Habitat for Humanity of Martha’s Vineyard held a ground-breaking ceremony on Saturday, August 9, for the sixth house the organization has built on the Island. Thirty people gathered at the build site on 11th street in Edgartown to mark the event.

The Permanent Endowment for Martha’s Vineyard is accepting applications for its fall grant cycle. The endowment welcomes inquiries from Island nonprofit organizations seeking funding for programs and initiatives that will benefit the Vineyard community. In the past, the endowment has provided support for the arts and culture, civic affairs and community development, education, the elderly, the environment, health and youth.

Too Quiet Downtown

Walking down Main street Vineyard Haven, you can still smell the smoke. It’s in a single spot directly in front of the Bunch of Grapes bookstore and before the site of Cafe Moxie, just a whiff of the charred smell that lingers long after a fire. It is an olfactory trigger that brings memories of Independence Day, when the restaurant burned to the ground and the bookstore was ruined nearly beyond recognition.

Riding on Empty

Somewhere between the stable dirt and the saddle, girls who love horses find the women they will become. Up there, it’s not about being a girl. Riding requires toughness and gentleness, strength and smarts — characteristics that do not always sit easily together in a young girl’s world.

LYME SCIENCE

Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

Despite what your story (Uneasiness Over Lyme Disease Spreads, August 15) suggests, the science behind the Lyme disease guidelines issued by the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) has never been in question and the guidelines remain in place today.

It’s inevitably hot and hectic, dusty and bit tersweet — these four days of waning summer on the Vineyard during the agricultural fair held in West Tisbury.

Buried Treasure

From the Vineyard Gazette editions of August, 1983:

West Tisbury salvager and treasure hunter Barry Clifford says he’s found proof, at least to his own satisfaction, that he’s discovered the pirate ship Whidah, sunk with its vast treasure off the coast of Cape Cod in 1717.

The trowel bent in my hand; I was afraid it might. There was one last year that did the same thing. Thinking it a piece of junk, I pitched it aside. The trowel I used for years is lost somewhere in this garden, probably green bushes grew large over it or the ivy buried it. It was strong, like a little spade. There is a penknife of Ted’s around here someplace too, and a silver fork I was using to separate the tiniest seedlings. (Things do turn up, though, Just found clippers lost months ago, hanging on a trellis). Why don’t the useless things get lost?

Temperature: Precip.

Day Max. Min. Inches.

Fº Fº

August 22 77 56 .00

August 23 78 55 .00

August 24 77 55 .00

August 25 77 63 .00

August 26 80 60 .00

August 27 73 55 .00

August 28 75 56 .00

Water temperature in Edgartown harbor: 75º F.

Even though the heavens opened up and poured soaking rain, complete with thunder and lightning, hospice angels were plentiful on a recent Monday night at Farm Neck. I would like to say thank you to every guest, volunteer and to all the businesses and artists that made the evening such a wonderful success. It truly takes a community to give the excellent care of hospice, and those who were with us under the tent know the very special connection to our work we all made that stormy night.