The Trustees of Reservations and the Martha’s Vineyard Museum are seeking people with personal connections to the Brickyard in order to create a new audio tour of the Chilmark landmark.
The historic site on the north shore of Chilmark was once home to a 19th century brickworks that sent masonry to construction projects throughout the northeast. Staff with the Trustees and the museum want to record oral histories of people who have stories tied to the former factory to paint a fuller picture of the site’s past.
“We are collaborating on this project to reach as many community members as possible on Island, off Island, just anyone that has some sort of connection to the Brickyard,” said Molly Peach Mayhew, education manager for the Trustees.
In its heyday, hundreds of thousands of bricks were produced at the Brickyard and shipped out to Boston, Providence and New York. Operations eventually ceased and the land around it became a nature preserve owned by the Trustees.
Ms. Mayhew invited anyone with a personal connection to the Brickyard to participate in this new project, whether through ancestors who worked there or an intimate knowledge of the surrounding land.
She said the idea rose from the lack of education around the Brickyard’s history.
“Hikers and visitors would come down that whole trail system, arrive at the Brickyard, and then you’re standing there and you’re saying, ‘Wow, what is this?’” she said. “You can tell it’s a relic of something, but we didn’t have any interpretation of the site.”
The project began to come together after the Trustees applied for Community Preservation Act money in 2023 for educational purposes.
The Trustees teamed up with Indaia Whitcombe, oral history curator at the Martha’s Vineyard Museum. Ms. Mayhew recalled a conversation she and Ms. Whitcombe had with Vita Poole, a direct descendant of Nathaniel Harris, who ran the brick factory when it was operational.
“It was just special to hear some of Vita’s stories from childhood and her connection to the land,” she said. “At that time, the Brickyard was so overgrown, and it was this hidden gem there on the shore with this robust history.”
The team also spoke with longtime Chilmark resident Jane Slater about her memories of the site.
“We’ve sat down with Jane Slater, who’s in her 90s, and had this wonderful chat with her, and recorded that oral history,” Ms. Mayhew said. “It’s just amazing to think of 80 years ago, for her as a child, Chilmark was very different than it is today, and the Brickyard was very different too.”
The team plans to have the project up and running by late spring. The project comes as the Trustees considers the best course forward for preserving the 45-foot tall chimney from the old factory.
Ms. Mayhew hopes that by speaking with more people with connections to the Brickyard, the project will give visitors a deeper understanding of the site’s history.
“I just hope that this [will be] a really wonderful piece of interpretation that will add a new layer to the Brickyard,” she said. “It brings on a sense of awe when you’re there…I’m hoping this is a nice piece that adds that extra layer to help fill in the void a bit, and just tell a story that can bring you back in time.”
People interested in participating in the project can contact Molly Peach Mayhew at mpeach@thetrustees.org or Indaia Whitcombe at iwhitcombe@mvmuseum.org.