Editing Chilmark, Massachusetts (section)

==Geography==
[[File:Marthasvineyard-Chilmark-LucyVincent.jpg|thumb|Lucy Vincent Beach on the south shore of the island.]] [[Image:Marthasvineyard-Chilmark-Menemsha.jpg|thumb|The fishing village of Menemsha.]]According to the [[United States Census Bureau]], the town has a land area of {{convert|49.3|km2|order=flip}}.<ref name="Census 2010">{{cite web| url=http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/DEC/10_SF1/G001/0600000US2500713800| title=Geographic Identifiers: 2010 Demographic Profile Data (G001): Chilmark town, Dukes County, Massachusetts| publisher=U.S. Census Bureau, American Factfinder| access-date=October 29, 2015| archive-url=https://archive.today/20200213121912/http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/DEC/10_SF1/G001/0600000US2500713800| archive-date=February 13, 2020| url-status=dead}}</ref> Chilmark ranks 192nd of the 351 communities in the Commonwealth in terms of land area. Chilmark is bordered by [[Vineyard Sound]] and [[Aquinnah, Massachusetts|Aquinnah]] to the west, [[West Tisbury, Massachusetts|West Tisbury]] to the east, and the Atlantic Ocean to the south.

The town includes the island of Nomans Land, which lies southwest of Martha's Vineyard. Because of Nomans Land, the town is officially the second most southerly point in Massachusetts (the south shore of [[Nantucket, Massachusetts|Nantucket]] is approximately a kilometer south of the southernmost point on Nomans Land). Chilmark has a series of small ponds along the Atlantic side of the town, and it shares Tisbury Great Pond to the east and [[Menemsha Pond]] and Squibnocket Pond to the southwest, along the Aquinnah town line. It is between these two ponds, which are {{convert|1100|ft}} apart at their closest point, that the only road to Aquinnah passes. Long Beach, privately owned, runs along the southern side of Squibnocket Pond and technically connects the towns. At one point in the late 17th and early 18th century, Squibnocket Pond was open to the sea. However, the [[barrier beach]] with its sand dunes eventually closed this opening permanently. Occasionally in winter storms, waves will wash across low points in the beach, but the beach itself has not been breached in a hundred years, unlike other barrier beaches on Martha's Vineyard.

Chilmark has the highest point on Martha's Vineyard, at the {{convert|311|ft|m|adj=on}} summit of Peaked Hill.<ref>U.S. Geological Survey Squibnocket topographic map (1977)</ref>

The town has several sanctuaries and preserves, the largest of which being the Menemsha Hills Reservation just northeast of the village which shares that name. The town also has six beaches; one is at Menemsha, another on the inner shore of Menemsha Bay, and the others are all along the Atlantic coast. (Note that several of these beaches are restricted to landowners only, and those designated as public require a beach pass.) There is also a boat launch in Menemsha, as well as a [[United States Coast Guard|Coast Guard]] station, in Menemsha Creek (Harbor).The Coast Guard Station burned to the ground in July 2010 but was rebuilt and recommissioned in April 2015.

The town has no direct access to the mainland via ferry or by air; [[Martha's Vineyard Airport]] is in neighboring West Tisbury, and the [[The Woods Hole, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket Steamship Authority|Steamship Authority]] ferries to [[Woods Hole]] are in Vineyard Haven, which is {{convert|12|mi}} northeast of the town center, and in [[Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts|Oak Bluffs]], {{convert|16|mi}} away.