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One of my favorite things to do on Martha’s Vineyard is to roam around with my camera and take pictures of whatever captures my attention. This trip I was decked out with my Nikon D60 and my handy-dandy Kodak Easy Share (which I’m never without).
Took some pictures Monday and some on Tuesday morning. Met with a dear friend on Tuesday afternoon to share coffee and to give her a gift I’d made for her. We took a few pictures of us and that evening at supper when I was checking my camera to see how the days pictures had come out, this is what I saw:
N-O-T-H-I-N-G
My picture card was blank. B-l-a-n-k. I took it out, shook it, blew on it, begged it to restore at least the pictures of my friend and me. It staunchly refused. I’m not a novice with a digital camera, I’ve had two Kodak’s and love them, I’m familiar with how they work and how to delete and NOT delete pictures. I wanted desperately to blame this malfunction on anyone but myself.. but I knew that it had to have been me somehow.
First thing next morning I went to the camera store in Vineyard Haven hoping they might find a way with their magical machines to find the pictures. They could not. Somehow the card got re-formatted and well, there went the pictures.
At least it happened the first day on the Vineyard as I was able to retrace some of my steps and retake some pictures, along with new ones of course.
Here are a few I’ll be using in upcoming posts.
You know, I’ve read where there’s some sort of magnetic force that surrounds the Vineyard and thus make it a perfect place for creativity. I’ve also read that Martha’s Vineyard sits on a separate tectonic plate from the United States. I’m wondering if either of these could have erased my pictures !!! Yes, I’m digging deep for something or someone to blame other than myself .
Wait a minute, wait just a minute… look what I found in the camera !! 
I just returned from a trip to the Vineyard. Here’s a sneak peek of some upcoming posts.
(CLICK HERE for Campground picture at my ‘Through Jersey Eyes’ blog)
Some of the places and things I love about the Vineyard.
Ocean Park Bandstand.. Illumination Night.. post card.. Edgartown waterfront.
Gay Head cliffs.. writing in the sand.. Edgartown lighthouse.
Menemsha sunset.. the beloved ferry Islander (retired in 2007)
The Tabernacle.. Oak Bluffs beach.. Gay Head lighthouse.. Old Whaling Church.
The ninth of my series of Vineyard Trivia questions.
(Click here for previous questions)
1 – Which is further north, West Chop or East Chop.
2 – When was the Vineyard Gazette first published.
3- Why did Alexander Graham Bell visit MV in 1895.
4 – Which town is the only town in the world with that name.
5- What’s unusual about the Civil War Monument in Ocean Park in Oak Bluffs.
6 – What is the name of the local Portuguese sausage.
7 – What is the Tabernacle in Oak Bluffs made of.
8 – What store is this.
9 – What town is this.
10 – What lighthouse is this.
11 – Before this was renovated and turned into a private home, what inn was it.
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How’d everyone do?
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1 – West Chop
2 – 1846
3 – To study the deaf community of Chilmark (click here)
4 – Edgartown
5 – It’s of a confederate soldier
6 – linguica
7 - steel
8 – Katama General Store
9 – Oak Bluffs
10 – Cape Poge
11 – The Daggett House
In going through some old photo boxes over the weekend I found this little booklet of MV photos from around 1959.
Let’s take a look inside.
“The Basin, landlocked harbor of Menemsha fishing village on picturesque Martha’s Vineyard. Summer headquarters of the lobster and swordfishing fleet.”
“Ocean Park and Bandstand on the water front at Oak Bluffs on Martha’s Vineyard Island.”
Picture below is from 2010.
Ocean Park is beautiful any time of day and any season. I took the picture below around 6pm on an October evening.
“Beautiful homes overlook the broad harbor in Vineyard Haven.”
“Edgartown harbor lighthouse in the beautiful whaling port of Martha’s Vineyard.”
Picture below is same area today.
“Picturesque lobster gear at Menemsha.”
Below is picture from Oct 2010.
What do you think… much of a difference or not ?
“Gay Head cliffs on beautiful Martha’s Vineyard Island. Bright clay souvenirs are made by the inhabitants of Gay Head Village, a link with the past that stirs the imagination.”
Below is picture from 2010.
The cliffs have certainly receded and lost some of their vibrant red and orange colors, and the houses are gone now. They still remain an awesome sight and one of the prettiest photo-ops on the Vineyard
“Ferry Islander, of the Steamship Authority fleet serving Martha’s Vineyard with frequent and dependable schedules the year round. The Islander carries 50 autos and 700 passengers and has the most modern equipment including two-way radio phone and radar.”
Below is picture of Islander in 1998.
I see a few changes in the Islander…there are a lot more antenna’s and it looks like there used to be a door near the front.
