Teller of Tales

From the Vineyard Gazette editions of April, 1932:

While many of Vineyard Haven lawyer Charles H. Brown’s recollections are of his own town, not all of them are, and not all are tales of his own time.

Following a summer of uncertainty and dashed hopes, the future of the Island Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program was secured last week when a farming-friendly New Jersey resident announced that he will buy Thimble Farm — and keep it in active agriculture.

Eric Grubman, an executive vice president with the National Football League, will buy the 43-acre farm from Lawrence Benson for $2.45 million. The closing is expected before the end of the year.

By MARK ALAN LOVEWELL

They roared over the roads of the Vineyard on Sunday to benefit the Island’s young and raised a pile of money.

When the Martha’s Vineyard Harley Riders and their 87 bikes completed their two-hour annual Toys for Tots run, club president Mike Dow of Edgartown delivered a check of $17,113 to the Red Stocking Fund.

For 364 days of the year, the Vineyard and Nantucket sit on their respective perches in the ocean and gaze at each other with casual disregard.

The two Islands may share ocean currents, topography and even a boat line, but beyond that they have little to do with each other.

But for one glorious day of the year, these two estranged siblings shake off their shared disdain and come together for a sporting contest that is part family reunion and part grudge match.

Tip O’Neill said that all politics is local.

Mr. O’Neill learned his truth growing up in the ethnic enclaves of East Cambridge ward politics, a lesson that took him to the chairmanship of the U.S. House of Representatives.

He would have been at home in Aquinnah this week as the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) stages its biennial election on Sunday. There is a heated contest for tribal council chairman.

Winter high-speed ferry service between New Bedford and the Vineyard is expected to be sharply reduced, and may be abandoned altogether unless passenger numbers increase.

In the face of rapidly falling ridership, the ferry’s operators intend to cancel all weekend runs and reduce weekday trips by a third. The changes are expected to be formally approved by Steamship Authority governors at their monthly meeting in New Bedford on Tuesday.

The Vineyard real estate market showed resilience in the third quarter, with prices rising even as sales dropped and inventory rose.

Island observers further said the Vineyard market continues to show more strength than the mainland.

If you were a seller on the Island, you waited longer to sell your home but got a payoff if you did sell. Vineyard home sale prices climbed nearly 18 per cent in the three months ending Sept. 30, according to figures provided by LINK, an Island real estate data reporting company.

Sandy Grant, who won $10 million with a scratch card on Saturday, is sitting in the front room of her modular home in Edgartown, swatting flies with a rolled-up instruction manual. Her count is two kills from 10 attempts since the conversation with a reporter began. “I’ve been looking to get a fly swatter,” she says thoughtfully, still musing on the viability of the idea. It is the type of item Ms. Grant feels she can now afford, but it is important for her to need the things she buys.

Not so long ago, it was commonplace for Vineyard towns to have multiple blacksmith shops: thriving places of commerce that sold items such as bolts, hinges, horseshoes, cooking utensils and iron gates.

But as the all-consuming age of the machine took hold, the old village smithy went the way of the horse and buggy. The last blacksmith on the Island was Orin Norton, who operated a shop in Edgartown for sixty years until his death in 1961.

Farmers, town and county officials and Island residents will gather tomorrow morning for a workshop to discuss the possibility of forming an agricultural commission on the Island.

Established through a town meeting vote, an agricultural commission is a political body that provides a link to state and federal agricultural agencies and grant monies. Currently, there are over 95 agricultural commissions in Massachusetts.