Martha's Vineyard Vacation Rentals - Martha's Vineyard Towns

Martha's Vineyard Towns

Martha's Vineyard is a small island covering roughly 100 square miles. It is home to a diverse group of year-round residents and every summer it's population grows from around 15,000 to over 100,000 as the seasonal residence fill up there homes. The island is refered to in two very basic ways "up-island" meaning towns on the western side of the island; West Tisbury/ North Tisbury, Chilmark / Menemsha, and Aquinnah (formally Gay Head) and "down-island" the more populated town of Vineyard Haven / Tisbury, Oak Bluffs & Edgartown. Each town on the Vineyard really does have it's own very unique "favor", when looking to rent a vacation home or buy a house on Martha's Vineyard understanding some background of the places on Martha's Vineyard can be a great help.

Aquinnah, Martha's Vineyard 02535 (formerly Gay Head)

Martha's Vineyard's Native American population centers around Aquinnah. The Aquinnah Indians are descendants of the Wampanoag Indians. Martha's Vineyard fishing and agricultural hertitage was begun by the Aquinnah Indians, who showed the colonial settlers how to kill whales, plant corn and find clay for the early brickyards. When whaling became a major industry in New England, the Aquinnah Indians were boat steerers in the whaling fleets, it was the boat steerer who cast the iron into the whale. The Aquinnah Indians were considered the most skillful and courageous boat steerers during the great whaling years in New England.

The brilliant colors of the mile-long expanse of the Aquinnah Cliffs astonished early explorers and have continued to be a source of intense interest to scientists and visitors alike. Here, layers of sands, gravel, and clay of various hues tell a hundred-million-year-old story of a land first covered with forests, then flooded and laid bare, then covered with new growth, time and again. The seas, glaciers, and land itself have contorted these once-level layers into waving bands of color that stream above the sea. Erosion continues as it has for centuries, turning the seas red and revealing fossil secrets. From the fossils revealed by erosion, we know of the great sharks that swam over what is now Chilmark, of the clams and crabs—so like those of today—that inhabited ancient seas. Pieces of lignite from the Cretaceous period are found on the beach, looking like nothing so much as the remnants of recent campfires. Fossil bones of camels and wild horses, as well as those of ancient whales, have been found in the Cliffs. The Aquinnah Cliffs are a national landmark; yet they are seriously threatened by carelessness. To protect the Cliffs, climbing and the removal of clay are both prohibited by law.

Because of the extremely dangerous rocky ledge offshore, the seas around Aquinnah have always been a place of great peril to the mariner. One of the first revolving lighthouses in the country was erected atop the Cliffs in 1799. It had wooden works that became swollen in damp or cold weather, when the lighthouse keeper and his wife would be obliged to stand all night and turn the light by hand. The current red-brick electrified Gay Head Light now stands in its place.

Chilmark, Martha's Vineyard 02535 (Menemsha)

Chilmark is an up-island town known for rolling hills and unmatched coastline. Not so long ago Chilmark was mainly farms and the fishing village Menemsha. Now Chilmark real estate has become so of the most expensive on the island. One of the most notable things in Chilmark are the stone walls that used to mark the lines between of the farms.

The center of Chilmark, known as Beetlebung Corner, boasts a lovely church, the town hall and a seasonal store. The most famous settlement in Chilmark is Menemsha. Here the draggers still come in with their great nets and the lobstermen land their catches. Seafood may be purchased on the spot at one of the two local fish markets. Menemsha is also one of the sites used to film the movie JAWS. A safe public bathing beach is another attraction. Menemsha is also the home of a Coast Guard station.

Real estate in Chilmark is some of the most beautiful on Martha's Vineyard, and some of the houses both on the water and in the woods are truely one of a kind.

Edgartown, Martha's Vineyard 02539 (Katama)

Edgartown was the Island's first colonial settlement and it has been the county seat since 1642. The stately white Greek Revival houses built by the whaling captains have been carefully maintained. They make the town a museum-piece community, a seaport village preserved from the early 19th century.

There are excellent public beaches in the township of Edgartown. Norton's Point, known as South Beach or Katama, is a barrier beach providing surf bathing and the opportunity to explore Katama Bay on the other side of the dunes. Wasque and Cape Poge on Chappaquiddick are both unspoiled areas owned and maintained by The Trustees of Reservations. They are favorite spots for bluefish and bass fishermen. Lighthouse Beach, located off North Water Street near the town center, offers calm water and views of harbor activities. Bend-in-the-Road Beach, part of Joseph Sylvia Beach, has ample parking and is accessible by bicycle trail.

