A few reminders: Chappy Community Center potluck suppers are held every third Wednesday of the month. Yoga with Jay is held every Sunday. The Holiday Tea will be on Sunday, Dec. 10. 2024 calendars can now be ordered online at the CCC website.

A few reminiscences. In the past, marine railways were commonplace in Edgartown. They were required for hauling a vessel that was too big to be pulled up the beach on a trailer.

The marine railway between the Seafood Shanty and Soft As A Grape was in use into the ‘80s. I recall seeing the Charlesbank cradled on it for winters at least six decades ago. Before the Shanty was built, Bob Douglas had two sailboats — Violet and Raider — delivered to the Island via that haul out. They came up the railway in a cradle, tediously slid sideways into the then-gravel parking lot and whisked away by a fancy Brownell trailer from off-Island. Geoff Kontje’s ketch Saorsa and Aqua Marine’s steel barge got their bottoms cleaned and painted there. Both Chappy ferries got hauled every spring to replace the bottom paint scraped off by the harbor ice.

The travel lift at North Wharf is relatively new. When the first Jaws movie was filmed, Norton and Easterbrook still had a vertical lift system. Four very long hydraulic cylinders raised and lowered a very heavy wooden platform on which vessels were brought up to street level. The indoor machinery that operated that lift is visible in the scene in which Chief Brody meets Matt Hooper.

Adjacent to what is now called Chappy Landing was a railway with a turntable and several spurs. There was a cabin cruiser named Sunny Skies on it when the Royal Chappaquiddick Yacht Club built the original pier.

Down at Snow’s Point, there was also a railway. Bob Marshall’s big catboat Sunshine spent its final days there.

Those are the ones that I recall. There were many more, I’m sure, prior to my childhood. Edgartown was home to many marine activities. The great need for getting boats launched and hauled was accomplished by the very basic construction of a pair of steel rails running into the water.

The only remaining functioning marine railway hereabouts is in Vineyard Haven. The On Time III recently underwent its biennial Coast Guard inspection and maintenance upon it. If all goes well, that ferry boat will be back in service this weekend.