mitchill, 1814) | Animalia | Wood's Hole, Massachusetts. | not recorded | USNM USNM 5054 |
 | 1852 | Clupea harengus Linnaeus, 1758 | Animalia | Wood's Hole, Massachusetts. | not recorded | USNM USNM 5053 |
 | 1852 | Menidia menidia (Linnaeus, 1766) | Animalia | Wood's Hole, Massachusetts. | not recorded | USNM USNM 5031 |
 | 1852 | Ulva clathrata (Roth) C.Agardh | Plantae | not stated | G. W. Perry | NY 02138472 |
The History of Martha's Vineyard, Dukes County, Massachusetts devotes a chapter to each township: its boundaries and streams, who settled it and when, the mills, the schools and the churches. All 2 are reproduced here in full. Each row shows the township's own shape and where it lies in the county, drawn from the Census Bureau's boundary. Which settlements belong to which township is computed from that same boundary, not taken from the book.
| Shape and position in the county | Township | Settlements in it | Length | Sections |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chilmark Town | Chilmark, Menemsha, Nabs Corner, Nashaquitsa, Quansoo, Squibnocket | 24,949 words | 51 | |
| Tisbury Town | Oklahoma Heights, Vineyard Haven, West Chop | 71,194 words | 131 |
Everyone The History of Martha's Vineyard, Dukes County, Massachusetts stops to write about, with the section that describes them. Among them are the men who founded the place and governed the Territory. Each name opens the passage itself, in the words of 1911.
Named settlements recorded in the Geographic Names Information System, each with the topographic sheets covering it. Villages, hamlets and abandoned places alike. Each is shown with the watercourse or landform it stands on and the survey quadrangle it falls on. The 4 places that were also surveyed for fire insurance come first, with the number of atlases and photographs held for them.
Edgartown town · 02539 · On Sheriffs Meadow · Edgartown quadrangle
32 sheets, 1887 to 1994
Fire insurance: 8 atlases
Oak Bluffs town · 02557 · On Lovers Rock · Edgartown quadrangle
32 sheets, 1887 to 1994
Fire insurance: 4 atlases
Tisbury town · 02568 · On Ferry Boat Island · Edgartown quadrangle
33 sheets, 1887 to 1994
Fire insurance: 8 atlases
Edgartown town · 02539 · On Sheriffs Meadow · Edgartown quadrangle
32 sheets, 1887 to 1994
Chilmark town · 02535 · By Wequobsque Cliffs · Tisbury Great Pond quadrangle
33 sheets, 1887 to 1994
West Tisbury town · 02575 · By Cedar Tree Neck · Vineyard Haven quadrangle
33 sheets, 1887 to 1994
Oak Bluffs town · 02557 · On Telegraph Hill · Edgartown quadrangle
21 sheets, 1887 to 1994
Oak Bluffs town · 02557 · On Telegraph Hill · Edgartown quadrangle
21 sheets, 1887 to 1994
Aquinnah town · 02535 · By Gay Head Cliffs · Squibnocket quadrangle
33 sheets, 1887 to 1994
Aquinnah town · 02535 · By Zacks Cliffs · Squibnocket quadrangle
33 sheets, 1887 to 1994
Edgartown town · 02539 · On Sarson Island · Edgartown quadrangle
32 sheets, 1887 to 1994
Oak Bluffs town · 02568 · By North Head · Edgartown quadrangle
32 sheets, 1887 to 1994
West Tisbury town · 02575 · On Blackwater Brook · Vineyard Haven quadrangle
33 sheets, 1887 to 1994
Aquinnah town · 02535 · On Edys Island · Squibnocket quadrangle
33 sheets, 1887 to 1994
West Tisbury town · 02575 · On Blackwater Brook · Vineyard Haven quadrangle
33 sheets, 1887 to 1994
West Tisbury town · 02575 · By Makonikey Head · Vineyard Haven quadrangle
33 sheets, 1887 to 1994
Chilmark town · 02535 · On Tiasquam River · Tisbury Great Pond quadrangle
34 sheets, 1887 to 1994
Chilmark town · 02535 · By Nashaquitsa Cliffs · Squibnocket quadrangle
33 sheets, 1887 to 1994
Gosnold town · 02543 · On Mount Cary · Vineyard Haven quadrangle
32 sheets, 1887 to 1994
West Tisbury town · 02575 · On Witch Brook · Vineyard Haven quadrangle
33 sheets, 1887 to 1994
Edgartown town · 02539 · On Sarson Island · Edgartown quadrangle
32 sheets, 1887 to 1994
Tisbury town · 02568 · On Tashmoo Hill · Edgartown quadrangle
33 sheets, 1887 to 1994
Chilmark town · 02535 · On Squibnocket Ridge · Squibnocket quadrangle
33 sheets, 1887 to 1994
West Tisbury town · 02575 · In Willow Tree Bottom · Tisbury Great Pond quadrangle
34 sheets, 1887 to 1994
Oak Bluffs town · 02557 · On Telegraph Hill · Edgartown quadrangle
21 sheets, 1887 to 1994
Edgartown town · 02539 · By Wasque Point · Edgartown OE SE quadrangle
32 sheets, 1887 to 1994
West Tisbury town · 02575 · On Mill Brook · Vineyard Haven quadrangle
33 sheets, 1887 to 1994
32 topographic sheets and 8 fire insurance atlases, 1884 to 1940
33 topographic sheets and 8 fire insurance atlases, 1887 to 1959
0 topographic sheets and 4 fire insurance atlases, 1887 to 1904
32 topographic sheets and 4 fire insurance atlases, 1884 to 1940
The complete index, with nothing left out. Each of these is a separate record with its own page: a federal survey report, or the case file that argued a property on to the National Register. Both are public domain and reproduced word for word.
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