Nomans Land (Massachusetts)

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1995 USGS Photograph of Nomans Land Island
1995 USGS Photograph of Nomans Land Island

Nomans Land (also mapped "No Man's Land"[1] or "No Mans Land"[2] or "No Man's island")[3] is an uninhabited island 612 acres (2.477 km²) in size, located in Dukes County, Massachusetts, USA. It is the southernmost point of that state, situated about three miles (5 km) off the southwest corner of the island of Martha's Vineyard. Nomans Land is within the political boundaries of the Martha's Vineyard town of Chilmark, having been included in its boundaries at the time of incorporation in 1714.[4]

The island likely has unexploded ordnance dating from its role as a practice bombing range from 1943-1996.[3] Consequently, the island is closed to the public.

Contents

[edit] History

In 1602, from the voyage of the Concord (of Dartmouth) arriving at Cape Cod on May 15, 1602, Captain Bartholomew Gosnold had named the small island "Martha's Vinyard" after his eldest daughter, Martha;[5] however, the name was later transferred to the larger island nearby, northeast of Nomans Land.

The island was probably named "Nomans Land" after a Martha's Vineyard Wampanoag sachem, Tequenoman, who had jurisdiction over the island when the English came in the early 1600s: named from "TequeNoman's Land" (figurative phrase).

An airfield was constructed by the U.S. Navy on the southern edge of the island between November 1942 and May 1944, and the island was used, beginning in World War II, as a practice area for bombers for 53 years, 1943-1996.[3] Two ICAO codes, R4105A and R4105B, correspond to this airfield. The airfield was abandoned by the U.S. Navy sometime between 1945 and 1954, though usage as a bombing range continued until 1996.

The eastern third of the island has been managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) since 1975. Following an effort to clear the island of ordnance in 1997 and 1998, the entire island was transferred to the FWS for use as a wildlife refuge, primarily for migratory birds.

Due to danger from unexploded ordnance, access is not permitted, and the island is closed to the public.

[edit] Leif Eriksson Runestone

The island was owned by a Joshua Crane in the 1920s. Late one afternoon in November 1926, as the setting sun was settling low on the horizon, he spotted some strange lettering on a large black rock by the water's edge. Even then, the rock was submerged except at extreme low tide. The strange marks cut into the stone were indecipherable to him.

As noted in a diary entry made by a Mrs. Wood, her husband, Captain Wood, had stumbled onto the same strange rock about a year earlier. Captain Wood was not skilled in writing and was caretaker of the island for Mr. Crane.

The strange marks were photographed in 1927 by a writer, Edward F. Gray, who was researching the Norse voyages to North America for a book (published in 1930 by Oxford University Press). He noted that it was difficult to photograph because the stone was only fully exposed at extreme low tide and even then, waves broke over it.

The letters were about four inches high, the top two lines being fairly evenly-spaced. The lower two were either incomplete or had been worn smooth in spots by the action of wind and waves. Mr. Gray was not knowledgeable of runic, the written language of the Norse, but subsequent efforts to decipher the letters concluded that the first two lines read, "Leif Eriksson, 1001". The lower lines were not interpreted, although a case could be made for the word "Vinland" as part of the lower lines.

Gray sent the photos to Oslo University for examination. There, the noted Professor A.W. Brögger and Professor Magnus Olsen examined the pictures. Based on the images submitted to them, they had serious questions as to the authenticity of the inscription. Specifically, they questioned some of the runes themselves and the use of the Roman numerals for the date. The latter they felt was fairly decisive evidence against the stone's validity because Roman numerals were not, they claimed, used for dating until the 14th or 15th centuries in Scandinavia.

Professor Finnur Jónsson, of Copenhagen University stopped short of calling the stone a forgery, but he too questioned the mixture of runes in the inscription. He went on to note that leaving runic records was unknown in Iceland in 1000. He also admitted that the last two lines were undecipherable to him. He concluded the inscription dated from sometime after 1500.

Other experts were consulted at the time, though none ever actually saw the stone - crucial to making an accurate reading. They reached similar conclusions. Specifically, the mixture of runes with Roman numerals was not known, there are grammatical anomalies, and the mixture of runes from different periods raises red flags. In short, the consensus was that the stone was not authentic.

Nevertheless, the stone is occasionally mentioned today, especially by pseudohistorians, and used as evidence to advance the claim that Vinland was located on this island or on nearby Martha's Vineyard.

[edit] The runestone today

The alleged runestone was never removed from Nomans Land. Thus, if it ever existed at all, it can still be found on the island, although nearly a century of wave erosion (given the stone's location on the island's shore) may have caused irreparable damage to the runestone.

Unfortunately, the island's status as a former gunnery range makes any attempts to visit the island extremely hazardous.

The New England Antiquities Research Association apparently sent an expedition to the site in 2003 to attempt to locate the runestone.[6]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ The label "No Man's Land" appeared on Google Maps in November 2006.
  2. ^ The label "No Mans Land" appeared on New England-area maps compiled by the National Geographic Society in 1955.
  3. ^ a b c "Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields: Southeastern Massachusetts" (airstrip), 2005, Airfields-Freeman.com webpage: Airfields-NoMans.
  4. ^ For reasons unknown to history, the town of Chilmark petitioned the Massachusetts General Court to have Nomans Land added to its corporate boundaries in 1716. This petition was granted, although the island had already been included in the original incorporation in 1714. See Annals of Chilmark in the References section below.
  5. ^ "Concord of Dartmouth" (ship arrived at Cape Cod on May 15, 1602), Packrat, 2005, webpage: PackRat-Concord-voyage.
  6. ^ See the NEARA link under References, below.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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