Cuttyhunk

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An aerial view of the island
An aerial view of the island

Cuttyhunk Island is the outermost of the Elizabeth Islands in Massachusetts, located between Buzzards Bay to the north and Vineyard Sound to the south. Penikese Island and Nashawena Island are located to the north and east, respectively. The island has a land area of 2.35 km² (0.9065 sq mi, or 580 acres) and a population of 52 persons as of the 2000 census. It is the fourth largest in area of the Elizabeth Islands and home to the majority of the population of the town of Gosnold, Massachusetts. [1]

Contents

[edit] History

The Elizabeth Islands
Islands listed in order from east to west
Nonamesset Uncatena Naushon Pasque Nashawena Penikese Cuttyhunk

Originally named Poocuohhunkkunnah (probably from the Wampanoag for “Point of departure” or “Land’s end”) by the native Wampanoag tribe, this island was renamed by explorer Bartholomew Gosnold in 1602. On March 6, 1602, Gosnold set out aboard the bark The Concord from Falmouth, England to plant a colony in the new world of America. Gosnold and his men landed near Kennebunkport, Maine, then on Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, and Cuttyhunk. After exploring the islands for less than a month, The Concord returned to England.

In 1606 the Elizabeth Islands were included by grant of the King to the Council of New England, which dissolved in 1635, after which the islands became the property of Alexander, Earl of Sterling. Sterling sold the islands to Thomas Mayhew in 1641, and in 1663 the Duke of York assumed proprietorship over them. In 1668, Mayhew sold Cuttyhunk to Philip Smith, Peleg Sanford, and Thomas Ward of Newport, Rhode Island. In 1688, Peleg Sanford acquired his partners’ rights in the island, and sold half of it to Ralph Earle of Dartmouth, who immediately sold his property to his son, Ralph Jr., who became the island’s first permanent settler. These men stripped the island of all of its lumber, leaving it bare and wind-swept. In 1693, Peleg Slocum purchased all of the holdings of Cuttyhunk, and became its sole owner. The Slocum family continued to live on Cuttyhunk for the next two hundred years. In 1858, William C.N. Smith, Thomas Nye, and Eben Perry bought Cuttyhunk from Otis Slocum for fifty dollars. In 1864, the town of Gosnold was incorporated, after many unsuccessful attempts.

[edit] Other Notable Dates:

  • 1872-73 Cuttyhunk school was built
  • 1874 First town meeting
  • 1889 Town Cemetery established
  • 1892 Town library established

[edit] The Cuttyhunk Club

In 1864 some members of The West Island Club in Sakonnet Point, Rhode Island grew dissatisfied with that club’s regulations, and looked for a place to start their own fishing club. After a visit to Cuttyhunk, these powerful New York gentlemen decided they had found their spot. In 1865, they purchased a large portion of the island, and built twenty-six fishing stands - long, wooden platforms that stretched out from rock to rock into the surf - all around the island. Initial membership was limited to fifty, with a single negative vote of the active members sufficient to bar someone from membership. The admission fee was $300. Eventually, the membership was expanded to sixty, then seventy-five. Every evening, the members of the Club met to draw lots to determine which fishing stand they would use the next day. Each member employed a chummer - a young boy paid to bait the member’s hook with lobster tail, and cast chunks of lobster into the surf to attract striped bass - and paid him $1 per fish caught, or more if the fish were particularly large. Records were kept of the number, size, and location of the fish caught, and by whom. Cuttyhunk gained a reputation for being a prime location for sportfishing, especially for striped bass. The Cuttyhunk Club gave the Cuttyhunk Church the land to build on in 1880 (the Church celebrated its 125th anniversary in the summer of 2006). Every Fourth of July, the Club would host a lavish party for island residents, including spectacular fireworks displays. In 1921, William Wood bought out the Cuttyhunk Club’s interest in the island, along with any other land that was for sale. He wanted a place for his young children to summer, and invited young, wealthy couples who were his friends to purchase summer homes on the island from him, to provide playmates for his children. The Wood family owns a great deal of the island to this day, and many of the families who purchased property from Wood still summer on the island annually.

