FACTBOX: "Respect for celebrity privacy" at Martha's Vineyard

(Reuters) - Martha's Vineyard, the Massachusetts island where President Barack Obama is spending his holiday, is a favorite vacation spot for the rich and famous, including many Democratic presidents and politicians.

Here are some facts about Martha's Vineyard:

* The island is 7 miles off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Roughly triangular, it measures about 9 miles wide and 23 miles long at its furthest points and covers roughly 100 square miles (259 sq km). "The Vineyard" has about 20,000 year-round residents, but its population swells to 100,000 in the summer, with another 25,000 people coming and going by ferry every day.

* Once a center for whaling and farming, the island's economy is now based mainly on its status as an upscale tourist destination, where celebrities such as musicians James Taylor and Paul McCartney, author David McCullough and actors Mary Steenburgen and Ted Danson have homes. The Martha's Vineyard Chamber of Commerce website boasts of "magnificent homes, chic boutiques and respect for celebrity privacy."

* Politicians have come to Martha's Vineyard for centuries. At least six U.S. presidents have visited while in office -- in 1874, Ulysses S. Grant became the first sitting U.S. president to make the trip -- or before or after their terms. The very first was said to have been John Adams, in 1760, years before he became the second U.S. president.

Most recently, Bill Clinton visited repeatedly during and after his eight years in office, fueling reports, which have been denied, that his daughter Chelsea would be married on Martha's Vineyard during the Obamas' visit.

* The island is strongly associated with the Kennedy family, whose family compound is in Hyannis Port on nearby Cape Cod. The associations are both happy -- President John F. Kennedy visited often, and his widow, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis had a home on the island for years -- and tragic. Their son, John F. Kennedy Jr., died with his wife and sister-in-law when his plane crashed as he was flying to Martha's Vineyard in 1999. And the late president's brother, U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy, was driving a car that ran off a Vineyard bridge in 1969, killing passenger Mary Jo Kopechne. Kennedy pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of the accident.

* Wampanoag Indians have lived on Martha's Vineyard for thousands of years -- a few hundred still remain. Legend has it that Vikings were the first Europeans on the island, in about 1000 A.D., but the first European settlement was established at what is now Edgartown in 1642. The island was named Martha's Vineyard in 1602 by the English explorer Bartholomew Gosnold, for his eldest daughter and its wild grapes."

Sources: Martha's Vineyard Chamber of Commerce, Martha's Vineyard Magazine.

(Writing by Patricia Zengerle in Washington, editing by Todd Eastham)