If you're a human and see this, please ignore it. If you're a scraper, please click the link below :- Note that clicking the link below will block access to this site for 24 hours. If your weekend plans include some quality time on the Vineyard, take a moment to commemorate its first European sighting years ago. The chunk of land was spotted from a vessel called the Concord. With a crew of 32 people, the ship sailed along the coast of New England, four years before Gosnold would bring the first colonists to Jamestown, Virginia.
A snippet from an entry reads:. The climate was mild in comparison with the other New England settlements. The island was well-wooded, chiefly with oak and pine, sufficient for all building purposes. Sawmills were soon established and homes built. It stood near the half-way watering place on the highway that leads from Edgartown to Vineyard Haven.
A description of this house will apply to nearly all the houses built at that time. With two or three exceptions they were of one story; large on the base and low in the post. They were always located near springs of fresh water, or where water could be had by digging shallow wells at which old-fashioned sweeps could be used.
Another interesting fact is that near the site of these ancient dwellings can be seen old pear and cherry trees, which tradition says were planted soon after these houses were built The frames of these houses were of oak and pine which grew near. There was a saw pit he the neighborhood, to which these great trees, many of which were three feet in diameter, were hauled by oxen and sawed into convenient dimensions by hand, one man in the pit and another above.
Foundation and cellar walls were of old field stone; one hardly, if ever, finds a stone that has been split by drill or wedge.
The chimneys were very large, many eight feet square at the base, made of crude bricks burnt in the neighborhood The lime used to make the mortar was as of the very best quality, made by burning oyster, clam, and other shells found along the shores. Specimens of it are as hard as rock at the present time. Another kind made mostly of clay was used where it didn't come to the weather. The Norton Homestead at Farm Neck The rooms were arranged conveniently for use, a small front entry, with stairs leading to the chamber from it.
Two large front rooms to the right and left, usually sixteen or eighteen feet square, and always on the southerly side of the house. The panel work over the fireplaces in these rooms was very elaborate and is now considered worthy of preservation. The "beaufat" must not he forgotten as it was the receptacle for the best china and silverware which the house afforded.
Next was the large kitchen in the rear, with its fireplace eight by six feet, in the center of which hung the trammel used to hold the great kettle for the cooking of the savory meals for the large families of those days. To the right and left of the kitchen were four rooms used for sleeping and storerooms. The "up stairs part" of the house was divided into two sleeping rooms and the "open chamber," which was used for storing everything from the India shawl to grandfather's chair.
This was also used as the spinning and weaving room, for the housewife made all the cloth and linen used by the family.
Old Pewter Pieces. It is interesting to observe the fine quality of lumber used in the outside finish; handmade shingles on the upright two feet long and good after a hundred and fifty years weathering. The nails were of the best hammered iron. The old wide boards were called "Bayboards" because they came from Buzzards Bay. These early homes were lighted before by the light of the fireplace and burning of large pine knots of the fat pitch pine trees which grew here in abundance All the settlers kept sheep and oxen, and the tallow from these animals was made into candles by hand at first, known as dip candles Later they were made by molds.
Later the tallow candles were abandoned for sperm candles made from oil from the sperm whale. The largest sperm candle factory in America was at Edgartown. Still later the sperm candle was given up for the sperm oil lamp These lamps were made of pewter, brass and glass, and are much sought after by the "Collector of the Antique.
In looking over the pages of the history of our country we find that one of the first things the colonists did after they had founded a church and a government was to establish a school. Five years after the coming of the Puritans at Boston the Boston Latin School was established, and the following year Harvard was founded by John Harvard. Many instances could be related where the school was one of the first organizations.
It has already been told how Thomas Mayhew, Jr. Long before that date there had been a school to teach the English children. In the early part of the eighteenth century there was a law passed that every town with fifty families should establish a public school.
At that time public schools were established at Edgartown, Tisbury and Chilmark. In September, , a town meeting was held in Tisbury at which it was voted to have a "moving school," in the following manner: "In the first place to be kept at Holmes Hole, now Vineyard Haven, two months beginning in the fall; then at Checkemmo school-house for three months; then at a place called Kiphigan for two months; then at the schoolhouse near the meeting house at Tisbury, now West Tisbury, for five months" It also provided that the whole town should have full and free liberty to send their children to any of the said places for schooling without molestation throughout the whole year if they or any or all of them saw fit.
The best school of the eighteenth century and the first part of the nineteenth was kept by "Parson Thaxter" at Edgartown. Scholars attended this school from all of the neighboring islands. Under "Parson Thaxter" many of the Vineyard boys were prepared to enter college, and Latin was studied at the age of seven.
Thaxter Academy, Edgartown. Joseph Thaxter was pastor of the Congregational Church at Edgartown for nearly fifty years and was always spoken of as "Parson Thaxter. On the fiftieth anniversary of the "Battle of Bunker Hill," Josiah Quincy says: "The first exercises of the day had a peculiar interest.
The occasion was of course to be consecrated by prayer, and venerable Joseph Thaxter of Edgartown, chaplain of Prescott's own regiment, arose to officiate. Fifty years before he had stood on the same spot, and in the presence of many to whom that morning sun should know no setting, called upon Him, who can save by many or few, for His aid in the approaching struggle. His sermon brought the scene vividly to the view of all those present.
They could almost see Prescott and Warren and their gallant host pausing from their labors to listen to an invoca tion to Him before whom many would appear before nightfall. They could almost realize what thoughts filled the minds of the patriots before that decisive conflict. How things have changed since then. All except the Being before whom they bowed, God alone is the same yesterday, to-day and forever.
