Posted by Rick Conti on Sun, May 16, 2010
Probably one of the least romanticized aspects of Martha’s Vineyard is the
Steamship Authority's ferry service. It's old. It's stodgy. It's even smelly on occasion. People may make disparaging comments about the boats or the service or the crowds, but I'll have none of it. Think of me what you will, but I like the ferry. It's the people's option.
The best part about taking the ferry is the separation that it provides from the land-locked life. When I'm riding on the ferry, traversing Vineyard Sound to the Island, I can feel the anxiety and stress falling from me as if an oversized knapsack has been loosed from my back after a long, arduous hike. As I anticipate a stay on the Island, my shoulders seem to rise an inch or two from the sheer relief of burdens picked up on the mainland. I need that time of adjustment.
If there were a bridge or tunnel to the Vineyard, as some souvenir car stickers would have you believe, I would still take the boat. I like the physical and emotional transition that it affords. That's why, when taking the car on the ferry, it's best to get out and spend the crossing time topside. Getting into the car and not getting out until you are on the Island has the same effect as driving over a bridge. You just don't get the break you need to start a real vacation.
Today there are two primary steamships making the voyage from Woods Hole, my
preferred point of departure: the three-year-old “M/V Island Home” and the venerable (by comparison) “M/V Martha's Vineyard”. (There is also a set of freighter ships, but I prefer to stay with the passenger vessels. Even I have my limits!) My preference is for the bi-directional newer ship. It doesn't need to turn around upon MV arrival as the older boat does. Thus, I can set my feet on Island soil that much sooner.
The Steamship is reliable and consistent. It runs year round and only the harshest of weather keeps it from its appointed rounds. Its persistence accounts for some exciting happenings. I recall a particularly rough crossing, during which one courageous soul insisted on sitting on the outside deck of the ferry. As he sat alone (no one else was foolhardy enough to venture outside on this passage) reading his newspaper, a rogue wave came over the front of the ship, engulfing him in bone-chilling salt water. He came back inside, humbled, wiser, and soaked to the marrow.
I don't mean to disparage the obvious benefits of the alternative means of transport. The “
Island Queen”, a passenger-only vessel that takes its patrons from Falmouth Harbor to Oak Bluffs Harbor, is fast and convenient, with far less hectic departures and arrivals. From the other side of Falmouth Harbor, the quaint “
Pied Piper” will drop you off right in downtown Edgartown. (How cool is that?) I won't touch on the relative merits of the air routes to the Vineyard. That discussion is left for the more affluent among us.
All things considered, however, I prefer the pace, tradition, and yes, the price of the Steamship Authority option. Truth be told, anything that gets me to the Vineyard is appreciated! In this case, because of the delights of the destination, getting there is not nearly half the fun!
Posted by Joanne Sardini on Mon, Feb 22, 2010
We've talked before about what a great community we are part of here on Martha's Vineyard, so it's time for you to get to know our neighbors. If you are not familiar with our location here at the Colonial Inn, we are right smack dab in the thick of downtown Edgartown. Now, don't panic if you are planning a stay with us, the thick of downtown is still peaceful and relaxing, afterall, it IS Martha's Vineyard!
One of the stores in the neighborhood that I can't resist in Bluefish Coastal Boutique. Owners Danielle Mann and Amy Padalino-Heil are cousins who share a love of the ocean, nature, good living and fun. These passions are reflected in the wonderful collection of island-themed gifts, home goods, clothing, stationary, toys, and beach & boating necessities for everyone on the island, tourists and locals, young and old.
My love of this store starts with the great items for your home. As I write this I am actually curled up on my sofa, supported by a beautiful handmade pillow I got there this summer and covered in my favorite navy and white marine striped knit blanket that I treated myself to 2 summers ago. I have sets of their juice and water glasses in fun Bluefish patterns and I've lost count of the great scented candles and other home accessories I've bought for myself and as gifts for my friends.
