By 1642, the first settlers had arrived to lay claim to their new home. As the years went by, the local natives were slowly but steadily bought out by the wealthier English settlers. Eventually, all the richer farming land in the Edgartown area was no longer owned by any of the natives. The Indians drifted to other areas of the Island, or off the Island completely. Today, only Gay Head remains an Indian township, one of two such townships in the State. Unlike most other areas in the country, the Indians were not harshly dispossessed. They were paid for their land, and no hostile confrontation erupted between them and ...