Aquinnah is not the place to go looking for interesting houses without trespassing. Interesting stories, yes, but the houses visible from the road are few and far between. The exception of course is the Vanderhoop homestead.
The yellow house at the head of Camp street at William street is not for sale, has not been neglected and is not in need of restoration. It is that rare object: a house that has been cared for all of its long, long life.
One of the more interesting houses up-Island is 231 State Road in Chilmark. It is an unusual house for Chilmark: a Queen Anne style Victorian, painted yellow, with a turret.
I don’t know of any other such houses in Chilmark, whose charm lies in its serene and lovely rolling hills, hidden houses and beaches. It is a very common type of house elsewhere in the United States, the reflection of the prosperity of the late 19th century. Prosperity that had passed Chilmark by and which it was not to achieve until well past the midpoint of the 20th century.
A late 18th-century home has been on the move in Edgartown. The historic Warren House, which usually fronts North Water street beside the Edgartown library, has been temporarily relocated as part of a major restoration effort.
The Denniston House will remain standing for now, after a vote by the Oak Bluffs historical commission stalled a request to demolish the former African American church. The commission hopes to negotiate a compromise with the property owner.
A historic downtown Edgartown property that housed a women’s clothing store for nearly three decades has been sold. The new owners said they plan to open a year-round pedestrian food market there sometime this summer.
At the end of a long dirt road in Chilmark, a huge white tent arches above the meadows at Quansoo Farm. Inside the tent is the historic Mayhew-Hancock-Mitchell House, under renovation since last year.
Today the weight of history is more apparent than ever at the Mayhew Chapel, with its moss-covered roof, peeling white paint and crumbling ceiling. New efforts are underway to restore the chapel, clear out the underbrush in the burial ground and take inventory of the ancient fieldstones that mark the graves.
