RICK HERRICK
508-693-8065
Havenside is a four-building complex of 28 apartments in Vineyard Haven. It was the dream of Margaret Love and her brother, Robert Love, to provide affordable housing for the elderly living full-time at the Vineyard. The complex of buildings was constructed in 1966. The Loves donated the facility to the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts in 1973.
At a special ceremony held at Havenside on August 9, two of the four buildings were named and dedicated: one for Margaret Love and the other for our own Robert Hammett. Bob was a longtime member and president of the Havenside Board. It’s a wonderful honor given to East Chop’s favorite minister.
One member of our community who was present at the Havenside ceremony was Rob Hammett, son of Sally and Bob Hammett, and the lighthouse keeper for the Martha’s Vineyard Museum. The East Chop Light was the dream of Captain Silas Daggett. Captain Daggett constructed a privately owned lighthouse on Telegraph Hill in 1869. To finance the project, Daggett collected fees from local merchants, maritime insurance companies and ship owners who benefitted from the light as a navigational aid. Sadly, our first lighthouse burned to the ground in December 1871 as a result of an accidental fire.
But Silas Daggett was determined. He rebuilt the lighthouse in 1872 as a wooden house with a tower and protruding lantern room. The lighthouse produced a red signal from three 21-inch reflectors fueled by kerosene lamps. This lighthouse guided ships from Telegraph Hill until 1875, when the United States Congress appropriated $5,000 to purchase the property. The government’s goal was to replace the wooden structure with a cast-iron lighthouse that still stands today.
You probably know this history. What you may not know is that the government sold the wooden lighthouse structure to the Vineyard Grove Company, which owned all the lots along East Chop Drive at that time. The Vineyard Grove Company moved the wooden lighthouse building to its present location on the corner of East Chop Drive and Monroe avenue. This property eventually was sold to George Dowley, Ted Lewis’s grandfather, for $1,800 in 1903.
The part of this story that excites me is that the 1872 lighthouse still stands within the home of Ann and Ted Lewis. If you enter their home through the front door and turn left, you are in Daggett’s lighthouse. Their “lighthouse” room contains the original beams and much of the original construction. The room is filled with lighthouse memorabilia and appropriate nautical pieces. The steep stairs of the tower are there which take you to a bedroom on the second floor, and then to the lighthouse room that housed the 21-inch reflectors on the third floor. The Lewises take great pride in preserving their part of our history. We are fortunate that they are such meticulous stewards.
On Saturday, August 18, I attended the annual Tennis Club meeting. While routine in most regards, I would like to end with two special presentations made at the meeting. Manager Ned Fennessy presented Emma Carmichael with a special gold medal to honor her support of the high school tennis team during the season. He especially thanked her for her attendance at the state championship match in June. The members of the club also honored tennis instructor Raj Maharaj for the birth of his son two weeks ago. The enthusiastic response of club members to these presentations expressed well the high esteem held for both Emma and Raj within our community.
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