Frommer's Review
All of Martha's Vineyard's colorful history is captured here, in a compound of historic buildings. To acclimate yourself chronologically, start with the pre-Colonial artifacts -- from arrowheads to colorful Gay Head clay pottery -- displayed in the 1845 Captain Francis Pease House; there's also an oral history exhibit, a gift shop, and a gallery to showcase local students' work.
The Gale Huntington Reference Library houses rare documentation of the island's history, from genealogical records to whaling-ship logs. The recorded history of Martha's Vineyard (the name has been attributed, variously, to a Dutch seaman named Martin Wyngaard, and to the daughter and/or mother-in-law of early explorer Bartholomew Gosnold) begins in 1642 with the arrival of missionary Thomas Mayhew, Jr., whose father bought the whole chain of islands, from Nantucket through the Elizabeths, for £40, as a speculative venture. Mayhew, Jr., had loftier goals in mind, and it is a tribute to his methodology that long after he was lost at sea in 1657, the Wampanoags whom he had converted to Christianity continued to mourn him (a stone monument to his memory still survives by the roadside opposite the airport). In his relatively brief sojourn on-island, Mayhew helped to found what would become, in 1671, Edgartown (named for the British heir apparent). The library's holdings on this epoch are extensive, and some extraordinary memorabilia, including scrimshaw and portraiture, are on view in the adjoining Francis Foster Maritime Gallery. Outside, a reproduction "tryworks" shows the means by which whale blubber was reduced to precious oil.
To get a sense of daily life during the era when the waters of the East Coast were the equivalent of a modern highway, visit the Thomas Cooke House, a shipwright-built Colonial, built in 1765, where the Customs collector lived and worked. A few of the house's 10 rooms are decorated as they might have been at the height of the maritime trade; others are devoted to special exhibits on other fascinating aspects of island history, such as the revivalist fever that enveloped Oak Bluffs. Further curiosities are stored in the nearby Carriage Shed. Among the vintage 19th-century vehicles are a painted peddler's cart, a whaling boat, a hearse, and a fire engine. Among the odds and ends are some touching mementos of early tourism.
The Fresnel lens on display outside the museum was lifted from the Gay Head Lighthouse in 1952, after nearly a century of service. Though it no longer serves to warn ships of dangerous shoals (that light is automated now), it still lights up the night every evening in summer, just for show.
Note: This information was accurate when it was published, but can change without
notice. Please be sure to confirm all rates and details directly with the companies in question before
planning your trip.