Then there's their bags and purses - oh, the purses! Baggallini is a world famous line of durable and fashionable purses, handbags and travel accessories which Bluefish proudly carry and use - I know both the ladies tote their own Baggallini's. They also carry some other great lines - I've been stopped in the street more than once and asked where I got my beautiful Madagascar Seagrass summer purse - Bluefish of course! And don't forget the great bath and body lines, clothing and one of a kind pieces by Island artists. All this, and fun desk accessories for girls of all ages in the shape of Bluefish notepads, pens and fun little bits and bobs for less than the price of a latte.
Now all this sounds great but I haven't gotten to the best part. On many levels I am a sterotypical Scottish Lass and the strongest stereotype I fulfill is my frugality. I like to get good value for money and that is the best part of the Bluefish collection - Everything in the store is hand selected by Danielle and Amy to provide the best possible quality without the huge 'Martha's Vineyard Boutique' pricetags you might be anticipating. The glasses go through the dishwasher every day and after 2 years of continuous use, the patterns are still bright and unscratched. I couldn't begin to tell you how many times I've washed this blanket (I'm a spiller by nature) and the colors are just as bright and the blanket is the same size as the day I bought it.
Oh, and did I mention the fun? What other store that sells glassware will actively encourage the kids to pick up that glitter filled bouncy ball from the basket and test it out? Or have bubble makers and coloring books on hand to entertain the younger members of the family while the older members browse?
If you haven't made it to Bluefish yet, I hope you will next time you on Martha's Vineyard but to check them out straight away, go to their website and pick up a little something. This great store is also a great world community member - right now they are donating 30% from online sales to the Red Cross Haiti Relief appeal so help them help others, you won't be disappointed!
Posted by Joanne Sardini on Sun, Jan 31, 2010
As Lane touched on in our last post, Martha's Vineyard is a very different place in winter than the beloved Island that most of you see only in it's glorious summer colors. This morning, I walked up to the top of the
Edgartown Residence Club wing of the building, as I do most days, and took a few minutes to look out on the Edgartown Harbor. I make a point of seeing the water at some point every day. Even if it is from the window. It's my version of the wonderful movie line that goes, "It's only an Island if you look at it from the water" (and I'm sure there are many Amity lovers who know that movie).
You see, the harbor is the pulse by which I measure the seasons. The ebb and flow of the tide is mirrored in the traffic patterns each season. As you can see from my photo, the sun is shining down on an almost empty harbor today. There are one or two lonely boats, bobbing on their moorings but otherwise, a deserted stretch of chilly water greets me. This isn't the case every day in winter though. It's Sunday today, so I'm missing the early morning rush of scallopers heading out to harvest their daily bushels and bring them back for shucking. If you have never tasted an Edgartown Bay Scallop fresh from the shell, then I swear you are missing one of the most amazing taste sensations in the world! Sweet and velvety, they are a treat to behold and worth a special visit during Bay scallop season which usually starts in mid November. I am lucky enough to have a few scalloper friends who make sure I am well stocked and a chef husband who lovingly prepares them in the simplest ways to let their flavors shine.
Every spring I watch as slowly but surely, the harbor once again fills up, until there are rows of neatly moored boats of all shapes and sizes enjoying all that life in this bustling summer town has to offer. I know summer is here when I see the Edgartown Yacht Club moor its pontoons for the kids sailing programs, then watch as all those little sails bob precariously in and out of the other boats while the children learn skills that I dream of having time to learn one summer! Huge and luxurious yachts become a talking point, "Did you see the one with the heli-pad?", "There's one with guards at the end of the dock - who owns that one?". Charter fishing boats take hopeful groups on high seas adventures, and the harbor launch works overtime shuttling people and their purchases back and forth to their chosen vessel.
Then the exodus begins. The pontoons are dismantled and stored away 'til next year, the families with kids and dogs in life preservers are fewer and there's a bit of a lull in harbor activity for a couple of weeks. Then mid September hits and brings with it the biggest event of the Edgartown Harbor calendar - The Martha's Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby The dates for this year's event were just announced, so grab your favorite fisherman/woman and make some plans! You can even take advantage of the Book Early and Save promotion at the Colonial Inn.
So, the harbor life continues, the fishing boats are pulled out of the water for the winter, the harbor empties and then, here we are again with a deserted harbor and bay scallops. I love to watch this cycle every year, mostly because I know that the next step brings another part of life on the Vineyard to look forward to. If you want to keep an eye on this cycle, check out our webcam, overlooking Edgartown harbor to see what's going on while you're gone.
