Time Machine Terms
September 3, 1937
Makonikey on Market, Old Hotel Is Doomed
Makonikey, site of the famous old hotel which was open only for a season some forty years ago, is to be put upon the market by the present owners, Thomas F. Neelon and Roger W. Higgins. Surveyors are now at work laying out lots and streets, in order to have sites ready for building operations next spring. The old hotel will be torn down.
August 20, 1937
“One of Benton Harmonica Boys” Is Here for Visit
He was walking along the state road with his wife up in West Tisbury. He carried a suitcase, and, although he did not actually wiggle his thumb, he looked hopefully back at the car.
His name is Manuel Tolegian of New York city, artist and former student of Thomas H. Benton, summer resident of Chilmark. When he was picked up by the Gazette reporter, he looked slightly warm but grateful, animated and eager. He has a thin, aesthetic face and long, slender hands.
July 16, 1937
Painter and Author, in His Spare Time Thomas Benton Transposes Difficult Music to Play on His Harmonica
Bach, Beethoven, and Schubert - nothing heavy but on the classical side - and Thomas Hart Benton, painter, and author, plays them all on his harmonica. He’s got a special scheme, which he himself devised, for transposing the music into a complicated harmonica score.
May 7, 1937
Lot Rogers Laid The Ghost
Editors, Vineyard Gazette:
It seems a pity to spoil a good ghost story, but it so happens the favorite story of my childhood was one of how my great grandfather, Lot Rogers, laid the Crying Swamp ghost. None of the neighbors would go near the place at night unless it were a matter of urgent necessity, so great grandfather decided to do something about it.
I do not know whether he took with him a Bible or a stout oak stick, but out to the Crying Swamp he went on one of the wild windy nights that the ghost seemed to favor.
April 23, 1937
Led Eventful Life: George A. Smith, Dead at 79, Visited Most of the States
Death came to George A. Smith of Oak Bluffs yesterday morning in the house in which he was born seventy-nine years ago. He was the son of Elisha and Elizabeth Wilbur Smith.
His travels took him to nearly every state in the union and thus entitled him, perhaps, to be called the greatest wanderer of the Vineyard since whaling days.
March 12, 1937
Baptist Temple Sold to Highlands Property Trust
The Baptist Temple on the Highlands has been sold by the Massachusetts Baptist Association to the Highland Property Trust, thus bringing the historic structure and its site to possession of the group of summer residents who a few years ago took over the old Vineyard Grove company holdings.
February 26, 1937
When Gay Head Was Still Just a District
A collection of old documents dating far back in the last century has been unearthed in the old Jeffers house at Gay Head by Lorenzo D. Jeffers, the present owner of the estate of his ancestors. These documents consist of letters, ledgers, bills and notations kept by Thomas Jeffers, grandfather of the present owner.
August 11, 1936
Edgartown Plans Due Honors for New York Fleet
The New York Yacht Club fleet which first came into Edgartown harbor in 1858, fourteen years after the founding of the club, will again resume its visits to Edgartown harbor this weekend. According to their schedule, the fleet will be at New London, Conn., tomorrow, will spend the following two days at Newport, and then will race to Edgartown. After the weekend in Edgartown, the fleet will set out at 9:30 on Monday for Mattapoisett, and will return to Newport for Aug. 19 and 20.
May 8, 1936
Huge White Whale Makes the Woods Hole Passage
A white whale was seen by Capt. Harry L. Peakes last week while running through Woods Hole. The monster, which was of huge size, showed parts of its body several times, exhibiting a skin that was milk white.
White whales have been seen around the Cape Cod shores on many occasions in the past, but it has been many years since one was seen this close to the Vineyard.
April 3, 1936
Colter Becomes Sole Owner of Kelley House
Transfer of the equity in the historic Kelley House, Edgartown, to Richard L. Colter, proprietor of the Mansion House, Vineyard Haven, was made this week, a change of ownership that still retains the ancient inn in the family of its beloved proprietor, Mrs. E. A. Kelley, who conducted the house for years after the death of her husband, William Kelley, famed in his day as a host.
