The Indians of Martha’s Vineyard - so said a writer in the columns of the Gazette not many years ago - were our first and best poets.
One proof of this is the naming of that one of the Island’s ponds that most appropriately belongs in the classification of lake, and that has oftenest been compared to Killarney, both by those who refer only to the Irish lake as a worldwide criterion of beauty.
Tisbury selectmen have continued until early April a hearing on Noah Mayrand’s application to farm oysters in a one-acre portion of Lake Tashmoo. It marks the first aquaculture permit application in town.
A new herring run will be built at the head of Lake Tashmoo, perhaps by next spring. Derick Cimeno, Tisbury shellfish constable, told those attending the annual meeting of the Tisbury Waterways Inc. last week that a herring run in that pond will help improve the water quality and attract sport fish into the pond.
In the ever-present condition of change among things and men, the name of Chappaquansett seems doomed to be forgotten, though once frequently heard the length and breadth of the Island. For few people mention today the Indian name of that curious, low area that lies between West Chop and Makonikey along the Sound shore.
True, the character of the place has greatly changed through the centuries and even through the past few generations. There are no more farms such as the early Vineyarders knew, and the encampments of Indians had disappeared long before that.
The first hint of spring weather drew visitors in considerable numbers to the newly constructed Tashmoo Creek at Vineyard Haven, where the firm Turner and Breivogel is making the waterway which will turn the lower half of Lake Tashmoo into an arm of the sea. Although plans of the creek were drawn before the opening was votes, and these plans have been available to anyone, the appearance of the creek, as it begins to take shape, exceeds by far the popular conception of what it was to be.
This new summer resort located at West Chop is very beautifully situated on the shores of Vineyard Haven harbor and Vineyard sound, but a few minutes ride from the village of Vineyard Haven. The gentlemen who have undertaken this new enterprise are men of ample means and business ability; they are spending a large amount of money for the development of the property question. Among the improvements already made might be mentioned the building of a large and substantial wharf into the waters of Vineyard Sound.
The approach of spring is heralded on the Vineyard, as well as at many other points on the coast, by the running of fish. Fish are to be had at any month in the year if one knows how and where to get them, but no movement of a school or body takes place during the winter in the waters near the shore or the land-locked lakes and ponds.
The work of dredging now going on at Tashmoo Creek focuses attention upon one of the historical landmarks of the Island and one of which very little is remembered or preserved. Indians called this locality Chappaquansett, and old records refer to the creek as Chappaquansett Creek, rather than Tashmoo. It is evident that the Indians frequented this place in the olden days, as sizable middens have been located nearby and others are presumably buried beneath the shifting sands or have been washed out to sea.