IOf the six lighthouses on Martha’s Vineyard I think the Gay Head lighthouse in Aquinnah has the most dramatic and beautiful setting.
This picture of Gay Head lighthouse was taken by me around 1960. I believe the building is the Coast Guard station which was being removed as it was too close to the edge due to the erosion of the cliffs.
This picture is from 2010.
According to the book “Guide to Martha’s Vineyard” the original lighthouse was one of the first revolving ones in the country; often the wooden works became swollen in damp weather, and the keeper or his wife was obliged to turn the light by hand all night long. In 1856 this was replaced by a larger steel structure that housed a stronger light with a Fresnel lens. In 1952 the present automatic light was erected, and the old lens was given to the Vineyard Museum.”
Eighth in the series of Vineyard trivia posts is another picture one. CLICK HERE for previous trivia posts. (You can click on pictures to make them larger)
1 – where is this bike rack
2 – what up-Island town is this
3 – what is this building and what town is it in
4 – name this ferry
5 – where is this beach
6 – what is this building and where is it
7 – where is this church
8 – what lighthouse is this
Think you know the answers? Leave a comment to find out
These are pictures inside the original Fresnel lenses that lit the Gay Head Lighthouse from 1856 until the 1950′s when it was automated. You can see these lenses, which are made up of over 1000 prisms at the Martha’s Vineyard Museum in Edgartown.
“One red, three white light our slumber through the night… Three white, one red bring us back home to Gay Head” Kate Taylor
West Chop lighthouse and US Coast Guard station.
Caretakers house.
My dear friend Seamond Ponsart Roberts grew up here at West Chop Lighthouse in the 1950′s. She was the daughter of the last lighthouse keeper. Imagine living next to this beautiful lighthouse on the harbor in Vineyard Haven… the ocean and stunning views right outside the door and the busy harbor only a few feet away. A few years ago I was lucky enough to go inside the lighthouse and the view was breath taking. If anyone should be writing a book about MV it should be Seamond… she’s rich with interesting and informative tales. The lighthouse itself was built in 1817 of wood. It was replaced in 1838 with the current brick one. As far as I know it’s been moved back from the edge of the cliff twice, once in 1848 and then in 1891.
CLICK HERE to read about Seamond.
In response to a previous post I did about West Chop Lighthouse, Seamond wrote the following:
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Now, Joanie, you KNOW I’ll have to write about West Chop Light. It’s so dear to me always. Yes, I lived there (in the house away from the tower, as Sam Fuller, our assistant keeper and his wife, Mattie, lived in the tower house). We lived there from 1946-1957. Dad and Sam, as well as keeping West Chop up and neat and shipshape and government working approved, also had the responsibility of caring for East Chop, Edgartown and Cape Pogue, as well as the two harbor jetties at Vineyard Haven and Oak Bluffs. I tell you this to assure you that your tax dollars back then spent on lighthouse keepers paid for a whole lot of work and if a lighthouse keeper was found by the government inspection team to have been “lazy,” well, he was fired. Dad and Sam mowed the lawns at West Chop and East Chop with a push mower and a sickle bar for the sides of the property. They whitewashed the West Chop tower yearly and when we went over to the other lighthouses, our visits entailed a complete inside cleaning job. For East Chop and Cape Pogue, we also brought the mower and sickle bar for the outside work. Being a kid at West Chop was extra neat. I had my very own tower for my lighthouse interpretation of Rapunzel and imaginary dragons, too. When I got older and Elvis Presley was THE rage, well, I took my portable record player over to the tower and turned it up top volume. What a great echo chamber! Sam Fuller, however, living in proximity of the tower somehow (?)just didn’t appreciate Elvis, so my best echo chamber ever stuff didn’t hold out too long. In the summer, we were surrounded by the wealthy and famous and other than visits to see the lighthouse, they left us alone and vice versa. We were miles apart in economic strata. In the winter, we virtually owned the whole “chop,” like it was our own island. I went to school by bus and quite often the town would not plow as far as us, so we frequently got stranded and I got a few extra days of playing in the snow and out of school that way. We had many pets and that kept us occupied. I had a little flock of chickens and they were also my pets. One of them, Henny Penny was a big black hen weighing ove 10 pounds, and she was my special friend. I would take her for bike rides in the basket and take her to the “rich peoples” houses to go dig in their verdant lawns. Mom and Dad read all the time and so did I. I played piano and the record player. Dad played the harmonica and one of our fun things was to go sit on the back porch and sing along with Dad’s harmonica. And, so, as above, along with many other things passed my life at West Chop Lighthouse. I go back as often as I can and always feel a special ownership to that dear place. If you’d like to read some of my stories on the internet, go to Google and type in my name as Seamond Ponsart Roberts. I hope you enjoy reading of times long ago when I was a little lighthouse kid. Seamond
