Happy 232nd birthday America
Ah, July, the crazy, hazy days of summer and Martha’s Vineyard is brimming with things to do. Check out these happy, crazy statues at the Field Gallery in W Tisbury.
Chamber of Commerce calendar for July.
The Fourth of July is the biggest day of the month and there will be lots of special events celebrating our country’s 232nd birthday. Among them are…
*July 4th barbecue at the Old Whaling Church in Edgartown
Not the kind of yarns you read, no, this time it’s the kind of yarns you knit with.
My computer has passed on and whilst I wait for its replacement I am, #1-sharing my husband’s BIG computer and #2-treating you all to some of my daughter Deb’s beautiful pictures (thanks Deb). These pictures were taken April 19, 2008 at the MV Fiber Farm very first fiber festival … these are just a sampling of the beautiful yarns the MV Fiber Farm has to offer. Enjoy a treat for your eyes.
My friend Will Jones and I were always looking for things to keep us busy and out of trouble during our summers on MV. Someone showed me how to make little flowers by using yarn and forks… I immediately showed Will. We set about our tasks, me at my house, he at his.
The next morning Will’s mom called my mom asking if he was at my house ? Seems she went looking for a fork and couldn’t find any !!! A few moment later Will was at my door, and yes, he had all his mother’s forks with him and they were filled with yarn. Seems I had neglected to show him how to get the yarn off the forks to make the little flowers…
Will had carried those forks from his house way on the other side of Oak Bluffs …
up Circuit Ave …
… to my house where we freed his mother’s forks of their yarn. I have no recollection of what we did with the yarn flowers.
Our moms were childhood friends, as were Will and I. Our moms graduated from Oak Bluffs High School together (long before the regional high school was built). Our moms moved to NJ after graduation and it was there that they met their future husbands, our dads who were also childhood friends. ( In 1907 Will’s mom, Bertha Carter, was the first child born in Oak Bluffs after its name change from Cottage City.)
Will and I spent every day of the summer together. We went swimming, rode the Flying Horses, read, drove our parents crazy and were inseparatable. His parents owned a bowling alley in Oak Bluffs for many years. Long before automation the pins had to be set by hand, I even did it from time to time myself.
Being a summer kid on the Vineyard was the best thing in the world… it still is.
Down a dirt road in the woods of West Tisbury lies Christiantown.
Christiantown was established in 1659 by Wampanoag sachem Takemmy as a home for Native American converts to Christianity.
A plaque on the above boulder commemorates “the services of Governor Thomas Mayhew and his descended missionaries who here labored among the native Indians.”
By 1600 there were two or three congregations of Native Americans on the Island.
The Christiantown Meeting House, or chapel was built in 1829. There is a tiny altar and six pews inside… nearby is an old graveyard.
The Wampanoag tribe now owns the memorial, the chapel and the burial ground containing graves of early converts.
Christiantown is off the beaten track but worth the effort to find.
Martha’s Vineyard (actually all of New England) is known for it’s …
Stone walls …
An ancient stone wall through the woods.
Flowers seem to love stone walls.
Stone wall with fountain.
Oak Bluffs stone wall meets ocean.
And fences …
Edgartown fence with cat-o-nine tails.
Menemsha snow fence.
Oak Bluffs iron fence with roses.
Wooden fence in Aquinnah.
Edgartown white fences.
Peeking through a fence.
The biggest celebrity on the Vineyard is not who you might think it is !!!
The biggest celebrity, in size, would have to be Clifford the Big Red Dog. Not anyone, two or four-legged comes close to him in stature… or in popularity with the younger set.
In 1996 as time was approaching for my granddaughter’s and grandson’s first trip to Martha’s Vineyard I wanted to do something special for them. I know, just going to MV is special enough, but I wanted something different that would be impressive.
I knew that Norman Bridwell, the creator of Clifford, lived on MV so I decided to send him a letter telling him about my long time connection with MV and how my grandchildren would be making their first trip there in a few months.
Lo and behold a few weeks later I got a letter from him saying he’d be delighted to meet us. He told me what date would be good for him and gave me his phone number… to me, a complete stranger. That’s one of the charm of Vineyarders by the way, their trust of mankind, or in my case womankind.
I told my daughter Patty what I had done and she and I decided to keep it as a surprise for the children. That was very hard for me.
When I arrived on MV a few days before my family there was a message waiting for me where I was staying… it was from Norman Bridwell making sure I’d gotten to MV safely and that our get together was still on. On top of that he also phoned me. How nice was that.
The second day of their trip to MV we went for a walk in Edgartown. While walking down a particular street I said to my granddaughter Tiffany “that’s the house where the man who draws Clifford the Big Red Dog lives.” Her face lit up and she smiled. Grandson Tyler was interested in collecting leaves at that point. I said to Tiffany, “why don’t you go ring the doorbell and see what happens?” She looked at me like I’d lost my mind, then glanced at her mom who agreed that we should give it a shot. So up to the door we went. Ringgggg….ringgggg. The door opened and there stood Norma Bridwell, “hello there, come right in, I’ll get Norman for you.” Tiffany stood wide-eyed at the door and then inched her way in. Tyler discovered they had a cat, he was happy. Norman Bridwell stepped out of his office, greeted us and asked us in. He’s a delightful man, full of interesting stories and he made us all feel quite at home. Since my daughter Patty and I knew we were going to be visiting the Bridwell’s she came bearing Clifford cookies and two Clifford books for him to sign for Tiffany and Tyler. I often wondered if they were suspicious of the cookie thing … like how did their mom just happen to have Clifford cookies at the ready :)
The next time we saw Clifford was in Aug of 2001 at the Possible Dreams Auction.
The reason I’m doing this post is that I saw in the Vineyard Gazette that the Bridwell’s are celebrating their 50th anniversary. Happy anniversary to them from my family… they helped make a wonderful memory for us.
Of course there’s water everywhere, it’s an Island, that’s one of the things they do best, be surrounded by water. In my humble and unbiased opinion, Martha’s Vineyard has it all as far as water is concerned.
The cliffs at Aquinnah (Gay Head) are surrounded by rocky and treacherous waters. The clay from the cliffs washes into the water and creates a blend of unusual beauty.
A view of Vineyard Sound and out to the Atlantic from a window of West Chop lighthouse.
Looking towards the Elizabeth Islands from Menemsha Hills Reservation.
Edgartown Harbor
Oak Bluffs Harbor.
Water on the rocks.
Chappaquiddick kayaks.
Sunny or foggy… water, water everywhere.
In the center of Edgartown stands the Old Whaling Church.
Builit in 1843 it is considered the Vineyard’s most outstanding example of Greek Revival architecture.
The Gothic columns are one of its most distinctive features…
…as is its 92 foot high tower. The light in the steeple can be seen many miles out at sea.
Not used as a Methodist Church anymore, the Old Whaling Church is part of the Martha’s Vineyard Preservation Trust properties and is used as a performing arts center as well as for weddings and other festive occasions.
One of the most popular concerts is by the Minnesingers chorale group from the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School. They will be doing two performances in December 2008 during the Christmas in Edgartown weekend. The first performance is a holiday concert on Friday, Dec 12th. The second performance is the family concert on Saturday, Dec 13, 2008. If you are on MV at that time try not to miss it, they are wonderful.
