Trusted Then and Now

First published on May 14, 1846 and in continuous publication ever since, the Vineyard Gazette celebrated its 175^th anniversary in 2021.

Dedicated to good, clear writing, excellent photography and a respect for the community it serves, the Gazette’s aim then and now is to identify issues and inform debate about how to sustain the Island’s economy without losing the qualities that make the Vineyard special.

Founding publisher Edgar Marchant set the tone early with his assessment that the whaling industry -- still in its heyday -- was neither broad enough nor vital enough to last, proposing that the Island promote itself as a “Watering-Place in the Summer Season.”

Decades later, legendary Gazette editor Henry Beetle Hough — perhaps seeing Mr. Marchant’s vision succeeding a little too well — launched a campaign against unbridled development that came to be the newspaper’s signature cause. Mr. Hough’s mission went beyond preserving open space and conserving wildlife to include protecting the character of Martha’s Vineyard in human terms, values the newspaper embraces to this day.

Independent

The Vineyard Gazette has prospered with independent stewardship since its founding. Former New York Times columnist James (Scotty) and Sally Fulton Reston acquired the Gazette from Mr. Hough in 1968 and installed the first computer typesetting system. In 1988, Richard and Mary Jo Reston took the helm as publishers in the family-owned business and introduced the Gazette to the digital age.

In 2010, Jerome and Nancy Kohlberg, longtime seasonal Island residents and philanthropists, acquired the company from the Restons with the stated goal of building on its high standards of community journalism. The Gazette is now owned by a non-profit organization committed to its long-term stability.

Click here for a trip through the newspaper's colorful history.

Award-winning

Over the years, the Gazette has earned many professional awards for writing, design, photography and business innovation. Each year, the newspaper is recognized in dozens of categories in the New England Better Newspaper Contest.  In 2020, the Vineyard Gazette joined the Boston Globe as having the best newspaper websites nationally in the annual Eppy awards competition, sponsored by Editor and Publisher magazine.

Visit Us

We welcome visitors to our home in the heart of historic Edgartown, where we create and print the newspaper every week. The building, now owned by the Vineyard Trust, was built in the 1760s by Benjamin Smith, a militia captain in the Revolutionary War. Home to the Vineyard Gazette since 1938, the building still retains eight original fireplace mantels and brick hearths, wide pine flooring and wainscotting. We are happy to accommodate individuals and groups who are interested in touring the building and watching the newspaper being printed on our Goss Community Press on Thursday afternoons all year-round.