Vineyard Will See Many Soldiers Soon, Here For Maneuvers

Martha’s Vineyard is going to see soldiers, and many of them, during the next two or three weeks.
 
Large scale maneuvers are to be undertaken here, and the Army is announcing the plan in order to obtain the cooperation of the public. It is important that no one should feel disturbed by the field exercises or by the appearance of troops simulating conditions of an actual campaign.
 

P.T. Boats Drop In

Edgartown, its ears unconsciously expectant of the crash of bombs, had a thrilling experience Monday morn­ing when the quiet June air was blasted by what sounded like nothing less than a fleet of bombing planes. The sky proving as blue, and benig­nant as it should on a proper June day in Edgartown, the population, or a large part of it, followed the sound to the harborfront, and was rewarded by the sight of a fleet of menacing looking mosquito boats.
 

4,883 Register for Sugar on Vineyard

Statistics released last night by Arthur B. Lord, superintendent of schools, who was in charge of the sugar rationing registration for the Island, show little evidence of hoarding, with one town, Gay Head, issuing books to every person who applied, and also reveal some interesting facts about the Island population as compared with the census figures for 1940. They show no such great drop in population as had been rumored and even believed, and one town, West Tisbury, has grown ten per cent since 1940.

Air Field for Vineyard

Announcement has been made of the acquisition of 683 acres of land on the state reservation near West Tisbury by the federal government for an air field. The transfer has been made from the state to the federal government for one dollar.
 
Some of the mainland reports have referred to the site as a naval field, but it is believed here that it may be the emergency field surveyed by the army last summer. No one on the Island could supply definite information yesterday.
 

Wild Flower Sanctuary at Christiantown Planned

A Vineyard wild flower sanctuary, where native plants, flowers and shrubs will be planted and protected, under conditions which will allow the general public to see and enjoy them, is in the process of becoming a reality at Christiantown. Mrs. Wilfrid O. White of Vineyard Haven, president of the Martha’s Vineyard Garden Club, has been given permission, and some financial aid, by the county board, with which to pit her plan into operation on the county-owned land adjacent to the Indian burying ground on this historic spot, and the initial survey has been made by Will C.

Mr. Denniston Dies: Church Is Monument to Oak Bluffs Pastor

Rev. Oscar E. Denniston, founder of the Bradley Memorial Church, Oak Bluffs, and pastor for the past forty years died at Martha's Vineyard Hospital early Tuesday morning, following a brief confinement which came at the end of some nine years of gradually failing health. He would have been 67 years of age on April 5. He had devoted his life to religious teaching.

New Tashmoo Canal Impresses Visitors

The first hint of spring weather drew visitors in considerable numbers to the newly constructed Tashmoo Creek at Vineyard Haven, where the firm Turner and Breivogel is making the waterway which will turn the lower half of Lake Tashmoo into an arm of the sea. Although plans of the creek were drawn before the opening was votes, and these plans have been available to anyone, the appearance of the creek, as it begins to take shape, exceeds by far the popular conception of what it was to be.
 

Trial Blackout Proves Successful at Bluffs

The Civilian Defense organization of Oak Bluffs, headed by Dr. Francis C. Buckley reports that the partial blackout held in that town Sunday night, during the bitter cold and with traveling conditions for air raid wardens anything but ideal, was markedly successful. The degree of cooperation shown was gratifying to the officials and the committee feels that the town should be congratulated upon its first effort. Only in five households was it found that the residents had failed to understand the requirements, or were unaware that a test was to be made.

Blockade Runners Once Used This Historic Creek

The work of dredging now going on at Tashmoo Creek focuses attention upon one of the historical landmarks of the Island and one of which very little is remembered or preserved. Indians called this locality Chappaquansett, and old records refer to the creek as Chappaquansett Creek, rather than Tashmoo. It is evident that the Indians frequented this place in the olden days, as sizable middens have been located nearby and others are presumably buried beneath the shifting sands or have been washed out to sea.

Tire-Rationing Boards Appointed on Vineyard

The setting up of tire-rationing boards in Island towns this week brings the war yet nearer to the Vineyard. These rationing committees one in each town of the Island, were appointed and set up under instructions which came direct to the chairmen of all board of selectmen on Monday night from a former governor, Joseph B. Ely, who is the state administrator of tire rationing.

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