The Elizabeth Islands is an archipelago extending southwest from Cape Cod. They include over 20 small islands located at the outer edge of Buzzards Bay, north of Martha's Vineyard from which they are separated by Vineyard Sound. The Elizabeth Islands constitute the town of Gosnold in Dukes County, Massachusetts, based on the outermost island of Cuttyhunk, where most of the year-round population resides. All islands except for Cuttyhunk and Penikese are privately owned by the Forbes family.
Woods Hole is a census-designated place in the town of Falmouth in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. It lies at the extreme southwestern corner of Cape Cod, near Martha's Vineyard and the Elizabeth Islands. The population was 781 at the 2010 census.
It is the site of several marine science institutions, including Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the Marine Biological Laboratory, the Woodwell Climate Research Center, NOAA's Northeast Fisheries Science Center (which started the Woods Hole scientific community in 1871), the Woods Hole Science Aquarium, a USGS coastal and marine geology center, and the home campus of the Sea Education Association.
40°48′N 73°18′W / 40.8°N 73.3°W
The Outer Lands is the prominent terminal moraine archipelagic region off the southern coast of New England in the United States. This eight-county region of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New York comprises the peninsula of Cape Cod and the islands of Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, the Elizabeth Islands, Block Island, and Long Island, as well as surrounding islands and islets.
Dukes County is a county in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. At the 2020 census, the population was 20,600, making it the second-least populous county in Massachusetts. Its county seat is Edgartown.
Dukes County comprises the Vineyard Haven, MA Micropolitan Statistical Area. The county consists of 32 named islands, the largest of which is Martha's Vineyard. It also includes Chappaquiddick Island (sometimes peninsula of the Vineyard), the Elizabeth Islands, including Cuttyhunk, and Nomans Land.
Naushon Island is the largest of the Elizabeth Islands in southeastern Massachusetts. It is part of the town of Gosnold, Massachusetts, and is owned by the Forbes family. As of the 2000 census, the island had a permanent population of 30 people.
The island is seven miles (11 km) long and 7.4 square miles in land area (19.18 km). It is separated from Cape Cod by a narrow strait and the smaller islands of Uncatena and Nonamesset, and is located four statute miles (6 km) northwest of Martha's Vineyard.
Martha's Vineyard, often simply called the Vineyard, is an island in the U.S. state of Massachusetts, lying just south of Cape Cod. It is known for being a popular, affluent summer colony, and includes the smaller peninsula Chappaquiddick Island. It is the 58th largest island in the U.S., with a land area of about 96 square miles (250 km), and the third-largest on the East Coast, after Long Island and Mount Desert Island. Martha's Vineyard constitutes the bulk of Dukes County, Massachusetts, which also includes the Elizabeth Islands and the island of Nomans Land.
The island's year-round population has considerably increased since the 1960s. In the 2023 Martha's Vineyard Commission report, the year-round population was 20,530, an increase from 16,460 in 2010. The summer population swells to more than 200,000 people. About 56 percent of the Vineyard's 14,621 homes are seasonally occupied.