Posted by Michael Wilson on Fri, Dec 04, 2009
It is the Holiday Season again, and with Thanksgiving behind us, the next big event on Martha's Vineyard is "Christmas in Edgartown".
Let me say up front that I am...less than enthusiastic, shall we say...of the Christmas season. I have an incredible dislike of commercial jingles, (did they start in mid-October this year? Curses...), smarmy holiday TV specials infuriate me and flamboyant decorating drives me nuts. I like a holiday of quiet reflection in keeping with my faith; I enjoy quality time with family without all the madness of shopping and messages of greed that assault us. I never achieve this, so I become a GrinchTM.
I know where this comes from. My mother is a very religious woman and every year, she vows to organize herself with her holiday crafts and gift ideas well beforetime and every year plans more than she can possibly accomplish. She wants so much to have a quiet holiday that every misstep in the schedule causes frustration and anxiety. Therefore, she cancels it.
From when I was maybe eight or nine years old until...well...two or three years ago, actually, my Mom cancels Christmas. All of Christmas, mind you. No half measures here. Dinners, cookies, trees lights, gifts...you name it, she's done with it. This starts anywhere from the end of September and last until two days before Christmas. We always HAVE Christmas, but the three months of ranting cancellations have perpetually dampened my Holiday Cheer.
Genetically, I tend toward this pattern, but I have an almost two-year old girl-baby. She loves Christmas. The photo shows her at the Wharf Pub last year at the Breakfast with Santa event. She doesn't look very enthused about it, but THIS year...well, from talking with her, she's ready this time. (Video evidence of this years trip to the Christmas Loft store tends to make me doubt this claim...but we will see!)
(If your browser won't display this video, click here to open a new window.)
Kate's enthusiasm for Christmas this year and participating in last Christmas in Edgartown events last year are slowly chipping away at my Fortress of Grinchitude.
Edgartown is beautiful in so many ways, throughout the entire year, but during the ‘Christmas' weekend December 11th - 13th, the town becomes truly magical.
The Edgartown Board of Trade organizes the weekends schedule the weekend, and posts a Calendar of Events. So many Inns and shops participate that there are very few places where there is no sparkly-wonderment to be found.
The excitement for that weekend is evident. Reservations requests for available Suites to rent for that weekend have been coming for months. The Edgartown Residence Club is participating in the Inns of Edgartown Tour on Friday and Saturday from 2-4PM.
From the lighting of the Edgartown Lighthouse to hayrides from Main Street to the end of Water Street, there are free events that are great fun for all ages. (Even I enjoyed seeing Santa cruise into town on a fire engine during the Saturday morning parade down Main Street.)
Several events, like the Felix Neck gingerbread cookie decorating or Donaroma's wreath making workshop, have a fee charged for the cost of the materials.
Some events have entry fees that support the organization's event. The Minniesinger's concerts on Friday and Saturday are a longstanding tradition on the island, and the kids put a lot of hard work into each production. A Holiday Soiree at the Daniel Fisher House benefits the Martha's Vineyard Preservation Trust.
For those of you who are bold advocates of a particular charitable organization now is your chance to call the shots! All you have to do is win the 4th Annual Cookie Tasting event at Espresso Love. The event proceeds go to the winner's choice.
The Dickens Village display at the Point Way Inn from 11AM to 5PM and the Faith Community Church's Live Nativity on the steps of the Old Whaling Church on Saturday will immerse passersby in scenes of Christmas tradition.
There is too much going on that weekend to pass it by.
My GrinchyTM heart may not end up two sizes too small that weekend.
