Elizabeth Islands

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

Video Elizabeth Islands

History Edit

The islands were claimed by the British and named after Queen Elizabeth I. In 1641, Thomas Mayhew Elder, from Watertown, Massachusetts, bought the islands - along with Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard - from William Alexander, Earl of Stirling.

Prior to the creation of the Massachusetts Bay Province in 1691, the islands were part of the extinct Dukes County of New York. The first known European citizen was Francis Usselton, who had been exiled at the time for secret trade with the local Indians without the approval of the governor.

Maps Elizabeth Islands

Geography and demographics Edit

The land area of ​​the islands is 34.55 km² (13.34 sq mi); and there is a permanent population of 75 people at the 2010 census, making it the smallest city in Massachusetts.

Named island Edit

Spanning the southwest from the tip of the mainland in Falmouth, Massachusetts, the islands are:

• Nonamesset Island, closest to the mainland
• Veckatimest, small island.
• Gull Island, an uninhabited small island.
• Uncatena Island, uninhabited in 2000 Census
• Naushon Island, 5.5 miles (8.9Ã, km) long and largest. It consists of the main island and the uninhabited small island of Banteng. Owned by Forbes' Naushon Island Trust, and although generally not open to the public, the Forbes family has set aside Tarpaulin Cove in the south and Kettle Cove in the north as well as Bull Island and Hadley Harbor in the northeast to the public. enjoyment including picknicking.
• The Weepecket Islands, three publicly accessible small islands in northern Naushon center owned by the Forbes family. These islands offer very few places to land, almost covered by water, and are home to many beach birds, seals and other animals.
• The island of Pasque, 1.5 miles (2.4 km) long, is owned by a subset of the Forbes family, and is covered in poison ivy. A tidal tributary cuts the passage through the island.
• Nashawena Island, 3 miles (4.8 km) long, owned by another part of the Forbes family, has grazing livestock.
• Penikese, located about 0.5 miles (0.80 km) north of Nashawena and Cuttyhunk. Penikese is owned by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and has a colorful history. It is the location of a nineteenth-century research facility that was the forerunner of the famous Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) at Woods Hole, was the site of the country's only leprosy colony in the early 20th century, and is now a bird sanctuary. and Penikese Island School site, a 35-year-old school for troubled teenagers.
• Cuttyhunk, the furthest western part of the chain, and home to much of Gosnold's municipal population. Like Penikese, Cuttyhunk is not owned by the Forbes family, and therefore many islands are publicly accessible.

Channels and ports named Edit

Channels with strong tidal currents, known locally as holes , separate the islands from each other and the land. The current up to 6 knots (11A km/h) is driven by different sizes and filling levels of Vineyard Sound to the southeast and Buzzards Bay to the northwest. At high tide, water flows from Buzzards Bay to Vineyard Sound. Towards the middle of the water stop and turn, filling the bay at low tide.

Registered to escape from Falmouth, the named channel is:

• Woods Hole separates the land from Nonamesset Island
• Robinson's hole between Naushon Island and Pasque Island
• Quick Pit between Pasque Island and Nashawena Island
• Kanapitsit Channel between Nashawena Island and Cuttyhunk Island.

Cuttyhunk harbor is sheltered to its east by Nashawena Island to the west by Cuttyhunk Island and to the north by Penikese Island.

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Ownership Edit

All of Elizabeth Island, except Cuttyhunk and Penikese, is privately owned by the Forbes family.

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References Edit

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External links Edit

• Cuttyhunk Historical Society, Elizabeth Islands Museum
• Aquatic Bathymetry Around the Islands of Elizabeth, Massachusetts United States Geological Survey
• Ã, "Elizabeth Islands". The CyclopÃÆ'Â|dia America . 1879.

Source of the article : Wikipedia