Harbor master Charlie Blair announced his retirement through a letter read aloud at the Edgartown select board meeting Monday. He will step away after 30 years with the town.

2024 opened with a severe storm battering the Island, the third in just over a month, each one turning its unwavering attention on the south shore. It closed with the first snowfall of the season, bringing with it a white Christmas.

Tonight a thin waxing crescent moon appears low in the southwestern sky, right above the bright planet Venus. Both are in the zodical constellation Capricornus.

Tomorrow night, Saturday night, the moon has advanced along the zodiac and will appear close to the bright planet Saturn. Both are in Aquarius. The two are particularly close, and hard to notice. Earlier in the evening, in Europe, people will have watched the moon occult Saturn. They'll see the moon actually pass over Saturn. But for us on the Vineyard, that will already have happened.

With the news on Sunday, Dec. 29 of President Jimmy Carter’s passing, many are learning more about hospice care and the comfort and dignity it provides at the end of life.

From alpha-gal to powerful storms, here are the stories that engaged Gazette readers the most in 2024.

To live my life/ Like that of a plant/ Is to follow the laws of nature

On a recent afternoon yet another traffic accident occurred in front of our house on Center street in Vineyard Haven. This is at least the seventh accident since moving here.

How do we thank all the elves near and far, and even those we don’t know who they are?

Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank Commission purchased Windward Lane in Edgartown from Vineyard Open Land Foundation for $550,000 on Dec. 26.

Before returning to the Island recently, I stopped in Falmouth to fill up my car’s gas tank.