Posted by Lane Gregory on Thu, Nov 05, 2009
Grass by Sporkist
Fall is the opposite of spring. Nowhere have I seen the contrast of the two as obvious as on Martha’s Vineyard. In April, we see a world coming slowly and ambitiously to life. I’m not just talking about the overnight sensation of your brown lawn suddenly showing little patches of lime green. I liken what happens here to ants coming back out of the ground. Suddenly, workmen on ladders are taking plywood down from windows and sprucing up storefronts, and shopkeepers are dusting and sweeping and carting in new merchandise. Seasonal homeowners, fed up with winter, venture back to open up musty houses in hopes that it will hasten the advent of summer. And if we’re lucky enough to get some sunny weekends, brave souls in shorts, but still wearing layers of sweatshirts, descend on the towns to get a jump on the new season. Those of us who live here have fun taking note of the local merchants who move to new venues, thinking the change will bring them a better season than the last. The most positive sign that things are on the upswing is the first time the ferry pulls into Oak Bluffs since last fall. Hope is definitely in the air.
Ah, but I am a fall person. I’ve never bought the theory that it’s a time when everything dies or goes to sleep. There’s a tingle in the air that makes this time of year at least as promising as spring. If you’ve read my previous blogs, you know how I feel about the colors of fall, the long shadows, and the unique quality of the light of October and November. Driving my daily commute from Oak Bluffs to Edgartown, I can barely keep my eyes on the road the marsh grasses on the pond are such a delicious palette of ochres, rusts, greens, and lavenders. And the road, as it takes you toward the Triangle is dappled with sunlight filtering through the tunnel of the tree limbs overhead. You have to beware of deer, fooled by the autumn light into thinking it’s evening, running out in front of you here.
The whole experience is spring in reverse. One by one, we watch the seasonal stores and restaurants locking their doors and posting, “Thank you for a great season” signs in their windows. Now is the time to take advantage of fabulous sales. No department stores with specially brought in sale merchandise here. What you get is dramatically marked down prices on all the unique items you were eyeing in August. Bring your holiday gift list.
You’ll find that activities and entertainment don’t disappear when we roll up the beaches. In fact, there is no better time than an autumn day for a long walk on a beach that was closed to all but town residents in the summer. We still have theater right through the holidays. We have concerts and dance parties, complete with pre-party lessons. Nature walks and kayaking are breathtaking events. Restaurants have specials and two-for-one nights (more on those specials soon). And local bay scallops are in season!
Where we island people made note of location changes in the spring, we now take joy in counting the restaurants that are staying open for the off season. This year, there are several special new ones; State Road in West Tisbury, Deon’s in Oak Bluffs, The Atlantic in Edgartown, and The Mediterranean in its new Oak Bluffs location. Come enjoy dining with the locals who venture out to dine after the throngs have dispersed. You’ll find some of us may be a bit quirky, but in general, we’re a very nice lot and enjoy talking to the visitors who, like us, appreciate our island at this special time of year.
Posted by Michael Wilson on Sat, Oct 31, 2009
Cool Pumkin
As I mentioned, Jim, our maintenance man, grew bored of winter island life. He decided to entertain himself by rooting around under the building for relics. Therefore, with fedora and bullwhip, he began his search for coins, arrowheads, old bottles etc.
We were not expecting him to find bones. Large bones. I’m no expert. I looked up the human skeletal system online and it looked to me like the thighbone. It had the L shaped knob that goes into the hip…
Jim found them sticking out of the side of the dig site and brought them to our attention. We called town hall first. In a town this small, everyone is going to know pretty soon so we might as well fess up.
Enter RED-Tape stage: Ron, the site supervisor for the construction company, agreed with us. He walked the bones over to the town hall and they told him to call the State Police. The State Police told us that they’d be right over to investigate. The newspaper photographer and reporter were here first.
Oh…by the way, we also needed to call the local tribe representative of the Wampanoags, the local Native American group. This whole affair made me a little nervous. Forget the scary bits…The fact that this street has had numerous ghost stories told about it, the phone call and bones…etc.
If the remains were human, the de/construction would have to stop until an investigation took place to everyone’s satisfaction. (I have a muddy ‘Slip ‘n slide” for the front yard of a hotel that was supposed to re-open in April. The LAST thing I wanted were delays!)
I feared for nothing. The Police sent the remains to the hospital for testing. The Wampanoag rep came and looked around. She gave us tips on what to look out for while further work took place and praised us for our diligence. Most people in these circumstances, she said, would have tossed the bones in the dumpster and kept on building. Forget the historical possibilities. She was going to call the newspaper and let them know how great we were…
What a let down this will be for some of you. The bones were not human bones said the hospital. They don’t know what they ARE, but they weren’t human. The newspaper made no mention of our historical uprightness of morality.
