Kathie Case>
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The night is still, the harbor is calm and the snow is falling gently again. So who knows what tomorrow will bring? Some are saying four to eight inches of snow. But I am looking forward to the weekend when it is supposed to be in the 40s or maybe 50s. I saw a saying on Facebook: “You know you are from New England when it’s 40 degrees and it feels like summer.”
Happy birthday to all who celebrated their day this past week. Big balloons go out to Kelsey Fiske, who celebrated her day March 1; Kylie Hathaway, March 2; Camden Emery, March 3; and to Sabrina Carlos, who celebrated her day March 4.
Special balloons go out to Capt. Dick Kelly, who celebrated his day March 1, and to Helen Gibson, who celebrated her day March 3 and to Barbara Rogers, who celebrated March 4.
Well, everyone is starting to get more sleep now that the Olympics are over. I think, like most, that this was one of the more exciting winter Olympics in a long time. But the midnight hours were starting to wear on people.
It’s not a rumor, it’s true: Gordon Tyra and his sister, Pat Tyra, have put their 1831 Tyra-Shurtleff family homestead up for sale. This is the home their parents, Ed and Helen Tyra, purchased from their mother’s family after their dad was discharged from the Navy at the end of World War II. Then their parents lovingly and carefully restored it and added features like bathrooms with the help of Eddie Belisle’s father, Gene; and new electricity with the help of Sandy Arnold’s father, Bill Brown. Ultimately they raised the front roof, I think, with the help of my husband Ralph’s father, Ralph Case. Mr. Case and Ed Tyra were construction partners before the untimely death of Ralph’s father. The rail fence that was added showcased for about 50 years Helen Tyra’s carefully tended and blue-ribbon-winning roses. And many in town remember how driveways were made from scallop shells, and since their uncle, Gordon Shurtleff, was in the shellfish business there was no difficulty maintaining the driveway.
This is the homestead on Planting Field Way where three grandparents of Edgartown kids lived and grew up: Charles Shurtleff, Gordon and Pat’s grandfather; Mabel Shurtleff Boylston, Sara and John Piazza’s grandmother; and Maude Shurtleff, the only sibling born in the home and Arleen Barile, Norma Rogers, Jean Gilluly and Roberta Tilton’s grandmother.
Now five of these grandchildren have their own homes in Edgartown.
While it is sad to see another historical in-town home being sold, the good news is that Pat says any new owner must agree not to destroy the old homestead.
On the new construction side of things, Jim and Debbie Athearn sent a report to the Gazette this week about their building project at the farm.
The Athearns’ new post and beam barn, which is to be their new farmstand, is about to be raised. The timbers for the barn, white oak from Massachusetts, were prepared by the Hardwick Post and Beam Company in Hardwick over the last month. They are due to arrive on the Island on March 8 and be assembled over the following week at the site on the corner of Meshacket and West Tisbury Roads.
Passers-by have watched the 29-year-old saltbox-style farmstand as it was moved to another location on the farm for later use as employee housing. The crew from DECA Construction has been working every day the weather allows to move the project to completion in time for selling the first lettuce, greens, and asparagus in late May. So far the project is on time.
The new barn and its complicated joining with the two remaining farm buildings was designed by Jim Glavin, DECA chief and general contractor. The Athearns charged him with providing more space, making it handicapped accessible, and still feeling like a farm barn. The roof and interior walls will be sheathed in native white pine cut from the state forest by Tom Turner of Edgartown. The floor, also milled by Mr. Turner, will be native pitch pine which is a denser wood which has earned the respect of Island builders.
“We’re really excited about the frame going up, we hope people will drive by and admire it,” the Athearns said in a statement this week. “We were nervous about making a change but so far everyone has been really supportive.”
Have a great week and keep the home candles burning.
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