It happened again to the Vineyard. New England’s second tropical hurricane, with the code name Edna, struck the Island with its full force on Saturday, inflicted some further damage although not nearly so great as the first storm of the season, and left much restoration work to be begun all over again.
Earnest G. Friez Jr., manager, said that he thought that the Harbor View Hotel had weathered the Tuesday weather in comparatively good shape. “We were very fortunate,” he said, “compared to the trouble some were in.” One chimney fell on the ell of the main hotel, over employees’ quarters, and smashed through the roof into a room on the third floor. Other than that the damage was confined to a few chairs, windows and shutters and shingles.
The Vineyard’s third hurricane roared over the Island Tuesday, reached the high mark of a flood sea in some places exceeding that of 1938, and left a scene of destruction as the wind abated and the seas fell. The high of the tidal flood came about noon. All the serious damage was inflicted between mid-morning and a little past noon.
Camp Winnecunnet, the Y.W.C.A. camp on West Chop road, Vineyard Haven, has been sold this week to Miss Kathleen Hinni, representing the School of Creative Arts which she has conducted in the town for the past several years. The sale, as yet uncompleted, was made through the office of Mrs. O. B. Weeks, formerly Miss Mary Nunes, of Oak Bluffs.
Eastville was the first populated area within the present town of Oak Bluffs. A map of 1781 showed thirty-two houses in the general region, most of them at Eastville. An 1850 map showed twenty-six houses at and near Eastville. The first census listing a population for the area was that of 1880, and it showed a population of 672, and by this time the settlement of Cottage City had passed Eastville.
When the Great Harbour Inn opened in Edgartown this spring, early guests and staff members had several surprises in the form of improvements in the building waiting for them, improvements not discernible from the outside since Richard L. Colter, the owner of the inn, was careful not to disturb the appearance of the 200 year old building.