The digging recommenced the next morning and now all is right with the Colonial Inn world.
However, that doesn’t explain the phone call, does it? We may never know…
Posted by CJ Rivard on Fri, Oct 30, 2009
A Mysterious Phone call!
Due to the magnitude of the project of constructing the Edgartown Residence Club over that winter,
Colonial Inn Construction
we decided that we needed a maintenance man on hand to answer questions on where the water cut-off is, where the circuit breakers are, etc. He could also learn where the new installations would be for electricity and water. It would help with his maintaining of the building in the future; therefore, we asked Jim to spend the winter…
Jim is a Snowbird. He departs for warmer climes as soon as the hotel closes for the winter months. He reluctantly agreed to stay on and assigned himself tasks to keep himself busy. Intrepid Man of Maintenance that he is…he keeps busy well, but in a Curious George sort of way…forcing me to don a yellow hat to contain the wreckage. The beginning of our enigmatic events occurred while the digging underneath the porch wing was going on.
Now, a hotel closed for the off-season is a creepy place, exactly in a Jack-Nicolson-The Shining kind of way; but when you’ve emptied a wing and there are new creaks and groans from excavation, and people you don’t know wandering about constructing or de-constructing things, it gets creepier?…more creepy?…Extra creepish?
You find doors UN-locked that should be locked. You hear movements from the floors above where you didn’t think there was anyone working. But take my word for it, when you get a phone call on your office phone that your console tells you is from the abandoned wing…that tops the Casey Kasem Weekly Top Eerie.
It’s not just the fact that it’s post-season (we closed the hotel and there should be no calls from that wing). It’s the fact that we removed all the actual phones and brought them into the main building where they lie in state, still cocooned in plastic bags.
Theory: What if someone got into that wing AND brought their own phone with them just to creep us out? Plausible but for that fact that Jim…superhero of the maintenance world…removed all the phone jacks so there is nowhere to plug a phone in.
Whence came the call, I ask you? What are the odds that a practical joker would know which wires to splice a phone just to dial ‘0′?
It was all very puzzling.
Then we found the skeletal remains…
Posted by Michael Wilson on Wed, Oct 28, 2009
Construction at the Colonial Inn
Editor’s Note: Just in time for Halloween… this 3 part series is about the spooky events surrounding the 2006 construction of the Edgartown Residence Club on North Water Street, at The Colonial Inn. If you are interested in more spooky (but true) Martha’s Vineyard stories, you should check out some of the books by local writer Holly Nadler, including Haunted Island.
Once, upon a time, there was no Edgartown Residence Club! We have been operating for so long now that it is hard to remember back when it was simply the Porch Wing of the Colonial Inn. The creation of the Edgartown Residence Club involved a major restructuring project. The Porch Wing was an annex to the Inn with fifteen rooms on three different floors. The project was this: to change these fifteen rooms into six luxury suites that would be available for fractional ownership. Easy enough with an industrious crew; but the building was on sand, which means there were no true right angles left in the building. Designs drawn to shore everything up and put some beams underneath the building also included plans to replace the crawlspace underneath the entire building with a full basement.
We closed the hotel for the winter so this was the sole form of excitement for us, not to mention the entire town. (A beach town in the winter is an easily entertained entity.)
We spent the month of December in a frantic scramble to empty the hotel rooms in that wing. When you look at a hotel room, it really is more full than you realize. Stationary, ironing gear, fridge, phone, toiletries, TV, bathrobes, coat hangers, shower curtains, towel racks, pillows, bedspreads, mattresses, end tables, chairs, armoires…they all have their place and they look great where they are. However, they all take up loads of space when you take fifteen of any one of those items and put them somewhere else. In fact, they seem to grow in mass.
Now, add in the fact that the armoires weigh approximately as much as a small moon. In addition, the stairwells were too narrow to allow the armoires to leave. (They originally entered by means of a huge crane jacking them up through each floor’s porch doors, and that was how they left in the end.)
