A smaller island to the south was named " Martha's Vineyard " by the English explorer Bartholomew Gosnold who sailed to the island in 1602.

No one knows who the namesake of the island is, but some suppose that since Gosnold's mother-in-law and his second child, who died in infancy, were both named Martha, Gosnold perhaps named Martha's Vineyard after his daughter, who was christened in St James ' Church ( now St Edmundsbury Cathedral ), Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk, England.

The population was 130 at the 2000 census, making it the smallest town in Berkshire County and, after Gosnold and Monroe, the third smallest in Massachusetts.

The trading post was abandoned after only a few weeks, and Gosnold decided to return home.

Gosnold was first settled in 1641, the year of purchase of the islands by Thomas Mayhew, Sr.

Gosnold was officially incorporated in 1864, having formerly belonged to the town of Chilmark.

Bartholomew Gosnold ( 1572 – 22 August 1607 ) was an English lawyer, explorer, and privateer who was instrumental in founding the Virginia Company of London, and Jamestown in colonial America.

Gosnold was born in Grundisburgh in Suffolk, England in 1572, and his family seat was at Otley, Suffolk.

Gosnold was popular among the colonists and opposed the location of the colony at Jamestown Island due to what he perceived as its unhealthy location ; he also helped design the fort that held the initial colony.

George Percy's ' Discourse ' that was printed in the fourth volume of Purchas His Pilgrimes ( 1625 ) records Gosnold's death (... Captain Bartholomew Gosnold one of Councile, he was buryed thereupon having all the ordinance in the Fourt shote offwith manye vollyes of small shot ...) and then sayse "... Oure men were destroyed with cruel dyseases as swellings, fluxes, burning fevers, and by wars and some exyted souddenlye, but for the moste part they dyeth of mere famine ..."

In 1864, the town of Gosnold was finally incorporated.

He recruited ( with his cousin, Captain Bartholomew Gosnold ) about forty of the 105 would-be colonists, and was the only shareholder to sail.

Although Sir Thomas Gates was later hailed by Sir Edwin Sandys as the " principle forwarder " of the London Virginia Company, Captain John Smith wrote in his General Historie that, when in 1605-06 the Jamestown expedition was making no progress, Wingfield got it moving: " Captain Bartholomew Gosnold second cousin, one of the first movers of this plantation, having many years solicited many of his friends, but found small assistance ; Gosnold at last prevailed with some gentlemen, Capt John Smith, Mr. Edward-Maria Wingfield, Mr. Reverend Robert Hunt, and diverse others, who depended a year upon his projects, but nothing could be effected, till by their great charge and industry, it came to be apprehended by certain of the Nobility, Gentry and Merchants, so that His Majesty by his letters patents, gave permission for establishing Councils, to direct here ; and to govern, and to execute there.

( Bartholomew Gosnold's next brother, Captain Wingfield Gosnold, was not to sail with the expedition ).

Conceivably Captain Gosnold ( aka Gosnell ) was the " Captain Gosnell " who, in 1604 at a dinner in the Isle of Wight made some " intemperate " comment about the King, so perhaps causing important people to shun him.

President Wingfield was now in charge, but before long his cousin Gosnold warned him that he was driving the men too hard, ever holding them to " working, watching, and warding.

* 1602 – Bartholomew Gosnold becomes the first European to see Cape Cod.

* May 15 – Bartolomew Gosnold becomes the first European at Cape Cod.

* May 15-Bartolomew Gosnold becomes the first European to discover Cape Cod.

* Bartholomew Gosnold, 1602 – 1607, a 2007 – 2008 ( open in the summer ) exhibit at the Cuttyhunk Historical Society

On the state level, Gosnold is represented in the Massachusetts House of Representatives as a part of the Barnstable, Dukes and Nantucket district, which includes all of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket, as well as a portion of Falmouth.

The town is the smallest town of the 32 cities and towns in Berkshire County, and the third-smallest of the 351 cities and towns in Massachusetts ( only Monroe and Gosnold are smaller ).

New Ashford is the second least-populated town in Berkshire County, and fourth smallest town in Massachusetts ( behind Mount Washington, Monroe and Gosnold ).

Gosnold is a town that encompasses the Elizabeth Islands in Dukes County, Massachusetts, United States.

Despite its being the least populous community in the Commonwealth, Gosnold is not the least densely populated, with that title belonging to Mount Washington, at the southwestern corner of western Massachusetts.

es: Gosnold ( Massachusetts )

ht: Gosnold, Massachusetts

Following the coastline for several days, he discovered Martha's Vineyard and named it after his daughter, Martha and established a small post on Cuttyhunk Island, one of the Elizabeth Islands, near Gosnold, now in Massachusetts.

# REDIRECT Gosnold, Massachusetts

It is one of the Elizabeth Islands, which make up the town of Gosnold, Massachusetts.

The island is owned by the Forbes family and is included in the town of Gosnold, Massachusetts.

They are located at the outer edge of Buzzards Bay, north of Martha's Vineyard from which they are separated by Vineyard Sound, and constitute the town of Gosnold, Massachusetts in Dukes County.

# REDIRECT Gosnold, Massachusetts

Cuttyhunk is part of the town of Gosnold, Massachusetts and home to 52 of the town's 86 year-round residents.

Baret Island is a small, sandy but mostly-rocky, oval-shaped island in Buzzards Bay ; it is part of the town of Gosnold, Massachusetts, USA.

Gosnold ranks 272nd out of the 351 communities in the Commonwealth in terms of land area ; however, it has the longest distance between points within municipal limits of any town in the Commonwealth.

** Bartholomew Gosnold, English lawyer and explorer ( d. 1607 )

May 15: Bartolomew Gosnold – Cape Cod.

* August 22 – Bartholomew Gosnold, English explorer and privateer ( b. 1572 )

A grave site thought by researchers to contain the remains of Captain Bartholomew Gosnold may instead contain those of Baron De La Warr.

While exploring New England, Bartholomew Gosnold landed on Cuttyhunk island on May 15, 1602.

The Elizabeth Islands, including Cuttyhunk, were discovered by Europeans in 1602 by Bartholomew Gosnold.

On the national level, Gosnold is a part of Massachusetts's 10th congressional district, and is currently represented by Democrat Bill Keating.

Gosnold is governed on the local level by the open town meeting form of government, and is led by a board of selectmen.

( Aquinnah and Chilmark's populations number in the hundreds, and Gosnold, at 86, is the smallest community in the Commonwealth.

By area, population and population density, it is the smallest town in the county ; and is the second-smallest town by population in the Commonwealth, with only Gosnold having fewer residents.

File: Gosnold at Cuttyhunk. jpg | Gosnold at Cuttyhunk, ( c. 1858 ), New Bedford Whaling Museum, New Bedford, MA