History

Dukes County originally consisted of the parent towns of Tisbury, Chilmark, and Edgartown which are now divided into seven towns: Tisbury, West Tisbury, Chilmark, Gay Head, Gosnold, Edgartown, and Oak Bluffs. Tisbury was originally called "Middletown" until it was incorporated as the Town of Tisbury in 1671. It includes (and is now often synonymous with) the village of Vineyard Haven, which was called Holmes Hole until 1871. West Tisbury was divided from Tisbury in 1892, and all of the early records can be found with the parent town. It contains the original site of the European settlement of Middletown. West Tisbury includes the communities of North Tisbury (originally called "Newtown") and Christiantown. (taken from the Historical Records of Dukes County)