BOSTON — A daylong hearing on casino gambling at the Massachusetts State House this week drew a huge crowd of red-shirted union workers and some of the world’s wealthiest casino executives who flew in for the occasion.

But missing from the scene were the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) and its sister tribe in Mashpee.

In a 1952 aerial photograph of Sengekontacket Pond that hangs behind the door to Augustus Ben David’s World of Reptiles And Birds in Edgartown, you can count two properties — the one you’re standing in and the Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary. Today Mr. Ben David estimates that the homes clustered along the shoreline number in the thousands.

Starting Jan. 1, the Vineyard will be a little less connected to the mainland, the result of a decision by the operators of the New Bedford fast ferry to sharply cut their off-season service.

Not that many people are likely to mind; the reason the service is being reduced is that hardly anybody rides it.

Indeed, the service cuts, from three weekday round trips to two, with none at all on weekends, may only be the first step. The operators, New England Fast Ferry, have flagged the prospect of abandoning all service between mid-October and mid-April.

Hello, Hunter

Stephen P. and Stacia P. Broderick of Kamuela, Hawaii, announce the birth of a son, Hunter H. Broderick, on Dec. 4 in Hawaii. He weighed 7 pounds, 5 ounces. Hunter is the grandson of Steve and Emily Broderick of Chilmark.

The themes and variations we celebrate during these days of the year seem to point in the same direction — let our light shine in the darkness. The words of Dickens in A Tale of Two Cities, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,” characterize these moments we celebrate at the end of each year.

A look at the world reveals how grievously we are split into fragmentary and conflicting individuals and groups.

As of this week, Chilmark has taken a step to make its affordable housing more accessible.

In their regular meeting Tuesday night, Chilmark selectmen unanimously voted to adopt new implementation guidelines created by the Chilmark housing committee for homesite and rental properties in the town.

Welcome Danielle

Patricia Maeda Meyer and Marcello Meyer of Edgartown announce the birth of a daughter, Danielle Maeda Meyer, born on Dec. 7 at the Martha’s Vineyard Community Hospital. Danielle weighed 7 pounds, 4 and a half ounces at birth.

In an era when large swaths of pitch pines and scrub oak are routinely cleared to make way for new homes, it would be easy to think of the Vineyard as rapidly losing its woodland character.

In fact forest acreage on the Island has grown over the past 100 years as the Vineyard has shifted from an agricultural-based society of farmers and shepherds to a resort community of second homeowners and seasonal residents.

By some estimates, Island woodlands have increased 20-fold since the late 19th century.

Corrections

A story in the Dec. 14 edition of the Gazette misprinted the telephone number for community radio station 93.7 WVVY. The correct telephone number is 508-693-9379. The Gazette regrets the error.

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A photo caption accompanying last Friday’s Gazette feature on The Homecoming, currently on stage at the Vineyard Playhouse, identified the actor pictured as Daniel Cuff, who plays Clay-Boy. The photo was of Xavier Powers, who plays Birdshot Sprouse. The Gazette regrets the error.

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The Tabernacle cupola is undergoing the most significant restoration in more than a century. The $635,000 project will not only preserve the cupola for the years ahead, but restore its key purposes of ventilation and visual distinction.

For Russell E. Dagnall, president of the Martha’s Vineyard Camp Meeting Association, the work, called Topping off the Tabernacle, is but part of a much larger $3 million restoration of the Tabernacle that began almost 10 years ago.