A Generation on the Market

The home owned by the late Walter Cronkite in the Green Hollow section of Edgartown is under contract for sale, the latest reminder that a quiet but distinct change is underway on the Island, as one generation fades, ready to be succeeded by the next. Of course Mr. Cronkite was one of the famous names associated with the Vineyard, but there are many more longtime seasonal residents of his era whose names may not have national recognition but were well known here and are now gone. More often than not their children have inherited their property and must decide whether to keep it or sell it. Still more families are at the brink of this issue with their Vineyard property, as the seniormost member of the clan becomes too old or infirm to travel to the Vineyard.

This changing demographic here, where a significant number of properties held for generations by one family will very likely change hands over the next five to ten years as the baby boomer generation becomes the older generation, bears careful scrutiny. It would be a good topic for more in-depth study, perhaps by the Martha’s Vineyard Commission as part of its ongoing work on the Island Plan.

Who wants to take care of the sprawling, drafty old house overlooking the Sound that needs new paint, shingles and endless upkeep every year? Who can afford to pay the taxes that have skyrocketed to unimaginable, five-digit numbers? What if the siblings cannot agree on how to use the property?

The owners of these homes were for the most part World War II-era conservatives; the boomers who will inherit them came of age during the social revolution years of the 1960s and 1970s. Like the Islanders of many generations who are engaged in a mighty struggle to find ways to stay here affordably, they are another layer of the social strata. Most are dual income families whose summer vacation is more like two weeks than three months. They have now built their own careers and homes, had families, divorced, remarried, had second families and grandchildren and possibly even forgotten what the social revolution was all about.

And now they own the place on the Vineyard.

Perhaps they list it with a broker, and then make the unsettling discovery that the person who just bought the place next door plans to tear it down and build an enormous reproduction Cape Cod style house that will loom over mom’s drafty old home and spoil the views.

Perhaps they decide to keep the place and trade the price of upkeep for the pricelessness of spending time on the Vineyard in summer with their own growing families.

Perhaps they cannot afford that and decide to sell, and buy something smaller on the Island.

Perhaps they decide to sell and not return to the Island.

Perhaps they already live here year-round in their own home.

It is like a giant game of Monopoly has just begun, the jagged pieces scattered from one end of the Island to the other, but this is not just about buying and selling real estate. This emerging generation of Island homeowners collectively carries an enormous responsibility for the future of the Island, with the quality and character of neighborhoods at stake.

It will be up to the people who live in these neighborhoods to carry on the Island traditions of clean, safe, considerate, simple living, of neighbors helping neighbors, of giving back to the Island by volunteering and contributing time and money to its causes.

Because when the name changes on the deeds to so many properties in a relatively short span of time, the fundamental values of Island life are at risk of being lost.