Dylan Thomas
The birds of the winged trees flying my name Above the farms and the white horses I rose in rainy autumn And walked abroad in a shower of all my days. – Dylan Thomas
September 7, 2012
56 Chase Lane, Vineyard Haven
56 Chase Lane in Vineyard Haven sold for $262,000 on August 30.
1001 State Road, Vineyard Haven
1001 State Road in Vineyard Haven sold for $430,000 on August 27.
11 High Meadow Lane, Oak Bluffs
11 High Meadow Lane in Oak Bluffs sold for $660,000 on August 31.
51 Farm Pond Road, Oak Bluffs
51 Farm Pond Road in Oak Bluffs sold for $1,250,000 on August 31.
71 Tradewinds Road, Oak Bluffs
71 Tradewinds Road in Oak Bluffs sold for $399,000 on August 30.
27 Inca Road, Oak Bluffs
27 Inca Road in Oak Bluffs sold for $378,000 on August 29.
10 Pacific Avenue, Oak Bluffs
10 Pacific avenue in Oak Bluffs sold for $418,000 on August 27.
71 South Water street, Edgartown
71 South Water street in Edgartown sold for $3,450,000 on August 31.
38 Simpson Lane, Edgartown
38 Simpson Lane in Edgartown sold for $1,850,000 on August 31.
Gone Fishing
As if on cue for the sixty-seventh Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby, the fish are running again. There was a bluefish feeding frenzy at the Cape Pogue gut late one afternoon last week, one of those churning blitzes where you could throw out an old shoe and catch a fish. And out on…
Football, Soccer, Field Hockey Lead Off Fall Sports Season
The football team plays its first home game of the season tonight at 6:30 p.m. against Old Rochester. Their next home game will not be until the end of the month. On Saturday, the cross country teams host the sixth annual Vineyard Invitational meet, featuring 13 teams and over 420 athletes. The first races will…
Request to Remove Library Trees Catches Selectmen Off-Guard
West Tisbury library trustees asked the town selectmen this week for permission to cut down nearly 10 trees to make way for construction of the new library late this fall. The library also needs the money to take the trees down.On Wednesday trustee Linda Hearn asked the selectmen to put an article on the Nov.…
West Tisbury Town Column: Sept. 7
We enjoyed a gorgeous Labor Day weekend, the unofficial end of the summer season. Cookouts and outdoor activities, including the beach, were the order of the day. Traffic was considerably lighter and parking spaces were not hard to find if you went into town. Business at the Dumptique was brisk as a fair amount of…
Fishing Fever Is Contagious At Derby Time
‘Tis derby season. In just two days the Vineyard community will undergo a large transformation as the 67th annual Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby, the Island’s annual Olympics for fisherman, begins.
Green Monster
There is nothing I appreciate more than hearing from folks with inquiries, observations and article ideas. Susan Gomez and I ran into each other in the grocery store, where she told me that she had an idea for an article, but couldn’t remember what it was. She followed up with an email, not only remembering…
From Vine to You, Tomato Love Is Healthy Relationship
Last September I stood in the kitchen at the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School with 14 other volunteers and 1,600 pounds of fresh roma tomatoes, picked that morning at Morning Glory Farm. The farm owners realized they were not going to be able to harvest this bounty themselves before the ripe and tender fruit was…
Well Past Its Prime, Warren House to Be Sold by Town
Captain Warren, it turns out, was actually an accountant. And the house at 62 North Water street may bear his name (along with the disingenuous title of captain), but the history of the building is not about Captain Warren. The once-stately home dates to the late 18th century and was the home of the Osborns,…
Summer Steamship and Airline Traffic Up
As the Island starts to transition from summer crowds to autumn quiet, the Steamship Authority is reporting that traffic was up compared with last year. “The summer was good; the traffic has been good,” Steamship Authority general manager Wayne Lamson told the Gazette this week. June passenger traffic to the Vineyard was up by 4.7…
Field Guide Future Bright Again
Turn over any rock, wander down a new hiking path, take a closer look at a shell. Nature is full of surprises and the pages of the book Moraine to Marsh reveal just that. This field guide to Martha’s Vineyard is often tucked away on many Island bookshelves, maybe caked with mud or dust, a…
Middle Road Closure
The West Tisbury portion of Middle Road will be closed to through traffic from the town line to Music street on Sept. 10 and Sept. 11 from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. for road paving. The paving is the first portion of an extensive townwide road repair project that voters approved at the annual town…
Fire Chief Denied Access to Tribal Land
The Aquinnah fire chief told the town selectmen this week that he was concerned about his ability to provide adequate fire protection for the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) after the tribe refused to allow him to inspect tribal buildings.