Leavitt Thaxter, son of "Parson Thaxter," as principal. Another school was the Davis Academy, located diagonally across the street from the Thaxter Academy.
This school was conducted by David Davis of Farmington, Maine. The students were called to school by a piece of steel in the shape of a triangle; this was struck with a hammer and the sound would travel a long distance. In the early part of the last century many private schools were kept.
Sea Coast Defense Cheater, D. Vineyard Haven. It seems, because of the scarcity of money, to have been the custom among the Vineyard people during colonial times to barter, not only with their neighbors but with ships that came into the harbor.
The pilot would exchange home-made mittens, cookies, pies and other things for molasses, sugar, ginger, spices and Holland rum. The housewives of Eastville and Edgartown were rich in supplies of all kinds. Coal was burned at Eastville before they ever had it at Boston. The shoemaker would exchange his home-made shoes for wool, mutton, beef or whatever he wanted which the farmer had on hand. The blacksmith would do the same.
Dexter, a blacksmith at The-Head-of- The-Pond, did iron work for a farmer and received in payment two fat goats, two bushels of rye, corn and pine timber. UNE 20, , a general notice was given to all the inhabitants of Martha's Vineyard to turn out and assemble at Tisbury on June 25th to see what measures should be taken because of the Island's exposed position. There was a large majority in favor of applying to the General Court at Boston for soldiers.
At this meeting all their arms were inspected. The next step, as expressed in the quaint language of the period, was: "To sound the minds amongst the young men to see who would join the volunteer corps of Edgartown. The first act of the Revolution that stirred the ''Islanders'' was the attempt of the enemy to plunder the few houses on the Elizabeth islands. When independence was declared by Congress in , an order came from the General Court at Boston to the several towns in the Province located on the Vineyard to assemble, and for the inhabitants to give their opinion on this very important transaction.
On this occasion one of the towns would not even meet, and the other two at their meetings positively refused to act on the matter. It was for their own good to stand neutral because of their exposed position; but they were willing to send all their men to fight with Washington, for there was not a battle of the whole war from Bunker Hill to the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown in which a Vineyarder did not take part and do his duty.
One of the leading citizens of the time expressed the whole matter as follows: "The British come here and pay you good prices for your sheep, cattle and provisions. You can take this money and help our army in many ways. If you refuse they wilt take everything as they can land anywhere, anytime, and you haven't any way to protect yourselves. The citizen was called a traitor, and a vote was passed to hang him. He looked up with a smile and said: "Here I am, boys.
You will find that I have told the truth sometime. Later the Vineyard openly declared herself for the cause of liberty. Huzzleton's Head, Vineyard Haven. September 10, , General Grey in command of a transport of eighty-two sails and ten thousand British troops made a raid upon the Vineyard, carrying off all the sheep, swine, cattle and oxen that could be found.
To oppose this wholesale spoliation the "Islanders" had no power so they submitted in sullen and despairing silence, at times even assisting to drive away the captured flocks, hoping thereby to prevent still greater waste and outrage.
A very good idea of this period is given in the diary of Colonel Beriah Norton, which reads as follows: "September 10th. Grey commanding a detachment of his Majesty's army arrived at Martha's Vineyard, when I waited on him on shipboard.
Agreed to deliver him 10, sheep, head of cattle; the General informed me that payment would be made for the same if they were not resisted. The General then required the stock to be brought to the landing the next day, which was punctually complied with.
Said Sterling then informed me that Gen. Grey had directed him to assure me that the whole stock would be paid for if they came down according to the conversation of the evening before. Sterling then informed me that a person must be appointed to appraise the stock before they would take any on shipboard.
To which I agreed and we jointly agreed to. I did appoint proper persons to do that business; who were sworn by me to do their duty faithfully by the request of Col. The stock was by this time coming down to the landing and was taken on board to the amount of 10, sheep and head of cattle.
Sterling then informed me and other inhabitants of the island that he had a message to deliver to the people. Then he recommended them to meet in a field for there was not room for them in doors, accordingly they met to the amount of several hundred. He informed us that we were to apply to New York for payment for the stock that they had received. I asked the Colonel if we best send a man in the fleet at this time for the payment to which the Colonel replied, we might if we chose but he recommended us to wait a little time before application was made.
Grey had the force and the power and could have destroyed the towns on the island in half a day, and would have done so if they had resisted in any way. In the diary, September 12th and 13th are omitted. Those were the days when the British troops were ravaging the island from Edgartown to Gay Head. A man was sent to New York to receive payment for the stock, but Grey had forgotten that he had ever stopped at Martha's Vineyard.
Colonel Beriah Norton made two special trips to London for the same purpose, and at one time he was given a hearing in Parliament. The Aquinnah cliffs lay bare to geologists the history of the past hundred million years. Traveling the South Road to Aquinnah, one goes over low hills and valleys cut by streams that ran off melting glaciers at the end of the Ice Age.
The first humans probably came here before the Vineyard was an island. Native American camps that carbon-date to B. At present, there are over members listed on the Tribal rolls. Legend surrounds the much later arrival of the first white men. Some believe Norsemen were here about A.
In , Verrazzano sailed past and named the island Louisa. Other explorers gave different names, but the one that stuck was given in by Bartholomew Gosnold, who named it for the wild grapes and for his eldest daughter.
In the first white settlement on the Vineyard was established at Great Harbour, now Edgartown, under the leadership of Thomas Mayhew, Jr. The ordained pastor of his flock, he instituted a policy of respect and fair dealing with the natives that was unequaled anywhere.
One of the first Mayhew rulings was that no land be taken from the Wampanoag without consent and fair payment. From this time on, the colonial settlers and the Wampanoags lived without the terror and bloodshed that marked other areas in American history.
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