The Gay Head selectmen voted yesterday to take the property of Andrew and Brenda Warshaw through eminent domain, seizing the couple's retirement property but shielding the rare geology and wildlife of the Moshup Trail.

The taking of the Warshaw land was authorized by voters at a special town meeting Dec. 7. But since then, a selectmen's vote has repeatedly been postponed, as the community has struggled with questions about fairness. The Warshaws were not notified of the town meeting.

In a spectacle described as incredible, amazing and historic, hundreds of Islanders turned out to hammer boards, paint window sills and raise the Martha's Vineyard Agricultural Society's new barn in a three-day event that was a festival of community spirit.