IGS Cultivates Crop of Month Program
Island Grown Schools coordinator Kaila Binney is especially excited about January. “I have this crazy idea,” she said. “I want to get conch in the schools. It’s the biggest export on the Vineyard and nobody eats it.” Ms. Binney, along with IGS director Noli Taylor, is launching a new program called Harvest of the Month…
Correction, Addendum
Correction, Addendum Tom Thatcher, potter and former owner and manager of the Youth Hostel in West Tisbury, was surprised in last Friday’s obituary of Lulu Kaye to find himself mistakenly described as a carpenter. After his first visit to the Vineyard as a Youth Hosteler in 1948, he returned to the Island in 1950 after…
Please Adopt Us
Please Adopt Us With Labor Day now past, the Animal Shelter of Martha’s Vineyard has quieted down except for an occasional bark from the two dogs who are waiting for a new home. One is Popi, a beautiful black male greyhound; the other is Sarah, a very sweet Lhasa Apso-beagle cross who loves other animals…
Trinity Church Worship
The Rev. Canon Edward Rodman, John Seeley Stone professor of pastoral theology and urban ministry at the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, will lead services this Sunday at Trinity Church in Ocean Park. A well-known advocate for reform of the country’s legal, housing and education systems, the subject of Rev. Rodman’s sermon will be The…
Oak Bluffs Town Column: Sept. 7
Prior to 1648 when Thomas Mayhew Jr. proselytized Hiacoomes, the first of the original people to adopt Christianity at Pecoy Point, the neighborhood was called Pohqu-auk, meaning open land. As a major campsite, the area was used for gathering shellfish and eels, and growing corn, squash and tobacco.
Magazine Fall Issue
The September–October issue of Martha’s Vineyard Magazine explores the migratory habits of off-Islanders who end up settling full-time on Martha’s Vineyard.
Holmes Hole Sailing
The Holmes Hole Sailing Association continued its Thursday evening series of handicap sailboat racing from Vineyard Haven harbor with a 6 p.m. race on August 23. It was a warm evening with a moderate south-southwest wind of about 10 knots. Twenty-one boats posted at the start at red nun 6 outside of the Vineyard Haven…
Starry Nights
Those who are outdoors late tonight and for the next two nights may want to take a moment to look for the moon rising in the east. The last quarter moon is in the zodiacal constellation Taurus and not far from the brilliant planet Jupiter. The best time to see these two celestial objects is…
Weekend Moffett Race Salutes End of Season
At least 48 sailboats from all over Southeastern Massachusetts are expected to compete tomorrow in the 35th annual George Moffett Memorial Race just outside the Vineyard Haven harbor. The start of the race is shortly after 11 a.m. For 35 years this race has been seen as a sailors’ salute to the end of summer.…
25 Years On, Edgartown Seafood Still Reeling in Fins and Fans
Danny Louis Larsen, 62, of Edgartown has reason to be surprised by his own success. When he started Edgartown Seafood 25 years ago, Mr. Larsen knew fish, but he wasn’t sure about retail. “I didn’t think I would like it,” he said. “I didn’t think I’d be able to deal with the people. I didn’t…
Land Bank Revenues: August 31
The Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank reported revenues of $192,970 for the business week ending on Friday, August 31, 2012.
