Since the founding of Sheriff’s Meadow in 1958, Martha’s Vineyard has become a world leader in conservation, with a several nonprofits working together to preserve the natural environment.
The Sheriff's Meadow Foundation, now celebrating its 30th anniversary, owes its existence to the vision, courage and determination of two remarkable people: the late Henry and Elizabeth Hough. In 1920, Henry's father gave the Vineyard Gazette as a wedding present to the two young graduates of the Columbia School of Journalism. Active as managing editor of the New Bedford Evening Standard, the father had introduced Henry to the exciting possibilities of small-town community journalism.
A plan by a prominent Vineyard conservation group to restore the Mill Brook headwaters in Chilmark has run into fierce opposition from a nearby resident who says it conflicts with decades of observation.
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.