It is separated from Cape Cod by a narrow strait and the smaller islands of Uncatena and Nonamesset, and is located four statute miles (6 km) northwest of Martha's Vineyard.

James III owned a beautiful estate at "Nashaun Island," according to Thomas Bridgman who in 1856 published The Pilgrims of Massachusetts and Their Descendants.

Jefferson's note reads "Specimen of Mr. Bowdoin's wool, from American sheep raised on his Island of "Nanshaw".

The note has been digitized and is available for viewing in the Library of Congress American Memories Collection [1], indexed as "Hackley and Bowdoin, no date, wool samples".

Naushon remained in the Bowdoin family for 113 years, during which time the imported sheep population on the island raised from several hundred during the Winthrop ownership to approximately 2,000.

[2] Naushon then became an overlooking point of the U.S. militia, which served to push the inhabitants into poverty by the end of the revolution.

Forbes was a businessman who began his career in his family's opium and tea trading business in China, and made much of his fortune by investing in the early development of railroads.