Dukes County, Massachusetts: History and Information

Dukes County, Massachusetts

Dukes County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education

County Seat: Edgartown
Year Organized: 1695
Square Miles: 104

Court House:

81 Main Street
County Courthouse
Edgartown, MA 02539-0190

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Formerly a part of Dukes County, New York until 1691, the land at one time was literally the possession of the Duke of York

Demographics:

History

The county consists of the island of Martha's Vineyard, and the Elizabeth Islands (including Cuttyhunk). It was originally established as Dukes County, New York on November 1, 1683, and was transferred to Massachusetts and divided so that Nantucket Island became Nantucket County, Massachusetts on October 7, 1691. The statute created a county "by the name of Dukes County," as opposed to the standard form "the county of Dukes" which is the reason for the redundancy in the name.[

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 491 square miles (1,272 km²), of which, 104 square miles (269 km²) of it is land and 387 square miles (1,003 km²) of it is water. The total area is 79% water.

Neighboring Counties:

Northeast: Barnstable County

East: Nantucket Sound; Muskeget Channel

South: North Atlantic Ocean

Northwest: Vineyard Sound; Buzzards Bay

Cities and Towns:

- Aquinnah

town

- Chilmark

town

- Edgartown (County Seat)

town

- Gosnold

town

- Oak Bluffs

town

- Tisbury

town

- West Tisbury

town

County Resources:

Enter County Resources and Information Here

The history of our nation can be seen as a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names we've given our counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic features of our country!"

But age, size and colorful names of our counties isn't the only reason to explore counties' role in American history, or the history of county government itself. In fact, the story of county government reflects the larger meanings of American history.

Today's counties are the most flexible, locally responsive and creative governments in the US. They are the most diverse, varying in size, population, geography, and governmental structure. In their politics and policies, they express a 1990's political slogan "Think globally, act locally."

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Massachusetts Counties

Dukes County, Massachusetts

Dukes County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Demographics:

History

Geography

Neighboring Counties:

Cities and Towns:

County Resources:

County Resource Guide

Penn Foster High School