Published article in the Westport Herald

March 2, 1987

Profile of Creeping Cove

23 miles south of the mainland at Westport and 17 miles southwest of Martha’s Vineyard sits the island of Creeping Cove, Massachusetts. Creeping Cove’s namesake city takes up only a small, northern portion of the isle, the rest of which is almost entirely uninhabited forests and fields.

Historians aren’t exactly sure when people first came to Creeping Cove, but there is evidence to suggest Wampanoag Indians were living here as early as the first century AD. The Wampanoag name for the island is “Wunnepog”, meaning “little leaf.”

The first colonizers arrived in the 1650’s from the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and, like the Wampanoag, they named it for the creeping ivy that covered the island. Despite the earlier European presence, a permanent colony was not founded until over half a century later. In 1717, colonizers discovered silver on the island, and founded Creeping Cove as a mining colony.

The town prospered for almost a century until the silver mines began to run dry. Around 1800, the Cove pivoted to their preexisting fishing industry as their primary source of profits. This was, of course, far less lucrative than their silver industry, so around this time many people emigrated off of Creeping Cove.

Today, most residents of the Cove can trace their lineage back to the original colonists and/or the native Wampanoag people, as very few people tend to immigrate to Creeping Cove due to its remote location.

Outside the main city, there are no paved roads on the island, and the uninhabited areas are instead criss-crossed by miles of footpaths connecting the important out-of-town locations. On the northernmost point of the island, the Gnadhautten Peninsula, sits Creeping Cove’s lighthouse, allowing safe passage into the city’s harbor. Another lighthouse stands on the southern end of the island, but it’s been abandoned for almost 200 years.

Also located near the southern end of the island is the city’s fairgrounds. Hypothetically, they host community events, but according to my sources they’re hardly ever used, likely due to how far from town they are.

Located directly south of the main city, a few miles deep into the woods, lies the Creeping Cove cemetery. What prompted the early settlers of Creeping Cove to bury their dead deep in the woods I cannot say. It seems a little unnecessarily creepy to me, but it's a site still used today.

On the eastern and western coasts of the island sit the ruins of an old colonial era fort. Historians can’t agree on whether these were built during English conflicts with the Wampanoag, or during the Revolutionary War (a conflict Creeping Cove, for obvious reasons, did not see action in).

On the Wopanaak Peninsula, Gnadhautten Peninsula’s eastern counterpart, stands Ashtabula Manor. The manor was home to the Ashtabula family, one of Creeping Cove’s earliest wealthy families from back in the silver mining days. Today, like so many out of town locations, it stands abandoned.

Whether within the confines of the city, or in the surrounding hinterlands, Ivan Murtin is somewhere on this island. I don’t know if he’s alive or dead, but what I do know is we’re going to find him. Until next time, Westport, I’ve been Iowa Walsh.