The memories come flood ing back during the imposed isolation of the pandemic.

Growing up in Harthaven, I was surrounded by artists — my father and mother for starters.

Harthaven is one of those many remarkable places on Martha’s Vineyard where we feel the presence of our ancestors every day.

During a conversation Thursday at the Martha’s Vineyard Museum, Andrew Moore reflected on his art career as part of a legacy that spans generations. The museum is featuring his work along with art by his daughter, Hannah, and his great-great-grandfather N.A. Moore.

One hundred years ago, the community of Harthaven in Oak Bluffs was established when William H. Hart purchased the first parcel of land bordering Farm Pond. On Saturday, about 300 people joined to celebrate that event at the home of Walt and Mary Lee Gifford which was built by Jim Hart, one of the founder’s sons. The Harthaven centennial was much more than the normal gathering of a clan — though it certainly was that.

By SAM LOW

I remember jumping off the old little wooden bridge that used to cross over to get to the beach by Young’s old house. Also digging the best steamers in that little waterway.

— Polly Pease

Nearly a century ago, Harthaven, a colony on Martha’s Vineyard, existed only as a patriarchal conception of an old Connecticut Yankee about family ties and devotion, as it was created by William Howard Hart, of New Britain, Conn., for a summer residence and meeting place “for all my heirs, forever”, as he described it. Much has been said and written, sometimes in ridicule, about the devotion of New England to family genealogy.