The next step was to call one of the few moving companies on the island. They sent a crew of workers who may or may not have understood a word I was saying. I had to monitor each person’s load and tell him where to put it (so to speak) on almost every trip up and down stairs. Eventually the building was empty of everything we wanted to keep. Our maintenance man, Jim, removed sinks and toilets, as well as light fixtures, mirrors, towel racks and phone jacks. It was a maintenance man’s buffet of spare parts.
Many large, loud pieces of equipment then came in, tore everything in our front courtyard out, dug twelve feet straight down and suspended the entire wing on big Jenga-like block columns. Our neighbors, who were earlier so pleased to gawk at the goings on, now turned against us. Local restaurants claimed we were driving away business, and neighbors reported that the shaking of the ground from the equipment caused stress cracks to appear in their walls. In other words, the site had been thoroughly disturbed at this point. That’s when Jim got bored and things got weird…
Posted by Joanne Sardini on Fri, Oct 23, 2009
Fall Sky by deel34
1. You HATE sunny days with temps in the low 60’s – “Give me the 90’s and humid or nothing!”
2. The only thing you hate more than that is a cool, crisp evening with a breeze blowing in the window – must have AC!
3. You can’t stand being able to walk into all the great restaurants with no reservations and still get a great table, great food and great service.
4. It drives you mad when people are friendly and helpful and can take an extra 10 minutes to show you their favorite spots to visit – you much prefer the harried and rushed service that sometimes comes with the summer crowds.
5. You always like to pay full price for everything – sales, discounts and promotional rates are not your thing at all!
6. Empty beaches are the enemy – long walks on the beach with not a soul to be seen sound boring.
7. You have no interest in learning – all the seminars, festivals and educational activities are an awful waste of time.
8. The highlight of your vacation is that 4 hour wait in the stand-by line at the ferry – it just wouldn’t be the same if you could get a reservation at the time you prefer.
9. Hustle and bustle are what you thrive on – serene views, quiet streets and a slower pace of life are hell for you.
10. Most of all – you LOVE to be stuck in traffic wherever you go – the 10 minute wait to get through 5 corners and the 20 minutes to get through the Triangle are what life is all about!
Posted by Rick Conti on Thu, Oct 08, 2009
No matter how much we love the Vineyard, there are times when it becomes so hectic that we need a break from the break we took here. Crowds, heat, and noise conspire to drive us into sensory overload thus unraveling our reasons for coming here in the first place. Edgartown, as much as I love it, is as prone to this phenomenon as any town on the Island. (Though Five Corners at unloading time still sets the standard for MV insanity.)
While genuine isolation can be found up-island, on Chappy, and a few other places even during high season, there are times when I don’t want to travel that far to escape the hustle, bustle and tussle. Fortunately, I know of the perfect outdoor oasis. I share it here at the risk of exposing my secret. (Let’s keep it to ourselves, shall we?)
Sequestered nicely between North Water Street, Summer Street, Winter Street and MainStreet, there is a block of quiet, calm and cool to be found right in the center of otherwise frantic Edgartown. Behind the shops on those streets, a grassy respite awaits the overheated, overindulged tourist.
It’s just a small park with the usual accoutrements: grass, trees, benches and brick walkways. Somehow, though, even on the steamiest of days, the shading oak trees keep this park cool and the surrounding buildings filter out the tumult of the streets.
This space has everything you’d need for a picnic… including ants. (Nothing is perfect.) My tastes, however, lean toward the decidedly more quiescent. An ice cream cone or bag of “penny” candy is the perfect repast for me while I lounge in the shade.
Birds sing in the trees, oblivious to the craziness just a few flaps of the wing away. A passing squirrel may shyly scamper by seeking his own shelter. There are no bikes to dodge or mopeds to lag behind. Just an occasional pedestrian passing through. There are no souvenirs, no food for sale – nothing to spend money on at all. In other words, it has everything I need for a fleeting vacation from my vacation.
I never linger too long in this park. Somehow, that would spoil the effect for me. I simply sit or lie on the lawn, cool down, recharge, then head out to do battle once more with the madding throng.
I require an extra long break if I’m coming from Five Corners, though.
Image by Michael Wilson.