From the October 4, 1963 edition of the Vineyard Gazette:
“Beginning at the North side of the Old Highway [now Beach street] that leads from the head of Holmes Hole Harbor to the Town of Tisbury [here follows an intricate list of bounds, stakes, a black-oak tree and the properties of Jonathan Manter, Silas Daggett, Peter Butler, and various others which abounded and abutted upon the way so laid out], and then “to continue Northerly by the Harbor till it meets with the head of Point Pond [so-called] and southerly till it comes to the foot of the Upland and to be in Breadth forty foot in all parts.”
This is a portion of the order contained in the Tisbury town records under date of 1798, when the first layout of Main street was voted and put into effect. The beginning was at the present Beach street, near the entrance from that street to the First National Store parking lot.
By merely the mentioning of the properties listed, it is possible to follow the general course northerly, across the town parking lot, closely approaching the site of the old Roth House, now removed, close also to property now owned by Mrs. Lizette Knight, crossing the town playground, and the property of Donald Tilton; thence to pass near the home of Leon Robinson at the end of Hatch Road, and making its turn or loop in the vicinity of the Goethals Place, so-called, at West Chop.
Old maps and sketches of the village of Vineyard Haven show very clearly that this first layout of Main street not only paralleled the western shore of the harbor, but lay very close to it, almost on the beach in many places. It did extend over Huzzleston’s Head, the pine-crowned promontory which extends into the harbor a slight distance, and it made its loop, at Point Pond, in an area which now lies under water.
It is still possible to find some trace of this old dirt road in the vicinity of Huzzleton’s Head to this day. A few years ago there were still the remains of a foot path which appeared here and there between the Head and the village proper.
Of the loop, which was built at the end and which was a part of Low Point, where the pond was located, now disappeared, there is no information. From the location of the farmhouses, this loop was presumably planned to extend back to the center of the village eventually, and eventually this seems to have been done, becoming in time the present West Chop Road and at least a portion of the present Main street of Vineyard Haven. The intriguing thing is what happened to the original longshore layout, why was it abandoned, and was this ever done in properly legal fashion?
The reason that this question is asked is that if this way had existed unto the present day, it would, if duly improved, solve many of the traffic problems of the town and village. It is asked also for that reason that less than forty years ago there were elderly people in the town who declared that there was a public way extending across Huzzleton’s Head, that it had been in use for generations, which was true enough, and that they knew of no reason for its discontinuance.
Naturally such a thing as abandoning a public way could not have been done without due process of law, whatever that might have been at the time. It is a known fact that Low Point washed away eventually, thus blocking the original way, and yet Low Point and Point Pond were in existence less than seventy years ago while the road along the harbor shore had fallen into disuse long before that time.
The abandonment of a public way on the Island is not a matter often found in town records. It has been done, both in the town of Chilmark and in West Tisbury, in the latter, presumably, for a token payment and to escape the responsibility of keeping the way in repair, and in the former township probably without action of any sort, but simply because the way fell into complete disuse and no one cared.
But here in Vineyard Haven is the record of a main-travelled way which was in use for a lengthy period of time. It is easy to see today that there were houses fronting on this road, houses which now must be approached from the rear, and perhaps by travelling over old rights of way which did not formerly exist because they were unnecessary.
It will not do to confuse this ancient way nor any portion thereof with the present Water street. Water street lies today where deep-water ships floated once upon a time, and old Main street lay to the west of this street by some rods. Land has “made”, as they say, to offer the layout for Water street, which was built there, and which has replaced, for a very short distance, the older Main street.
Thus changes are effected by the combination of efforts of man and nature. But it would be interesting to locate the record, if it exists, by which Tisbury abandoned its first main drag. And even more interesting if it should be found that such action did not occur at all.
Compiled by Hilary Wallcox
library@vineyardgazette.com