Martha's Vineyard

We decided to do an overnight on Martha's Vineyard, an island off the coast of Cape Cod. It was only a 45 minute ferry ride from the Cape. We decided that Great White was probably too large for the car ferry, so we brought our bicycles instead.

There are seven town centers on Martha's Vineyard - Aquinnah, Chilmark, Oak Bluffs, Edgartown, Tisbury, West Tisbury (a/k/a Vineyard Haven) and Chappaquiddick.  Since we couldn't see the whole island by bike (it is over 20 miles long), we had to pick which part to visit.  We decided to stay in Oak Bluffs and then bike over to Vineyard Haven one day and than Edgartown the next.

The weather prediction for Thursday changed to rain, but since we had reservations already, we had no choice but to hope for the best.  Here we are approaching the West Chop, which is the western part of the Vineyard Haven harbor. You can see the West Chop Lighthouse in this photo.  It was very cloudy and foggy, but it didn't rain.

After we arrived in Oak Bluffs, we checked into our bed and breakfast, got some lunch at the Offshore Ale Company, and then biked over to Vineyard Haven. We stopped at the East Chop Lighthouse, then biked around the harbor, through Vineyard Haven, to the West Chop Lighthouse. There were lots of big estates on this part of the island.  However, the only folks we saw were gardeners, pool cleaners, carpenters and other service providers. Since the summer season is over, all the rich and famous have left.

We didn't get a chance to stop on Main Street in Vineyard Haven since the rain was expected soon.  However, as soon as we got back to Oak Bluffs, the sun came out. (Well, it came out for five minutes, but at least it didn't rain.) We took a walk around town and found this lovely little neighborhood full of gingerbread cottages. Dave is in front of the smallest (and cutest) one we found.  We learned that there are over 300 gingerbread cottages like these, each decorated uniquely but in the same style.  They are part of the Martha's Vineyard Camp Meeting Association, which started with camp meetings on these grounds in the mid 1800's.

After our walk, we ended up going back to Offshore Ale Company for dinner, since we wanted to try their fisherman stew. It was well worth the return trip.

Friday morning started out a little foggy, but soon was a bright sunny day.  After a delicious breakfast at Linda Jean's (which reminded us of Sweet Sue's in Phoenicia, NY), we took the bike path to Edgartown. Here is a shot of the trail as it went along the beach.

Edgartown was a whaling center in the 1800's.  The streets are very narrow and filled with old houses with really beautiful gardens.  There is a really nice museum in town filled with the history of Martha's Vineyard.  After the museum, we pedaled down to see the Edgartown Light.

We had lunch at the Seafood Shanty on the wharf. After lunch we headed back to Oak Bluffs to pick up our bags and catch the ferry. On the ferry ride back, we ran into a couple from Connecticut who spent a week on the island and enjoyed it so much, they plan to return again next year.  It was a good little visit and gave us a sense of what life is like on the island.