To the Aquinnah Wampanoag Tribe, Moshup is a benevolent giant believed to have created the present shapes of Martha’s Vineyard and the surrounding islands. He lives in a den on the Cliffs of Aquinnah and wades into the waters to catch whales, flinging them against the cliffs to kill them and then cooking them over his fire to provide food for the Wampanoag. Whale blood stained the cliffs red, and coals from Moshup’s fire account for the black. The Wampanoag Tribal logo shows Moshup, bigger than life, holding a whale near his den on the cliffs, and the Aquinnah Wampanoag consider the frequent fog in the area to be smoke from Moshup’s pipe, a sign of his happiness with his people. The Gay Head Cliffs mark part of the approximate maximum extent of the Laurentide ice sheet during the last ice age, roughly 18,000 years ago. Their strata of white, gray, red, and black clay were deposited 75 million years ago and then thrust up into their present position by the glacier as part of the terminal moraine, the accumulation of rock and soil deposited by a glacier at its maximum extent. The cliffs provide a cross-section of pre-glacial coastal plain sediments and are the most extensive and scenic exposure of Cretaceous and Tertiary formations on the New England islands and Cape Cod. The colorful cliffs have been a tourist attraction since the mid-1800s, passenger ships landed there until the 1950s, and natural erosion constantly changes their shapes and colors.

Photo: J. Makali Bruton

Aquinnah, Massachusetts · USA