Martha's Vineyard in Tisbury in Dukes County, Massachusetts — The American Northeast (New England)
The Liberty Pole
Photographed By J. Makali Bruton, June 21, 2021
1. The Liberty Pole Marker
To commemorate the Patriotism of three girls of this village
Polly Daggett • Parnel Manter • Maria Allen
who destroyed with powder a liberty pole erected near this spot to prevent its capture by the British in 1776.
This pole, replacing the other is erected by the Sea-Coast Defence Chapter D.A.R.
1898.
Memorial Day
This liberty pole is rededicated to patriotism by the citizens of Tisbury, 1983
Erected 1898 by Sea-Coast Defence Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution.
Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: War, US Revolutionary • Women. In addition, it is included in the Daughters of the American Revolution series list. A significant historical year for this entry is 1776.
Location. 41° 27.41′ N, 70° 36.196′ W. Marker is in Tisbury, Massachusetts, in Dukes County. It is on Martha's Vineyard. Marker is at the intersection of Main Street and Colonial Lane, on the left when traveling north on Main Street. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 112 Main Street, Vineyard Haven MA 02568, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 2 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies. Tisbury Veterans Memorial (within shouting distance of this marker); Grace Church (about 600 feet away, measured in a direct line); Barber Hammond
this page online
Additional commentary.
1. The Legend of the Liberty Pole by Tom Dresser in Martha's Vineyard Magazine, Sept. 2005
Among the best-known Martha’s Vineyard stories, this ranks near the top: the tale of the three young girls from Holmes Hole (now Vineyard Haven) who blew up the Liberty Pole in 1776.
“The tallest Island tree had been made into a Liberty Pole, where Islanders gathered secretly,” writes Alison M. Convery in her famous book, A Child’s Guide to Martha’s Vineyard. “The captain of a British ship demanded the pole be used for a mast. Town fathers decided it would be safest to give it to him. But Parnell Manter, Maria Allen and Polly Daggett met late that night ... [and] blew the pole into a thousand splinters.”
“Although
Photographed By J. Makali Bruton, June 21, 2021
2. The Liberty Pole Marker
The marker and pole are outside of the Nathan Mayhew Schoolhouse.
In 1898 the Daughters of the American Revolution honored the girls by posting a plaque on a liberty pole – basically, a flagstaff – on Main Street, Vineyard Haven. Irene Resendes, the Vineyard regent of the DAR, still believes the tale: “Women of that time weren’t as passive as we think,” she says. “I’m going to go down believing it.”
The first reference to the Liberty Pole incident comes from The Romance of the Revolution, an 1852 book by Oliver Nell Bunce: “His Majesty’s ship (Unicorn) was in want of a new spar.The panic stricken citizens consented to sell [the liberty tree].” Thirty years later, the story gained credit when a letter appeared in the Cottage City Star from Leander Daggett: “I will . . . give you the story as it was related to me by my great-aunt Polly Hillman (née Daggett), one of the three young ladies. . . . .
“At midnight . . . they sallied forth, bored a deep hole in the pole, and filled it with powder,” Daggett wrote. “In the morning the cry was heard . . . that the Liberty Pole was shattered and split.”
Art Railton, crusty editor of the Intelligencer, disputes it. “But you can’t disprove something that didn’t happen,” he says. “They were not little girls, they were older than teenagers; it’s unlikely they would think this up.”
Charles Edward Banks, author of the great three-volume History of Martha’s Vineyard, published in 1911, wrote: “The story of it had been handed down, in the traditions of the war . . . [and has] some of the elements of all traditionary tales, much that is improbable.”
While the Unicorn’s own log shows the ship did anchor at Holmes Hole to repair a foremast in 1778, Railton raises more doubts. “It’s a preposterous notion that a flagpole would be of any use to a sailing ship – its mast would be two feet in diameter. There were no trees on the Island that big. It was a DAR project; they invented it. Myths last longer than facts – they’re more interesting.”
A fiberglass pole replaced the 1898 liberty pole in 1976, then was destroyed by the Blizzard of 1978. Three years later, Captain Robert S. Douglas, master of the schooner Shenandoah, brought to the Vineyard the white-pine pole into which the plaque is now set on Main Street in Vineyard Haven.
Even the DAR – at least on the national level – now admits to uncertainty, saying the 1898 commemoration was made for “a purported 1776 event concerning this Liberty Pole.” Elva Crawford, a DAR archivist and historian, writes: “In 1898, DAR historical markers did not undergo such scrutiny (as today) respecting accuracy. [We] cannot vouch for the accuracy of a marker placed more than a hundred years ago.”
Parnell Manter is buried at Crossways Cemetery in Vineyard Haven; a stone for Polly Daggett, lacking her date of death, was placed by the DAR at the main cemetery, as was Maria Allen’s.
Alison Convery, who popularized the story for countless Island children, says: “I wrote from various books I was using at the time, Gale Huntington and Henry Beetle Hough. Frankly, I just always felt it was a great yarn. I felt it was a true story.” True or not, she says, “I think it’s fun to see what you pulled together.”
— Submitted July 19, 2021, by J. Makali Bruton of Accra, Ghana.
Credits. This page was last revised on February 10, 2023. It was originally submitted on July 19, 2021, by J. Makali Bruton of Accra, Ghana. This page has been viewed 245 times since then and 21 times this year. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on July 19, 2021, by J. Makali Bruton of Accra, Ghana.
