The Island We Know And Love

I’ve become accustomed to all kinds of vitriol being aimed at Martha’s Vineyard, MA from people who don’t know any better, but the story of the human trafficking by Flori-DUUH’s utter mistake of a governor, Ron #DeathSantis (with the willing collaboration of Greg Abbott, Texas’s equally useless figurehead in that role) has really ratcheted up the wingnut propaganda to the stratosphere (I think this is partly to deflect from the Rethuglican Party’s war on women through Dobbs and Huckleberry Graham’s attempt at a nationwide abortion ban after 15 weeks, though I know that’s a wholly other discussion).

And I guess one way this misinformation campaign is evident (though there are many) is in this New York Times report of the incident where #DeathSantis tricked these undocumented immigrants into thinking, apparently, that they were being transported to Boston for jobs, when in reality they were being flown to the island without any notice given to the local officials, though the residents stepped up to the point where there was so much assistance offered, that some of it actually had to be turned away (I know I saw that but I can’t link to it at the moment…I’ll keep looking). The Times story does note the likely illegality of what happened, though the first paragraph refers to Martha’s Vineyard as an “elite vacation island” (which I suppose is correct). And in case we hadn’t gotten the message that MVY is full of rich snobs (which is language you could use to describe all kinds of places in this country), the third paragraph refers to “tony Martha’s Vineyard.”

OK, enough already. If the Times had done some, y’know, actual research, they would have discovered what Joe Conason found out here, and that is that the annual income for year-long island residents is about $77K a year.

Gee, how “elite” and “tony” can you get when you’re comped like that? And you want to talk “tony”? I visited Marco Island in Florida over 10 years ago, and MVY doesn’t come close to that, which is part of the appeal of the island to me actually.

Now before I say anything else, I guess it’s full disclosure time. I am not what you would call an “islander,” which is someone who was born on MVY and has lived there all his/her life or lived the majority of their life there. However, my family and I have vacationed on the island 7 times. And as someone from the suburbs of Philadelphia, I can tell you that you can get a week rental on the island in high summer for about the same amount of money (or less, actually) that you would pay for comparable lodgings at the Jersey shore. Yes, you have to drive about 6 ½ hours from where I live to get there (through I-95 in Connecticut, which is often a crapshoot around Hartford and New Haven especially), but once you get to MVY, hell, there’s beach everywhere (because, of course, it’s an island). You can mostly pick and choose from the public beaches (Katama in Edgartown, Lobsterville Beach, Bend-In-The-Road near Vineyard Haven, and a few others, including Squibnocket near Chilmark, which is public after 6PM I believe), though there are plenty of private ones for “the elites” (the family of David McCullough, family of Walter Cronkite, same for Mike Wallace, the Kennedys, Art Buchwald…and yes, even Alan Dershowitz).

The aforementioned folks likely reside in compounds in Chilmark, West Tisbury, Lambert’s Cove, and elsewhere. If you see a dirt road leading into a woods marked by a mailbox with no name, then that may very well be one of their residences. However, since everyone is there for vacation purposes including us (and also because I’ve never wanted a run-in with island law enforcement), I know enough not to bother anybody (I guess the closest I came to a brush with someone famous was when I saw Spike Lee about a block away coming out of the Mad Martha’s ice cream shop in Oak Bluffs, which has a prosperous African-American community…the section of beach where these families go for vacation was traditionally referred to as the “ink well”).

We’ve stayed at rentals in West Tisbury, Vineyard Haven and Oak Bluffs, which are nestled in the midst of what I guess you could call middle-class neighborhoods. Many of these places are populated by people in service industries and building trades (Morning Glory Farm is nearby one of our rentals outside of Edgartown…absolutely have to have a Morning Glory muffin or a blueberry scone after arriving from the MA Steamship Authority vessel and setting ourselves up in our accommodations). And it should be noted for the benefit of those bashing the island that many “islanders” work multiple jobs as needed to keep businesses running on MVY year-round (they get help from a summer work force of teens and twenty-somethings from Ukraine, Czechoslovakia and other countries, particularly at the Vineyard Vines clothier and the Among The Flowers restaurant, both in Edgartown, as well as working at other island locations, such as the Menemsha Blues clothing store…at least, they did when we were last there a few years ago). I would venture a guess and say that, if Cancun Cruz, Troy Nehls and others attacking MVY tried to put in a fraction of the work that islanders do to keep the vineyard running in any kind of efficient manner (especially with diminishing revenue unless they have a big summer), they would bitch and moan and give up. As far as I’m concerned, the island residents embody what you could call Yankee ingenuity and a bedrock work ethic better than anyone I know.