Film Festival Continues Jamming
This weekend the Martha’s Vineyard International Film Festival continues at venues throughout Vineyard Haven. The opening night ceremonies heralded in a new era as the first-ever film was screened at the new festival center located at 72 Beach Road in the Tisbury Marketplace. The movie lineup continues through Sunday, at which point 22 films from…
Vineyard Lyme Disease Center Opens
After spending years studying Lyme disease, Enid Haller and husband Sam Hiser opened the Martha’s Vineyard Lyme Disease Center last Thursday off Panhandle Road in West Tisbury. The educational center provides pamphlets and books on Lyme disease, a list of so-called Lyme-literate doctors and individual consultations with Ms. Haller to talk about medical history, symptoms…
Dredging, Pump-Out Facility Top Boatline’s Project Docket
Steamship Authority senior managers paid a visit to the Tisbury selectmen’s meeting Tuesday to discuss improvement projects around the ferry terminal. SSA general manager Wayne Lamson, Vineyard governor Marc Hanover and port council member George Balco all attended. Mr. Lamson said the SSA is ready to file for permits for dredging about 300 yards of…
Land Bank Buys Edgartown Woodlands
The Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank announced this week that it has purchased nearly 12 acres in the rural wooded perimeters of Edgartown, completing a long-planned project to protect the westerly entrance to town as largely undeveloped land — both the fields and woodland. The land bank paid $900,000 for 11.8 acres. The seller was Philip…
First Steps Taken to Replace Drawbridge
The Massachusetts Department of Transportation has begun the permitting process to begin building the permanent Lagoon Pond drawbridge. Melinda Loberg, chairman of the Tisbury and Oak Bluffs drawbridge committee, said this week that the state needs four key permits to begin advertising for bids in the fall as planned. The state expects to receive all…
Long Overdue, Much Improved Tisbury ESF Building Opens
Inside the new Tisbury Emergency Services Facility, hoses are neatly wound, office boxes are half unpacked and three emergency vehicles take cover in the high-ceilinged bay. The building, which was set to be occupied last July, finally is home to the ambulance department, with the fire department soon to follow after final repairs on the…
Mon Dieu! Le Grenier for Sale, Au Revoir to Steak Au Poivre
After 35 years as chef and owner of his signature, classic French restaurant in downtown Vineyard Haven, Jean Dupon has put Le Grenier on the market. “I love what I do, but I’ve had a good run,” Mr. Dupon said this week. “I just turned 69, I think it’s time for me to start relaxing…
Tisbury Town Administrator John Bugbee to Step Down
Town administrator John Bugbee will step down after nine years on the job, Tisbury selectman and board chairman Tristan Israel announced this week. Reading from a brief written statement near the end of the selectmen’s meeting Tuesday, Mr. Israel said the selectman had decided it was time for a change.
Town, Land Bank Purchase Will Protect Manter Well
A joint purchase last month by the town of Tisbury and the Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank completes a decades-old aquifer protection plan around the Manter well. The town and the land bank paid $400,000 for 9.5 acres off Old Holmes Hole Road, with the town putting in $300,000 and the land bank $100,000. The transaction…
Test a Success, Island May Warm To Alternative Heating Device
The air-to-water pump, manufactured by Daikin, is used to operate a radiant heat system in the home and heat the water supply. Last year Mr. Nelson installed an Altherma heat pump system, the first of its kind on the Vineyard, in the home of West Tisbury resident Ted Bayne. Since then, Mr. Bayne’s home has…
Winnetu Introduces Island-to-Island Getaway
What do Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket have in common? Vineyard residents can take advantage of a one-time opportunity to answer that question later this month when the Winnetu Oceanside Resort is offering a special getaway offer to visit our sister island.
