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Decorative drawing: a small American settlement seen from a low hill. Not a photograph of this place.

Squibnocket, Massachusetts

33 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1887 and the latest in 1994. It stands in Chilmark town. It lies in ZIP code area 02535. It stands on Squibnocket Ridge. The Survey maps it on the Squibnocket quadrangle.

Squibnocket within Dukes County

Then and now

1887 to 1994

The same ground, surveyed 107 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Squibnocket, surveyed 1994
Topographic sheet of Squibnocket, surveyed 1887

Topographic sheets covering this place

33 sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

In the county-history sources

24,949 words on this township

The History of Martha's Vineyard, Dukes County, Massachusetts, published 1911 names this settlement in its chapter on Chilmark Town. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

Sqiieppunnocquat. - Squibnocket, modern. The definition is "A place where the red ground nut grows." M'squepun-ock-ut; it was probably the bulb of the orange red lily (Lilium Philadelphicum) which grows in great profusion around this region. In various dialects it is known as the meadow ground nut. The Indians ate the roots, which are long in boiling, and they taste like the liver of sheep.

Passage source: The History of Martha's Vineyard, Dukes County, Massachusetts, published 1911.

It has been related elsewhere (Vol. I, pp. 174-6) how Matthew Mayhew, in April, 1685, was created Lord of the Manor of Martha's Vineyard, by Governor Dongan, and after enjoying the honor for nearly three weeks, he sold the title and privileges to the creator himself. Thenceforth Dongan was Lord of the Manor, or what remained after Mayhew had excepted most of the Vineyard in the transfer of title. As portions of the land which actually passed to Dongan were situated in this town, his connection with it becomes of interest to students of its early annals. These tracts were the eastern half of the Kephigon district of Chilmark and Squibnocket, for which annual quit-rents were exacted.^ Dongan appointed Mayhew as his steward, and this relationship was maintained for twenty-five years, until the latter' s death. Most of this territory, including the Gay Head peninsula, which formed the bulk of his "manor," was inhabited by Indians, and as tenants, they were poor pay and much care. It is not to be presumed that the lambs, nutmegs, corn and mink skins which they paid ever found their way to his cupboards, though they were religiously collected by his agent. The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, by reason of its missionary work on the island among the natives, came to feel that with an absentee land-

Passage source: The History of Martha's Vineyard, Dukes County, Massachusetts, published 1911.

The general government is not represented in this town by any of its departments except the postal service. An office was established in 1822, and Matthew Mayhew was commissioned, Dec. 25, 1822, as the first postmaster. The office was, and is now, located at the house or store of the incumbent for the time being. The successors in the postmastership have been as follows: Ephraim Mayhew, commissioned Oct. 13, 1836; Tristram Allen, Jr., March 30, 1842; Mrs. Tamson Allen, July 13, 1864; John Dunham, Sept. 7, 1865; James T. Mosher, April 20, 1883; George West, Jan. 27, 1886, and E. Elliot Mayhew, May 18, 1897 (present incumbent). The name of this office was changed from Chilmark to Squibnocket in 1883, and remained so till 1898, when the original town name was resumed as its official designation.

Passage source: The History of Martha's Vineyard, Dukes County, Massachusetts, published 1911.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Chilmark Town - it names this place 2 more 2 times.

Fires near this place

1 since 2018

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 1 fire within 5 miles of Squibnocket between 2018 and 2018, burning about 0 acres in total. None started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Debris and open burning1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
21 April 2018Debris and open burningunder an acreMassachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Controlnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Dukes County

Specimens collected near this place

12 of 2,225 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. Museums hold 2,225 specimens collected within 10 miles of Squibnocket between 1828 and 1975: 1,086 Animalia, 821 Plantae, 149 Chromista, 138 Unrecorded, 28 Fungi, 3 Bacteria. 12 distinct Species records are shown. Collected by A AND P STARRETT, A., A. B. Hervey and others. Each is a physical object with a catalogue number, and each entry opens the museum's record. This is what was collected and kept, not a survey of what lives here - nothing can be concluded from a species being absent.

Image SpeciesYear Collected by Where, as recorded
A photograph of the species Tipularia discolor, not of this specimenTipularia discolor (Pursh) Nutt.1828OakesMartha's Vineyard
A photograph of the species Acteocina canaliculata, not of this specimenActeocina canaliculata (Say, 1826)1871United States Fish CommissionOff Gay Head
A photograph of the species Actinococcus subcutaneus, not of this specimenActinococcus subcutaneus (Lyngbye ex Hornemann) Rosenvinge1871W. G. FarlowGay Head
A photograph of the species Anguilla rostrata, not of this specimenAnguilla rostrata (Lesueur, 1817)1871U.S. Fish CommissionVineyard Sound
A photograph of the species Astarte crenata, not of this specimenAstarte crenata (J.E.Gray, 1824)1871United States Fish CommissionOff Gay Head and Edgartown
A photograph of the species Astyris lunata, not of this specimenAstyris lunata (Say, 1826)1871United States Fish CommissionGreat Harbor, Gay Head [=Aquinnah]
Callithamnion plumula (J.Ellis) Lyngbye1871W. G. FarlowMartha's Vineyard, Gay Head
A photograph of the species Chaetomorpha linum, not of this specimenChaetomorpha linum (O.F.Müll.) Kütz.1871W. G. FarlowMartha's Vineyard, Gay Head
A photograph of the species Chaetomorpha melagonium, not of this specimenChaetomorpha melagonium (F.Weber & D.Mohr) Kützing1871W. G. FarlowMartha's Vineyard, Gay Head
A photograph of the species Centropristis striata, not of this specimenCentropristis striata (Linnaeus, 1758)1899B. BeanMenemsha Bight
A photograph of the species Echinorhynchus Zoega, not of this specimenEchinorhynchus Zoega, 17761899E. LintonMartha's Vineyard
A photograph of the species Sterna dougallii, not of this specimenSterna dougallii dougallii Montagu, 18131899Doe, C EDukes County

All 2,225 specimens within 10 miles, at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Nashaquitsa1.0 miles33
Indian Lands2.9 miles33
Chilmark2.9 miles33
Menemsha3.1 miles33
Lobsterville3.2 miles33
Gay Head3.3 miles33
Nabs Corner6.6 miles34
Quansoo6.7 miles34

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikidata item Q122563991The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 615394. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Specimens. Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), https://www.gbif.org/. Only records licensed CC0 or CC BY are used. Records licensed CC BY-NC are excluded because this site carries advertising. Images are checked individually and any whose licence is non-commercial, no-derivatives or unreadable is refused.