The Elizabeth Islands are a chain of over 20 small islands extending southwest from the southern coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts in the United States. They are located at the outer edge of Buzzards Bay, north of Martha's Vineyard, from which they are separated by Vineyard Sound, and constitute the town of Gosnold in Dukes County, Massachusetts.

History

The island's creation was caused by different gravels and soils entombed inside of glaciers. The glacial movement deposited much material as they melted, thus many small islands were formed. The islands were long known to and utilized by the Wampanoag and other indigenous peoples before European colonization. They utilized the islands for hunting and fishing. The Indigenous name, Pocutohhunkunnoh, meaning Lands End, was the inspiration for the name Cuttyhunk Island. Europeans first learned of the islands in 1602 when the English colonizer Bartholomew Gosnold sighted them on his way to Virginia. For three weeks, they built shelter and rested on the islands. However, it was not until 1641, subsequent to the successful establishment of the first English North American colonies, that colonizers formally laid claim to and settled the islands in the name of the English Crown as part of the country's nascent imperial expansion. At this time they renamed the islands after Elizabeth I, who had been Queen of England when the islands had first been discovered by Europeans. They named Cuttyhunk Elizabeth's Isle. King James the First gave the islands to the Council of New England because he did not care to have them. In 1641, Thomas Mayhew the Elder, of Watertown, Massachusetts, bought the islands—along with Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard—from William Alexander, the Earl of Stirling. James Bowdoin and his family owned the islands for over 100 years beginning in the 1700s. Finally the islands were bought by the Forbes family in the 1800s. Before the creation of the Province of Massachusetts Bay in 1691, the islands were part of the extinct Dukes County, New York. The first known European inhabitant was Francis Usselton, who had been banished at the time for making secret trades with the local Indians without consent from the governor. Since the mid-1800s, the Forbes family, in the form of a family trust, own much of the island's property.

Geography and demographics

The total land area of the islands is 34.55 km² (13.34 sq mi); and there was a permanent population of 75 persons as of the 2010 census, making it the smallest town in Massachusetts.

Named islands

All of the Elizabeth Islands, except Cuttyhunk and Penikese, are privately owned by the Forbes family. However, the Forbes family have other beaches open for public access including: Weepecket, Kettle Cove, West End Beach, Quicks Hole and Tarpaulin Cove. Stretching south-west from land's end at Falmouth, Massachusetts, the islands are:

Named channels

Channels with strong tidal currents, known locally as holes, separate the islands from each other and the mainland. Currents of up to 6 knots are driven by the different sizes and filling rates of Vineyard Sound to the southeast and Buzzards Bay to the northwest. At high tide, water flows from Buzzards Bay to the Vineyard Sound. Near mid-tide the water stops and reverses, filling the Bay at low tide. Listed from northeast to southwest, the named channels are:

Named harbors and coves

Wildlife

There are many bluefish and striped bass found in the waters near all the islands. The stripers are drawn in by the rocky coastline of the islands. The abundance of different fish also brings in many different kinds of birds that can easily find pods of topwater fish.

Recreation

Sightseeing

There are many different sights to see across the islands. Some of the most popular include Nashawena Island’s Highland Cattle, Tarpaulin Cove Lighthouse, Gay Head Cliffs, the Naval Lookout Point on Cuttyhunk, and a plethora of wildlife.

Bird watching

There are many birds found on Cuttyhunk who are the first birds migrating north in the spring and the last going south in the winter. This is because it is the last or first landmass in the bay. There are wildlife habitats located on Penikese Island that people visit to observe the birds.

Activities

On many of the public beaches and islands, it is popular to stop for a few hours and set up a picnic. People are also found snorkeling and swimming in the oceans around many of the islands.