[edit] Pilots and Shipwrecks

The treacherous waters of the Vineyard Sound and Buzzards Bay were tricky for novices to navigate. Early on in the island’s history, island men began to make a large part of their living piloting boats past the dangerous reefs and towards the ports of New Bedford, Providence, and Boston. Men stood atop Lookout Hill with spyglasses in hand, scanning the horizon for incoming whaling ships headed for New Bedford. When a ship appeared, the men would scramble down to the shore to their boats in a race to be the first one out to offer his services as a pilot. In 1903, Miss Elizabeth Watson reported that as many as eleven ships a day were piloted to New Bedford harbor by Cuttyhunk pilots. And the reefs were indeed dangerous. In 1847 the Massachusetts Humane Society had established life saving stations throughout the Elizabeth Islands, supplied with the things islanders needed to assist boats in trouble. Famous shipwrecks that happened off of Cuttyhunk include the February 24, 1893 wreck of the brig Aquatic off Sow and Pigs reef on the West End of Cuttyhunk. In that disaster, five Cuttyhunk lifesavers lost their lives trying to save the crew and passengers of the Aquatic. Another famous wreck was of the whaling ship Wanderer, the last whaling ship to leave New Bedford. She put to sea on August 25, 1924 and anchored near Cuttyhunk to await the completion of her crew. The next morning, the seas rose and the Wanderer dragged her anchors as she plowed through the waves toward Sow and Pigs. As the anchor chains snapped, the crew abandoned ship in two whaling boats, knowing that the ship was lost. The Cuttyhunk lifesavers set to sea to help these men make it to shore, but by the time they reached the area, the two boats had disappeared, one eventually making it to Cuttyhunk, and the other to the Vineyard Sound lightship.

[edit] Geography and Ecology

Cuttyhunk is about a mile and a half long, and three quarters of a mile wide, with a large and excellent natural harbor at the eastern end of the island. Fully half of the main part of the island is set apart as a nature preserve, and is home to a wide variety of birds, as well as deer and rabbits. There are two large peninsular arms extending from the main body of the island, named Canapitsit (the southern arm) and Copicut Neck (the northern arm). The shore is largely made up of rocks, testimony to Cuttyhunk’s glacial origins. Cuttyhunk is covered with rocks and stones that are elsewhere found only in the mountains of Vermont and New Hampshire. There are three stretches of sandy beach: along the channel that leads to the harbor (Channel Beach), around the sunken barges that connect Canapitsit to the main body of land (Barges Beach), and at “Church’s beach,” which connects Copicut to the main island. Much of Cuttyhunk’s rocky shore is followed by steep cliffs made of rock, sand, and clay. The western end of the island is taken up by the West End Pond, much of which is currently used for shellfish farming. A monument to Bartholomew Gosnold’s 1602 landing stands on a small island in the Pond. The highest point on the island is Lookout Hill, standing at 154 feet above sea level. The Lookout is home to one of the four bunkers built by the United States Coast Guard in 1941 to watch the surrounding ocean for Nazi u-boats. The bunkers, stripped of their observation equipment and weaponry at the end of World War II, are now picnic areas and offer stunning views of the island and its surrounding waters. Cuttyhunk is home to most varieties of New England’s wildflowers, as well as bayberry, sweet peas, and a host of other plant life.

[edit] Population and Culture

Cuttyhunk is part of the Town of Gosnold, Massachusetts and home to 52 of the town's 86 year-round residents. The town's population swells in the summer as vacationers and boaters visit the island. Summer residents and visitors enjoy the island’s beaches and natural beauty, but most of all its quiet and solitude. Cuttyhunk has a few trucks — most people travel on foot, or using golf carts. Cuttyhunk’s natural harbor is a popular spot for boaters to tie up for a night or even a summer. Cuttyhunk continues to be a popular site for sportfishing, with striped bass and bluefish being the most frequent catches. Lobstering is an occupation for a few of the island’s residents, as is boat building, shellfishing, and carpentry. The island is served by a ferry named the Alert II, which makes frequent trips to Cuttyhunk from New Bedford during the summer.

[edit] Cuttyhunk Trivia

  • Some believe that Cuttyhunk Island is the setting for William Shakespeare’s play The Tempest. Edward Everett Hale makes the case for this identification in his Prospero’s Island.
  • On June 24, 2005, Cuttyhunk was the last stop of the Boston Red Sox World Series Trophy tour.
  • IN 2003, Mark Storek and Robert Wall brought high speed internet service to Cuttyhunk.
  • In June, 2006, "Bullet Ice" made its first appearance on Cuttyhunk.

[edit] Sources Used

  • The Story of Cuttyhunk, by Louise T. Haskell (New Bedford, MA: Bradbury-Waring, 1953)

[edit] External links

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