Felix Neck is about three miles outside the center of town on Vineyard Haven Road. The 200 acres, owned by the Massachusetts Audubon Society, provide marked trails and a program of wildlife management and conservation education throughout the year.

Edgartown is one of the most active real estate markets on Martha's Vineyard, and the properties range from a simple Katama beach house to multi-million dollar compounds.

Oak Bluffs, Martha's Vineyard 02557 (East Chop)

In 1835 this community served as the site for annual summer camp meetings, when Methodist church groups found the groves and pastures of Martha's Vineyard particularly well suited to all-day gospel sessions. Eventually the camp "sites" turned into platforms then to the gingerbread houses that you see today. This lead to Oak Bluffs nickname "Cottage City".

Oak Bluffs is also the home of the Flying Horses Carousel, the oldest continuously operating carousel in the country. Its horses were hand-carved in New York City in 1876. This historic landmark is maintained by the Martha's Vineyard Preservation Trust. It is open daily during the summer and on weekends in the spring and fall.

While Edgartown is a classic New England whaling town, Oak Bluffs is a truely unique place and has a much different look then other parts of the island.

From it's modest beginnings Oak Bluffs is really turning into a year round town, and the real estate in Oak Bluffs is growing.

Vineyard Haven, Martha's Vineyard 02568 (Tisbury, West Chop)

Vineyard Haven is truely the entrance to Martha's Vineyard. This is because it is Martha's Vineyard's only year round port that the Steam Authority brings cars and passengars into. Vineyard Haven's downtown area has excellent shops, fine restaurants, and a beautiful harbor that makes it a wonderful place to visit. The town that incorporates Vineyard Haven is called Tisbury, after a parish in England near the birthplace of the Island's first governor.

The Town of Tisbury was orginally known as "Middletown" until it was incorporated as the Town of Tisbury in 1671. Vineyard Haven was orginally called Holmes Hole, until 1871 when the name was offically changed to Vineyard Haven.

Owen Park, off Main Street just beyond the shopping district, is a town beach an easy place to walk to and watch the harbor. Ferries shuttle in and out, providing the Island's year-round connection to the mainland.

Vineyard Haven is not the only community in Tisbury, West Chop & Mink Meadows can be found by following the road straight out of Vineyard Haven. Here you will pass the West Chop Lighthouse, one of two lighthouses that guards the entrance to Vineyard Haven Harbor. There is also Tashmoo Pond and the Lagoon area, which are two protected ponds on either side of Vineyard Haven.

When ships were powered by wind and canvas, Vineyard Haven was one of New England's busiest ports because of its strategic location on the sailing routes. Most of the coastwise shipping traveled through Vineyard Sound (13,814 vessels were counted in 1845). Holmes Hole, as this harbor community was called, provided a convenient anchorage.

Real Estate in Vineyard Haven / Tisbury ranges for in town houses like in Edgartown to places with a bit more space, but most areas of Tisbury you can see your neighbors, unlike in places farther up-land.

West Tisbury, Martha's Vineyard 02575 (North Tisbury/Lamberts Cove)

Like Chilmark, West Tisbury is a small New England town, with its white church, general store, post office, old mill, farms, and ponds. But the grwoth of the Vineyard is spreading to West Tisbury, which now has a small center in what is know as North Tisbury, a place that in 1980's was a a shop or two has grown.

West Tisbury was orginally part of the Town of Tisbury, but in 1892 was separated from Tisbury. The settlement of North Tisbury was orginally refered to as "Newtown" or Christiantown.

One of the most popular areas in West Tisbury is Lambert's Cove with its fine homes and a charming white church. The cove was once a place of anchorage for the town of West Tisbury. The area housed clay works, salt works (needed for the herring which were exported), and extensive trap fishing operations. All this has vanished. Even the road to the harbor is gone. A woodland path leads to the beach, which is now set aside for year-round and summer residents of West Tisbury.

Other points of interest are the Cedar Tree Neck Nature Preserve and the Christiantown Memorial to the Praying Indians. Cedar Tree Neck may be reached from the Indian Hill Road. It is a matchless piece of unspoiled Vineyard woods with a freshwater pond and brooks, bounded by North Shore Beach. Picnics, fishing, and bathing are not permitted here, but there are marked trails for those who appreciate the opportunity to watch birds, follow woodland paths, and walk along a quiet shore. The Memorial is located off Christiantown Road. Here one may see a tiny chapel, a pulpit rock where services were held for the Wampanoag Indians in the 17th century, and the rough small burial stones of these first converts. The Martha's Vineyard Garden Club has planted a wildflower garden nearby.