A divided Chilmark conservation commission voted last week to approve a project to install a new culvert in Mill Brook headwaters off North Road. Proposed by the Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation, the project has kicked up a cloud of controversy.
Edey Grant
The Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation has been awarded a $5,000 grant from the Edey Foundation for the creation of an environmental education curriculum at Cedar Tree Neck Sanctuary.
The foundation aims to have the outdoor curriculum completed by Oct. 31 and ready for use in the spring of 2013.
Two Vineyard residents locked in a bitter dispute with the Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation over title to a piece of land in Chilmark can use a tent and keep trailers on the property for now, but cannot do any further clearing or construction, a Massachusetts Land Court judge ruled on Friday.
Colorful cocktail dresses and navy blazers stood out against the dusty brown parking lots of the West Tisbury Agricultural Hall Monday night, as Islanders flocked to honor former Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation president, the late Stephen R. Crampton, at the foundation’s annual summer benefit.
Whether or not the con troversy over tearing down Henry Beetle Hough’s historic house is resolved, there is still a need for the Island to honor the memory of this conservation activist in a way commensurate with his role in preserving our lands, beaches and monuments. Adding his name to the official designation of the Edgartown Lighthouse, perhaps calling it the Henry Beetle Hough Memorial, would accomplish this. Without Henry Hough, there would be no Edgartown light, and generations would be unaware of the beauty and history we now all enjoy.
From little things, big things grow.
A little over 50 years ago, Henry Beetle Hough became concerned that a little parcel of land in Edgartown, where he and his wife Elizabeth liked to walk, might fall prey to land developers.
Mr. Hough, then owner and editor of this paper and an author, used the money earned from sales of one of his books, Once More the Thunderer, to buy the 10 acres which had been known for at least the previous century as Sheriff’s Meadow.
Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation: 1959-2009
Half a Century of Island Conservation
