Dukes County, Massachusetts
County of Dukes County · the Vineyard is a county · the ferry is not Barnstable
The legal name is a sentence
Dukes is a geographic county whose legal name is the County of Dukes County. It is Martha’s Vineyard plus Gosnold (Elizabeth Islands, including Cuttyhunk). Six towns on the Vineyard: Edgartown (seat), Oak Bluffs, Tisbury, West Tisbury, Chilmark, Aquinnah. County government is intact. The SOS lists commissioners as elected in Barnstable, Bristol, Dukes, Norfolk, and Plymouth. Dukes is on that list. County treasurer is also elected here. The SOS notes overlapping commissioner terms in all but Dukes — confirm the current Dukes pattern on official sources.
Town police, fire, schools, and trash are town services. The Sheriff is still elected on this map. The Steamship Authority is a separate public authority, not a county department.
This page is Side One. The Sheriff’s job is taught at Office of the Sheriff — Dukes.
Land — sound, ocean, a boat
Vineyard Sound looks at Falmouth (Barnstable County). Nantucket Sound looks at Nantucket, a different county. Chappaquiddick is Edgartown. Up-island is not a postcard category; it is West Tisbury, Chilmark, Aquinnah. Gosnold is in this county and is not a Vineyard neighborhood. A winter storm here is a cancelled boat and an isolated island. A summer day is a crowd, not a second county. No canal. No Pittsfield. No Brockton.
Politics — island commission, seven town halls
Commissioners and treasurer are county officers. Select boards run the seven municipalities. Aquinnah includes Wampanoag tribal government as a separate fact — confirm on official tribal and town sites; do not invent Sheriff jurisdiction. Off-season voters are still the county. July renters are not a constituency.
Law, technology, education
Courts still say Dukes and sit in Edgartown. Register of deeds remains a county-titled office. Each town has its own site. A student looks at that town’s jobs page, the county’s page, or the Sheriff’s employment page. Year-round housing is a labor fact. Do not send a Chilmark resident to a Barnstable 311.
Justice, outreach, rights, remedy, relief, service
Crime and fire are town. Jail and civil process are the Sheriff (149 Main Street, Edgartown). Prosecution is the Cape and Islands District Attorney — another office, shared with the Cape and Nantucket as a district, not as a merged county. Outreach that only speaks Circuit Avenue in July is not doing Gosnold. Rights do not change at the Chilmark line. Remedy for a town police issue is that town. Remedy for a jail issue is the Sheriff. Relief when the boats stop is mutual aid plus the Commonwealth. Papers still get served up-island in March.
Place snapshot (verify official sources)
- County: Dukes · legal name: County of Dukes County · Commonwealth: Massachusetts
- Map: six Vineyard towns plus Gosnold · seat: Edgartown
- County government: intact · commissioners and treasurer elected
- Neighbors by water: Barnstable (Falmouth), Nantucket
- Always verify on official town sites and mass.gov
What this is not
- Not Barnstable County. Not the Cape. Not Falmouth.
- Not Nantucket County. Not the Steamship Authority as a county hall.
- Not “the Vineyard” as a brand in place of seven municipalities.
- Not the Sheriff’s office as the whole county.