Full Scoop
From a May 1985 Vineyard Gazette article by Howard W. Young: I first saw Fulling Mill Brook when I was barely eight years old. I couldn’t figure out why it was called “fulling” when it wasn’t at all full and, as a matter of fact, was just quietly meandering through a lot of ferns and…
Edgartown Town Column: Sept. 7
I don’t think anyone can argue about how beautiful the blue moon was this past week. A few wacky things that happened around, which my mother always attributed to the full moon, but the nights were perfect and very bright. Happy birthday to all who celebrated their day this past week. I have a lot…
Vineyard Misconceptions
The Food and Drug Administration is now dealing with a suit regarding false and misleading information in a case against Chobani, the Greek yogurt company, for listing “evaporated cane juice” as a major ingredient in its pomegranate-flavored yogurt. The FDA has the power to regulate product labeling and can ask for a change if it…
Blistering, Unwarranted Attack
On August 24, at Union Chapel in Oak Bluffs, Angela Davis and her colleague Gina Dent reported to a packed room on a trip they took to the Occupied Territories of Palestine last year. Their articulate description of what everyday life is like for Palestinians under the 45-year long Israeli occupation, and among the illegal…
Sword Waving
If Alan Dershowitz, the self-appointed avatar of the new political correctness in America, could have brought himself to attend a meeting at which he was not a featured speaker, he would have heard Angela Davis and Gina Dent give a moving presentation on the apartheid-like conditions under which 2.3 million Palestinians in the West Bank…
Rules of Water Are Key for Boat Safety
With no car lanes, no stop signs and no one directing traffic on the water, safety among boaters is critically important. And most boat operators are polite. A customary wave is exchanged between two helmsmen when they are in a constricted area. But in recent years and especially this summer, there appears to be a…
Chappy Town Column: September 7
The weather seems to know. Now is the time to rain. Now is the time to mark the passage of one season to the next. Seasons on Chappy follow less the Roman calendar than they do the school schedule. I was young once (though from my picture in last Friday’s Gazette one might not believe…
Chilmark Town Column: Sept. 7
Chilmark is strangely quiet as I write early this week. It has been a long gray day with rain threatening but not falling yet. The traffic pattern is very different than that of August. However, it is just temporary. Our harbor master tells me that the Point Independence Yacht Club is headed here for their…
Warblers
Migration produces new arrivals weekly. Warblers are the star attractions this week. Who knows what next week will bring? We can hope for western rarities such as Western kingbird or even better a Western tanager, although we would be happy with the arrival of a selection of our winter ducks or various hawks as they…
Opera at Library
The Vineyard Haven Library is stepping into the great fall void with a full list of programs. On Tuesday, Sept. 11 at 7 p.m. James Sullivan, author of Island Cup: Two Teams, Twelve Miles of Ocean, and Fifty Years of Football, will be at the library to discuss his book and give the inside scoop…
Sail to Waterfront Festival
Seastreak is offering $40 roundtrip fare for Vineyard residents to the Working Waterfront Festival taking place in New Bedford on Sept. 29 and 30. This free festival is a celebration of commercial fishing culture and will feature an appearance by the singer/songwriter Gordon Bok. Additional performers include the Johnson Girls, Mary Garvey, Sharks Come Cruisin’,…
Old Sculpin Art Show
The Martha’s Vineyard Art Association and Old Sculpin Gallery are holding a new show featuring the underwater photography of Benjamin McCormick. There will be a reception on Sunday, Sept. 9, from 5 to 7 p.m.
Piano Man Keeps Us Feeling Allright
It was the summer of 1962 and young David Crohan had just graduated from high school. His aunt and uncle owned a house in the Camp Ground and David had come to visit. They went out to dinner at Munroe’s Restaurant on Circuit avenue (today the site of Seasons). There was a piano bar but…
Plein Air Instruction
Always wanted to paint outdoors but have been too nervous to set up an easel where everyone can see? Well, Kevin Shea is coming to the Island to help put the possible in plein air painting. Mr. Shea will hold a painting workshop on Sept. 17 to 19 designed to get one started capturing the…
Crop Walk Preparation
In preparation for the Island Theatre Workshop 2012 PICK of the CROP festival, ITW is seeking original script submissions by local playwrights. Shorts, one-acts and full-length plays will be considered. If selected, materials will be presented at the November festival. Material must be received by Sept. 14 and may be submitted via the website itwmv.org…
Speaking of Tilling
I spent Saturday in the garden with Violet and her friend Cesca Robinson. It doesn’t get any better than watching little girls wandering around the garden. They picked and prepared a salad. On a bed of large-leafed basil they arranged sun gold tomatoes. They put a tiny slice in each tomato and inserted some pea…
Oak Bluffs Town Column: Sept. 7
Prior to 1648 when Thomas Mayhew Jr. proselytized Hiacoomes, the first of the original people to adopt Christianity at Pecoy Point, the neighborhood was called Pohqu-auk, meaning open land. As a major campsite, the area was used for gathering shellfish and eels, and growing corn, squash and tobacco. The main source of fresh water was…
Pathos Over Playtime, Rock Opera Is Chest Beating Success
After clown school shut down unexpectedly, May Oskan was a little lost and rather bitter. “The floor went out from under me… I didn’t have my community, teachers or classmates,” said Ms. Oskan of her time at the San Francisco Circus Center. “I didn’t have my tightrope or anything to juggle. I was a clown…
