The first time Carlos Montoya came to the Vineyard, he took a ride up-Island and turned onto Moshup Trail - the unmistakable three-mile length of road that hugs the western edge of the Island.

"Oh my god," Mr. Montoya said this month, recalling his impression from that 1970 visit. "It was unbelievable."

Now a 10-year resident of Moshup Trail, he characterizes it as the single most important stretch of land in Aquinnah. "It is simply one of the most magical places," Mr. Montoya said.

High on Gay Head Cliffs, a Land Bank Beauty

New System of Trails May Result from Sale in Aquinnah

By CHRIS BURRELL

In a move that could resurrect a long-lost museum in Aquinnah and create a network of trails over a dramatic south shore seascape, the Martha's Vineyard Land Bank has agreed to buy the six-acre Vanderhoop homestead just south of the Gay Head Lighthouse.