Time Machine Terms
July 27, 1948
If You Think You Hear Bells, Probably You Do
Passers-by on Davis Lane, Edgartown, who think they hear bells, probably do. Although a casual glance will fail to disclose their presence, their sound is everywhere when the wind blows, hanging on the air like milkweed blown.
The bells have been fastened to a tree on the property of G. Holmes Perkins. There are four of them, clustered on one branch, and they carol together when the breezes set the tree in motion. In shape they are somewhat like cow bells, but their size is just right for a calf.
June 25, 1948
House Bears Name of Desire Osborn
The old house on Main street, Edgartown, which has been referred to as the Edson house, has received an official and appropriate christening. It is now the Desire Osborn House, called after James Coffin’s youngest child, Desire Allen Coffin, who married John Osborn in 1813, and for whom the house was moved to its present site from the neighborhood of Mill Hill.
June 25, 1948
20-Year Lease for Airport Is Signed
The county commissioners have signed a twenty-year lease for the operation of the Martha’s Vineyard Airport. The decision to do so was announced by S. C. Luce Jr., chairman of the county commissioners, at the close of a public hearing in Edgartown Monday afternoon when the overwhelming sentiment of the participants was that the long term lease be signed.
April 16, 1948
New Hangar Building at Edgartown Airport
A new metal hangar is under construction at the Edgartown Airport. The building will be 40 by 50 feet, with a steel roof, and asphalt flooring. It will have a capacity for two or three ships, and will be situated next to the present hangar.
Another improvement at the airport is a small restaurant, as an annex to the administration building. The luncheonette will contain a counter and two or three tables, and will be finished in knotty pine. Kenneth Carter of Edgartown is to be the manager of the restaurant, and is now assisting Steve Gentle in its construction.
March 12, 1948
She’ll Soon Have the Once in a Lifetime Thrill of Seeing Her First Novel in Print
Dorothy West will soon have the once in a life time thrill of seeing her first novel come out in print. The book was written at Oak Bluffs where Miss West occupies a cottage with her mother, and is to be published this spring by Houghton Mifflin. Its title, The Living Is Easy, came to her as she was describing the story to a friend of hers. At least from a first impression, the same phrase might be used to depict the personality of the author herself.
January 30, 1948
Zoning Actually Protects Private Property Rights
Most city dwellers take zoning as a matter of course. They know that without such protection there would be no strictly residential areas, no unspoiled park and recreation centers in their metropolis, no concentrated business districts; that the whole would be a confusion of purposes pleasing neither business nor inhabitant; that property would become devaluated, new industry discouraged, and eventually the people themselves would move to new locations in more orderly surroundings.
January 7, 1948
Erects New Machine
Albert Brazis, a friendly and good-natured representative of the Mergenthaler Linotype Co., has been with the Gazette gang this week, engaged in the erection of a new linotype machine, and under his competent guidance this newest of typesetting marvels, awaited for more than two years since it was ordered, inaugurated its Island career in time to help out with this edition.
September 12, 1947
World Unity Might Be Sooner Achieved If All Men Could Go Fishing Together - for Blues
The bluefish run once more. After many years absence, and seasons when the species had been scarce, the great schools of which oldtimers told, have appeared again in Vineyard waters. True, the fish are small, averaging no more than two pounds each, but providing lively sport for both boat and shore fishermen, plus a banquet fit for the gods when served upon the table.
July 4, 1947
For 21 Years, “The Smallest Bookshop in the World” Has Reflected Vineyard Reading Taste
One score plus one year ago, to wit, July 4, 1946, Borrowdale, “the smallest bookshop in the world,” opened its doors to the public in Edgartown. It was then, and is still today, the only shop on the Vineyard devoted solely to the purveyance of literature without resort to the lure of coupons or kickapoo juice or the like. Established by the late Gerald and Margaret Chittenden shortly before his retirement from the faculty of St. Paul’s School, Concord, N.H., Borrowdale quickly became known as the place you could purchase good books immediately, and order the other kind.
April 25, 1947
Plan Spring Planting Day at Christiantown
Just two days after Arbor Day, which comes April 26, is Spring Planting Day at the Christiantown Burial Ground in North Tisbury. The Martha’s Vineyard Garden Club has planned the event at Christiantown, home of the now vanished Praying Indians, and will plant both seeds and actual plants of any wild flowers which members can procure and contribute. Gardeners are urged to take their lunch and be at the historic rendezvous at 12 noon on Monday, April 28, or if that day should prove rainy, the next pleasant day.
