We weren’t always an island. The Vineyard was a great coastal plain and, to summer here, you had to walk. This is going back about 10,000 years. In the warmer months, as large animals migrated to our forests, hunters had a field day tracking truly big game—mammoths, mastodons, caribou, and elk. But with time, a lot changed.
The climate moderated. Glaciers melted and seas rose. 5,000 years passed and the Vineyard became ocean-bounded. You needed a boat to get here. Natives dug out logs and created the first ferries. You could paddle to the mainland, do a little trading, and get back in several weeks. Lagoons, bays, and marshes replaced old glaciers. Sturgeon and cod filled the seas. Men got addicted to fishing.
Vineyard life was active. Venison, seal, whale, turtle, and assorted fish and shellfish were all on the menu, not to mention garden vegetables and locally-grown nuts and berries. The population grew. Islanders set up summer wigwams. Some created small farmsteads. At first, there were hundreds. Later, thousands lived here.
Exploring, and having taken the time to set anchor and meet with some of the locals, Giovanni da Verrazano reported back to Europe. The place was exceptional, he told them. “These people are the most beautiful and have the most civil customs that we have found on this voyage,” he reported. Bartholomew Gosnold followed later and named our Island Martha’s Vineyard. The rest is history.