Our Living History

 
The Dukes County Intelligencer is well on its way, according to Gale Huntington, its editor. The quality of the publication may possibly be judged by a sample of some of its surplus. These items were rejected by Eleanor Mayhew when she wrote her account of Christiantown:
 
May 6, 1743
 

St. Pierres Would Offer Summer School Facilities

The possibility of an active and duly accredited summer school on the Island, together with provisions for private tutoring by local teachers, has been proposed by Mr. and Mrs. J. Raoul St. Pierre, of the St. Pierre School Inc. of Boston and the Vineyard. Brought before the Island superintendent of schools, Charles E. Downs, and the regional school principal, Charles A. Davis, the proposal is being explored.

An Edgartown Pioneer

An Edgartown pioneer dating back to 1742 is all that survives of the five great oak tree trunks, rough-hewn, which were one of the distinctive features of the entrance to the Great Harbour Inn. The corner post toward North Water street is still one of the original set, but for various reasons and particularly the fact that Kelley street has been raised from time to time, it seemed best to replace the others. Originally there were five of these huge posts, but two were replaced some time ago when the stairs were added.
 

Portrait of an Artist Who Chose Boats

Note: Mr. Leavens - visited M. S. Roberts and made notes of their talk. He had intended to write this interview as an article in the third person, but Mr. Rob­erts’ own personality so clearly emerged from the written memor­anda that the author decided to write the interview in the first person, following as closely as pos­sible the ideas and modes of ex­pression of the man who sat for the portrait.
 

To Insure Future of Notable House

An agreement was signed early this week for the purchase of the Roger S. Robinson house on Main street, Edgartown, by Alfred Hall, representing a group interested in maintaining the character and traditional values of the town. Mr. Hall said that this was his only concern as to the property.
 

Cape Pogue Beach Is to Be Preserved

The Cape Pogue beach - two miles of it - including virtually all the strip with the ocean on one side and Cape Pogue Bay on the other, has been given to the Trustees of Reservations by Charles Sumner Bird and Oliver P. Filley, Chappaquiddick summer residents who acquired the beach some years ago.
 
The strip is one of great natural interest and beauty - often of windswept beauty - embodying the unaltered character of so much of the exposed shoreline of the Vineyard.
 

Editorial: Item of History

The Union Chapel was dedicated on Sunday, Aug. 20, 1871, and it had its first christening on Sunday, Aug. 3, 1958. We do not mean to imply that the years between these two dates were lost or without event, but only that the christening adds to a long history rather more than newer generations might suppose. The early builders and supporters of Union Chapel, and those who followed them, would be particularly proud of that christening, id they could know.
 

Editorial: Interlude of a Hundred Years

It’s just a hundred years ago that the cruising squadron of the New York Yacht Club paid its first visit to Martha’s Vineyard, and the schooner America was among them. And so the rendezvous set for today in Edgartown harbor completes a sort of neat historical package, even to the coming of the yachts from among which the defenders of the America’s Cup will be selected.
 

Tashmoo Often Compared With Lake Killarney

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.

Old Sculpin’s Quarters - A Door to Enchantment for His Admirers

There hangs upon a wall at the summer home of Mr. and Mrs. C. Coburn Darling at Cow Bay, Edgartown, the most perfect and eloquent record of a famous Vineyard landmark - the memorable and beloved boat building shop of Manuel S. Roberts.
 

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