Martha's Vineyard

Martha’s Vineyard Indians. Martha’s Vineyard island, off the south coast of Massachusetts, was called by the Indians Nope, or Capawac. These may have been the names of tribes on the island and the smaller islands adjacent. The Indians thereon were subject to the Wampanoag and were very numerous at the period of the first settlement, but their dialect differed from those on the mainland. They seem not to have suffered by the great pestilence of 1617. In 1642 they were estimated at 1,500. The Mayhews carried on active missionary work among them and succeeded in bringing nearly all of them … Read more