Day Tripping on Martha’s Vineyard
The island was known as Noepe, “land amid the streams,” by the Wampanoag Indians who inhabited it (still do). “Martha’s Vineyard” is said to have been named in 1602 by English explorer Bartholomew Gosnold for his daughter and the island’s wild grapes. It was called Martin’s Vineyard (most likely after Gosnold ship’s captain, John Martin) for a time.
Location of the “Jaws” movies, home of some Kennedy’s, James Taylor, Carly Simon, and John Belushi’s grave, Martha’s Vineyard is a half hour ferry ride from Falmouth, Cape Cod. The Island Queen ferry landed us in Oak Bluffs with a view of the village green and gazebo.
Hidden in plain view, as magical places often are, we discovered a world of gingerbread cottages tucked away in the center of town. Originally a Methodist tent camp, the mid 1800’s cottages were made from kits. The invention of the band saw at the same time explains the generous use gingerbread design on the more than 200 cottages. More photos HERE.
Our salty ferry captain with hair like Jerry Garcia’s took us across to Menemsha, a small fishing village in the town of Chilmark and the location site of Roy Scheider’s character’s boathouse in the 1974 movie Jaws. My mother complimented the ferry captain on his naturally curly hair and they flirted for the rest of the trip to and from the village.
The last time I had been to Martha’s Vineyard was in the 70’s. This was the view from the Menemsha Galley lunch bar where we ate on the back porch. It turned out that there was a real chef in the kitchen and the crab cakes were renowned.
So, that really was a naked man we saw walking on the beach below the overlook at the Gay Head Cliffs. Only until I got home and googled Gay Head (Aquinnah) did I discover that the clay/cliffs beach is one of the few nude beaches left in the U.S.
Somewhere on the 10 by 20 mile island, we stopped at sculpture garden and somewhere we allegedly got a speck of a ding in our rented midnight blue Hyundai. Next time we won’t use A-A Island because they charged us an extra $90.
We sipped microbrews and nibbled peanuts, throwing the shells on the floor. A heated discussion with my mother about Sarah Palin’s resignation caused a couple to stop me on the way out and thank us for the entertainment.
All in all it was a fun-filled day and precious time spent with my mother. We made some good new memories.
July 10th, 2009 2:57 pm
I lived on Edgartown one summer during college. We rented the Mickey Mouse House – so named after the Mickey poster we tacked to the front door. Not as lovely as the Gingerbread houses in Oak Bluffs! I love the “quiet” side of the island in Tisbury. But taking the shortest ferry ride ever over to Chappaquiddick (Chappy) and visiting the Japanese Garden before hitting the quiet and warmer beach is great fun too. Plus it’s nice to visit the Edgartown lighthouse on the return. Senator Kennedy would rather we all forget about Chappy of course. Many have.
July 10th, 2009 3:28 pm
The Japanese Garden and Chappaquiddick is on my list for next year. It all the more fun when your blogging about it as you go.
July 10th, 2009 3:31 pm
Looks beautiful… I’d love to visit one day 🙂
I hope you have a wonderful weekend.
Tanya (aka NetChick) sent me to say Hello.
July 10th, 2009 3:36 pm
Wow, Sherry was sunburnt from the day before huh?
July 10th, 2009 3:46 pm
Oops, I was going to tell you that you still have my old blog on your sidebar link. Can you update it? Thanks!
July 10th, 2009 3:56 pm
She mostly got the sunburn there. And bought the hat towards the end of the day. It may take me awhile to update. I loathe the template matrix and have to work up to it.
July 10th, 2009 8:20 pm
I’ve never been up there, and I’d love to see it. Good pix!
July 10th, 2009 8:40 pm
Sometimes just the being together is the most fun of all.
July 10th, 2009 9:26 pm
Wonderful summer photos!
I’ve noticed that you play a few other memes in the blogosphere. I really enjoy your answers! I’d like to invite you to play The Queen’s Meme every Tuesday with Mimi Queen of Memes.
The fun begins next week on July 14, 2009. I will send another reminder to everyone on Monday.
The Queen’s Meme
I hope you will join us!
Mimi Lenox
July 11th, 2009 10:44 am
I love the pics too. I also love you and the memories. xo
July 11th, 2009 10:46 am
These are great pictures of a lovely area and you are all clearly having a fun time (as well as political debate!) too. And that UK tv show will be on BBC America, by the way.
Best rashbre
July 11th, 2009 11:30 am
I’ve never been to Martha’s Vineyard, but I’ve heard lots of folks talking about it. For some reason, a lot of our presidents vacation there as well.
Anyhow, glad to see you had a good time. NetChick sent me here to scope the place out.
Thomas 🙂
July 11th, 2009 3:58 pm
That sculpture is a hoot! What a beautiful place.
July 11th, 2009 5:43 pm
Thanks for sharing lovely Amityville shots…
July 11th, 2009 8:10 pm
I LOVE all your pictures of Martha’s Vineyard. I’ve never been there (Been to Falmout, across the Bay) but I do have a relative that has a home there and spends the summers there….How wonderful to get to spend this kind of relaxed time with your Mom, Colleen….It looked like you had perfect weather, too!
July 12th, 2009 8:07 am
Yeah, that was something else about Ms. Sarah! “I’m not a quitter” – yeah, right. Reminds me of Nixon: “I am not a crook.” While you were in Massachusetts, I was in Pennsylvania, making the chips fly. Had a wonderful time, but haven’t blogged about it yet. I’m still working through material from Floyd!
July 13th, 2009 3:32 pm
Glad to you see you enjoyed Martha’s Vineyard so thoroughly! We’ve always been fans of Offshore Ale & Co for more reasons than one! Great photos and we hope to see you back!
~Martha & Crew
July 16th, 2009 1:30 am
Would love to see Martha’s Vineyard some day – your pic of the cliffs and lighthouse is gorgeous!
July 18th, 2009 10:59 am
This is all very beautiful. Martin has been to Martha’s Vineyard but I would still like to see it one day. This year my photo journaling will be Glacier in Montana and hopefully Alaska next year. I want to go before all the ice melts thanks to we humans!
July 19th, 2009 9:14 pm
The sculpture of the dancing lady drove me crazy because she looked so familiar! I looked through all of my sculpture books, thinking that she was created by Elie Nadelman, but to no avail. Finally, I enlisted the help of the web: it is a sculpture done by Thomas Maley, who is represented by the Field Gallery in West Tisbury, a tiny little town on Martha’s Vineyard. She is located across the street from Alley’s General Store.
http://www.gonomad.com/features/0706/west-tisbury.html
July 19th, 2009 9:23 pm
Bingo! That was the place. The sculpture shown was just one of so many interesting and fanciful ones, mostly by the same artist.