Feature Stories from Best Read Guide Martha's Vineyard

• Farm stands and the Farmers' Market
  If you plan to stay on Martha's Vineyard longer than a couple of days, why not set out on a treasure hunt to track down and enjoy some of the natural goodness grown right here on the Island?
• Derby is fishing at its best
  The sight of an eager fisherman casting into a school of feeding blues is as familiar a Vineyard sight as the twinkling of lighthouse beacons or the swooping of hungry gulls. But come September, as the hoards of summer visitors slowly make their way home after a season of summer angling, a new flock of Vineyard visitors arrive -- the Derby fishermen.
• The New England clambake - a tasty tradition
  The ritual of the New England clambake is older than New England itself. The Indians of Martha's Vineyard perfected this method of cooking food in a rock-lined sand pit long before the English, French and Spanish empires cast their acquisitive eyes toward the Americas.
• About Chilmark
  The center of Chilmark, where you will find the town hall, the post office, the library, the school and several businesses, is called Beetlebung Corner. This name comes from the stand of tupelo trees behind the split rail fence opposite the little triangle. Years ago, wood from these trees was used to make small mallets called beetles, and wooden stoppers for kegs, called bungs.
• Inheriting the Past - Preserving the Future
  In 1835, Jeremiah Pease gathered six men from the Edgartown Methodist church to inspect a location in a "venerable grove of oaks" as a possible location for a religious camp meeting.
• Bird watching an island tradition
  For many years, visitors and residents of Martha's Vineyard have enjoyed bird watching as a hobby, an activity and a passion.
• A Day on Chappaquiddick
  So you have heard the stories about Dike Bridge and are curious about why people choose to live on an Island off another Island. Well, seeing the beauty and tranquility of Chappaquiddick may help unravel the mystery.
• A drive up-island
  The western end of the Island consists of three rural towns: West Tisbury, Chilmark and Aquinnah. This part of the Vineyard is called "up-Island" because as you travel west you move up the scale of longitude; the expression is a holdover from the Vineyard's days as an Island of seafarers.
• A Walking Tour of Edgartown
  The age of whaling shaped the Federal and Greek Revival homes of Edgartown. Born in 1642, as the Island's first settlement, the town grew steadily during the 17th and 18th centuries. By 1825, it was a major whaling port.
• Health & Safety tips
• Jaws
  There is a strange, helpless feeling that comes over a swimmer from time to time. It is the feeling of uncertainty, fear, and terror for what lurks below. More than twenty years ago this feeling took the shape of one of the most efficient killing machines ever to inhabit our vivid imaginations and it had a brutally simple name: Jaws.
• How to cook a lobster
  To cook a lobster, add several inches of water to a cooking pot. Place it over high heat and cover the pot until the water boils. Pick up the lobster by holding the upper side of the thorax between your thumb and middle finger. Hold the underside of its body away from you, because lobsters have a tendency to flip the jointed tail, thereby splattering water.
• MV Land Bank's Natural Resources
  The Martha's Vineyard Land Bank invites you to visit the properties it maintains for conservation purposes. They're great for a range of activities, including hiking, picnicking, and birding.
• A Walking Tour of Oak Bluffs
  The seeds of Oak Bluffs sprouted in August 1835 from a handful of tents pitched amid a grove of oak trees for a week of spiritual rejuvenation. By 1880, this Methodist revival meeting in the Camp Ground had grown into a summer city of a thousand wood frame tents and cottages.
• The Nitty-Gritty of Sand
  Welcome to Martha's Vineyard, where the ocean comes right up to the shore, and the sand is so friendly it hops into your car and comes home with you.
• Best Sunsets
• A Walking Tour of Vineyard Haven
  Vineyard Haven, the main port of entry to Martha's Vineyard, grew into a bustling seaport during the age of whaling. Nestled between two protruding points of land, East Chop and West Chop, it was a natural refuge used by coastal schooners waiting for fair winds and tides.
• Wampum
  The rare and beautiful beads that have a unique history and value to the people of Martha's Vineyard.
• Widows' Walks of Edgartown
  Strolling the streets of Edgartown and admiring the stately white captains' houses, you are bound to notice an occasional railed walkway on a roof connecting the traditional pair of chimneys. If your impulse is to sigh, "Ah - a widow's walk!" and envision whalers' wives pining away up there with telescopes pointed out to sea, awaiting the return of their beloved husbands, you've fallen victim to a romantic myth.
• Whaling
  Whaling shaped life on Martha's Vineyard during much of the last century...
• From Tents to Gingerbread Houses
  We know the neighborhood of decorative wooden cottages and narrow winding streets in Oak Bluffs as the Camp Ground for good reason...
• Gone Fishing
  Come September, as the hoards of summer visitors slowly make their way home after a season of summer angling, a new flock of Vineyard visitors arrive, the Derby fishermen...
• MENEMSHA - A True Taste Of Island Character
  Menemsha, the fishing hamlet of Martha's Vineyard, is considered by both native residents and visitors as the most beautiful and picturesque spot on the Island, abounding in natural beauty...
• At Gay Head
  Standing stark and magnificent against the sea, the mile-long Gay Head Cliffs form the westernmost point of Martha's Vineyard....

©1999 Best Read Guide/Martha's Vineyard
P.O. Box 66 (34 S. Summer St.) - Edgartown, MA 02653