From the June 7, 1968 edition of the Vineyard Gazette:
On the Island at this time of year it’s everybody’s moving day. There are those who are arriving from someplace else, and they are moving in. There are those who have rented their houses for the summer, and they are moving out. (And of course into something else.) There are also those who had rented something cheaper or nearer to town for the winter and they are now moving out of where they have been, for the summer.
Then there are the plutocrats of the Island who have two houses, one for winter and one for summer, and they are moving into summer quarters.
Everything seems to be on the move, even the Island’s boats that have been in storage during the winter and are now being moved to the shore.
The Island is literally alive with activity and expectancy and all of it’s moving some place.
Word has gone out across the land that Edgartown is a place to make money. Those who live in Edgartown are also beginning to wake up to this basic fact of life, and as a result everything in town is expanding or opening up or building.
The Edgartown Hardware store has expanded into the old A&P, using the vacated portion of the old store to house the extra household wares that were in the rear of Avery’s, and Avery’s has used that space to hold more of what was in the front part of the store.
The offices of Vose’s Insurance Agency and Anna B. Flynn’s real estate have been decorated and received what in modern circles is termed a “decor.” The law offices of Hill and Barlow have moved into the Desire Coffin house and done themselves up and down and wall to wall.
Down on Dock street a restaurant is rapidly maturing in Colter’s garage, and Carroll and Vincent are building a real estate office on the corner of Dock and Kelly streets.
Mercier’s Market, which two years ago was Connor’s Market, looks just about the same from the outside, but in the past few weeks such a transformation has taken place inside that customers are almost getting lost.
Inns in town have also been doing some expanding, with the Edgartown Inn adding 10 bathrooms and a brick sidewalk, while the Shiretown Inn has added 23 new bedrooms with baths, an outdoor dining room, also a peacock pen that houses four pair of peafowl. A swimming pool will come next.
The largest extension by far has been that of the Harbor View Hotel which has built an entire new building with 57 parlor bedrooms and baths, a connecting tunnel to the old building, a porte-cochere where guests may check in without leaving their cars, and a swimming pool.
The town’s first condominium or co-op apartment house has arisen in the sands near the Dunes, giving Katama a skyline that can be seen almost all the way on the drive out from Edgartown.
This looks like three buildings glued together and will house six separate families. For the rest of the summer these will be rented, and the builder, Stanmar Homes, plans to build 18 more during the winter. Another building will house the company’s offices, showroom and the many beach buggies, bikes and Sailfish that go with the rentals.
Upper Main street, once strictly residential, has within the year turned commercial with the advent last year of the A&P supermarket. Next to this, just finished, and soon to open will be a dairy bar, the town’s third, while across the street a building is in the process of being renovated for Al’s Package Store. This will make for easy cluster errands.
The most interesting construction has been carried on for years in a catalpa on North Summer street. The recent rapid growth of this building plus the addition of a widows’ walk has caused viewers to wonder if the builder, Donald R. Mills, intends to rival the Hotel in the Trees, and if the building will be used for commercial or residential purposes.
Once again the entire town of Oak Bluffs is in a proud tizzy and feeling grandparential. This is because the pair of white swans in Sunset Lake have massed produced some cygnets.
They did this not on their own as in the case of most swans, but with the help of most of the town cheering them on, feeding them and with Gus Ben David building them a special island on which to nest. This was necessary because the lake is really a tidal pond and nests were sadly being washed out to sea with great regularity.
Last year was the first time Mr. Ben David used the island, and two cygnets were hatched. But then, last year was the first year that the mother swan, who was a young bird, had done this sort of thing and the father swan, who was older and wiser in the ways of the world, had to do most of the planning. This past week six cygnets hatched, which goes to show what a little practice will do. To protect the little birds from all their grandparents and to ease the father’s nervous system, Mr. Ben David plans to put a wire fence around the family.
Compiled by Hilary Wallcox
Comments
Comment policy »