Dukes County

The county in brief

A traveler's read on Dukes County

Twenty-six feet is the practical RV length ceiling for any rig contemplating Martha's Vineyard — the Steamship Authority's published RV cargo-deck dimensions on the Vineyard Haven and Oak Bluffs routes accept rigs to that length on the standard reservation system, anything between 26 and 40 feet requires a reserved cargo-deck slot booked 9+ months ahead through the SSA's commercial-vehicle scheduling office, and anything over 40 ft is practically impossible to ferry without separate commercial-load clearance and a flat-deck barge charter. Combined with Dukes County's near-complete absence of RV-friendly campgrounds (Webb's Camping Area in West Tisbury accepts rigs to 30 ft with no hookups on a small May-October seasonal operation, and Martha's Vineyard Family Campground in Vineyard Haven accepts rigs to 35 ft on a similarly limited seasonal stock), the operational reality is that the vast majority of summer RV visitors stage on Cape Cod (Falmouth or Hyannis), leave the rig in a mainland campground, and day-trip to the island by passenger ferry.

Dukes County's 104 sq mi wrap Martha's Vineyard proper (the largest island in Massachusetts, 100 sq mi, host to six island towns each with its own town meeting and tax base — Edgartown, Oak Bluffs, Tisbury, West Tisbury, Chilmark, and Aquinnah), the Elizabeth Islands (the Forbes family's privately-owned Naushon Island chain stretching west from Woods Hole toward Cuttyhunk, with public access permitted only on Cuttyhunk Island the westernmost), and the small no-access Nomans Land Island south of Aquinnah (a former US Navy bombing range, now closed). The year-round Martha's Vineyard population of 20,600 swells to 200,000+ during peak July-August weeks per island Chamber of Commerce estimates, with the seasonal compression driving every grocery, restaurant, and ferry slot price to a multiple of mainland equivalents. The Steamship Authority operates the only year-round car-ferry service from Woods Hole (Falmouth) to Vineyard Haven and Oak Bluffs; the Hy-Line Cruises and Seastreak passenger-only fast ferries from Hyannis, Falmouth, and New York are summer-seasonal. Aquinnah Cliffs (formerly Gay Head, the multicolored Cretaceous-and-Tertiary clay sea cliffs at the island's western tip, a National Natural Landmark) and the Edgartown Lighthouse anchor the island visitor circuit.