The island also has a sizeable Portuguese population, which is featured in the island cuisine and also in selling of traditional artifacts, particularly at shops in Aquinnah. The island was also settled by the Wampanoag Indian tribe (also selling their wares at Aquinnah, often referred to as Gay Head), which has tried to preserve the land for farming purposes (and no, I don’t know what the latest is on their attempt to partner with the Chickasaw Nation on an island casino…I think that’s in the hands of the commonwealth of Massachusetts). And of course, when it comes to tourism overall, there are folks from all over the east coast and beyond who make stops such as the view of the Aquinnah cliffs, the Edgartown lighthouse, the gingerbread houses and promenade in Oak Bluffs (near the marina…and yeah, you can get an idea of the dough of the vacationers from their docked crafts – not making a judgment, but just pointing out a fact), and other places.

When it comes to stuff we’ve often enjoyed…gee, where do we begin? We’ve taken brief trips on the Mad Max sailboat at dusk, journeying to the edge of Vineyard Sound (best to bring a sandwich and a drink – again, I’d recommend Among The Flowers). If you plan to picnic on a beach not quite up-island, one place you might want to go is the Chilmark General Store. For dinner we’ve enjoyed the lobster roll at the Square Rigger Restaurant on the way to Edgartown out of Oak Bluffs, or something “on the go” from Porto’s Pizza (Murdick’s Fudge is also a periodic indulgence…we do a lot more on MVY besides eat and drink, I should add). Vineyard Haven has the Bunch of Grapes Bookstore, which is a favorite destination, as well as C.B. Stark Jewelers and Nicole Friedler Photography. Edgartown has a few kitschy places too, along with the whaling museum, lighthouse, a walk up North Water Street, etc. Also, one of the distinctive (you might say) places on the island is the five-way intersection from Beach Road near the ferry dock and the Black Dog Restaurant in Vineyard Haven, also near Larsen’s fish market and the Art Cliff Diner. The intersection doesn’t have a traffic light; indeed, there are no traffic lights on the island at all, which can be exasperating at times I’ll admit, though everyone manages to make it work (you can circumnavigate the whole island by car in about 25 minutes or so).

Yes, it costs more for gas and other amenities on the island than you would pay at, say, Woods Hole (a steamship ferry departure point – notable for other reasons I know), but then again…we’re talking about an island. Stuff has to be transported across the edge of the Vineyard/Nantucket Sound from Woods Hole and also from Hyannis at the tip of Cape Cod. And the cost of transporting those items gets passed off to the customer, in the best capitalist tradition.

There’s probably more I could add, but this is all I can think of for now (and, like everything else at this site, I should note that I’m not getting a penny in remuneration from anyone to plug anything). I just thought it would be best to present another side of the island, and hopefully I’ve been able to communicate that (just realized that I didn’t say anything about the older fishing part of the island in Menemsha…in “Jaws,” that’s the real-life location of Quint’s fishing shop – also, the island has WMVY, a kick-ass public radio station). We also once enjoyed taking the catamaran from the Outermost Inn, also near Aquinnah, over to Cutty Hunk Island. The Inn was run by Hugh Taylor, James’s brother (not sure if he’s still in charge or not).

I know it’s impossible to capture the spirit of the island, if you will, in this post, but I hope this helps to orient you a little better than all of the raging wingnut propaganda about Martha’s Vineyard. We’re talking about a location that is near and dear to our hearts, in case that wasn’t apparent already. And if those impugning the island were to take a fraction of the time criticizing it and visit it instead, they might profit from doing so in ways they can’t imagine (or maybe not I suppose). The experience stays with you and endures, unlike any other place I’ve visited in my life. And when somebody tries to put it down…well, you’re going to have to go through me to do that, you might say.