Blood, Trauma, and Biohazard Cleanup in Vineyard Haven, MA

Vineyard Haven is a census-designated place (CDP) in the town of Tisbury, Dukes County, Massachusetts, on the island of Martha's Vineyard, and it had a population of 2,747 at the 2020 census, up from 2,114 in 2010.

The CDP covers 1.31 square miles of land at an elevation of 46 feet, uses ZIP Code 02568 and area code 508, and sits at coordinates 41.45611 degrees north, 70.60722 degrees west.

The Wampanoag people called the area Nobnocket, and colonial settlers first knew it as Homes Hole, later spelled Holmes Hole after the descendants of John Holmes, who settled there in the second half of the 18th century, before the village officially changed its name to Vineyard Haven in 1871.

Vineyard Haven is the main village and town center of Tisbury, which was first settled in 1660 and incorporated on July 8, 1671, named for Tisbury in Wiltshire, England, and the names Vineyard Haven and Tisbury are commonly used interchangeably for the whole town.

Vineyard Haven is the main port of entry to Martha's Vineyard and one of the island's three main population centers, along with Edgartown and Oak Bluffs, and the Steamship Authority wharf there runs ferries year-round, while a second seasonal wharf operates in neighboring Oak Bluffs.

The CDP had 1,137 households at the 2020 census, and of its 1,750 housing units 35.0 percent were vacant, reflecting the community's large seasonal population, while its year-round population is only about 2,000 people but grows tremendously in the summer.

At the 2020 census the median age in Vineyard Haven was 46.3 years, with 17.1 percent of residents under the age of 18 and 26.0 percent aged 65 or older, and 99.5 percent of residents lived in urban areas.

The William Street Historic District in Vineyard Haven, which runs along William Street from Woodlawn Avenue in the north to several houses south of Camp Street, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on January 27, 1983, as the single best preserved area of mid-19th-century houses in the village, and the town established the local historic district by vote in 1975.

Public transportation in Vineyard Haven centers on the Martha's Vineyard Regional Transit Authority, whose buses stop at the Steamship Authority bus terminal, the most used stop on the island year-round and in summer, and air service reaches the island through Martha's Vineyard Airport.

Notable residents of Vineyard Haven have included Joel Greenberg, the billionaire co-founder of Susquehanna International Group, and William B. Rochester, who served as Paymaster-General of the United States Army.