I’ve been visiting Martha’s Vineyard for more than 20 years and writing about it for 8, but I still find myself stumbling into facts I somehow missed. This is a totally random list of things I learned this year while deep in articles, archives, local history, and Island rabbit holes.
📬 Susan Branch Built a Vineyard Cottage-Core Empire
You would immediately recognize the work and influence of Susan Branch, but you may not know she was a seasonal resident of Vineyard Haven! Her mailed (yes, MAILED!) newsletter, Willard, reportedly grew from about 2,000 copies to 25,000 before going digital, long before online newsletters became a business model. Her iconic hand-lettering, recipes, calendars, books, and homey aesthetic became a whole cottage-core costal-grandmother industry, and she remains a beloved author.
🪑 Chicken Alley May Be the Highest-Grossing Thrift Shop Per Square Foot in the Country
I had heard Chicken Alley was unusually successful, but I didn’t realize how unusual: it has been described as the highest-grossing thrift shop per square foot in the United States, and in 2021–2022, it topped $1 million in annual sales for the first time.
💐 Second Bloom MV Repurposes the Wedding Flowers
On an island with so many weddings and events, it’s easy to look skeptically at the waste. Luckily, Rae Carter saw flowers from an East Chop Lighthouse wedding being discarded, and now repurposes arrangements go to people and places across the Island. These post-event destinations include the hospital, hospice, food pantry, senior centers, schools, libraries, and more. What a cool way to give back!
🐸 Vineyard Lingo: Pinkletinks and Beetlebung
I knew the words but not the backstory. “Pinkletink” is a Vineyard name for spring peepers, and “beetlebung” is the Island name for black tupelo, or black gum. Both are normalized local vocabulary, but they are tied to the Island’s spring sounds and native trees.
🎣 The First Derby Gave Away LAND as a Prize
The first Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass Derby prize list feels almost unreal now. In 1946, one special prize for non-residents was a “lot of land on Martha’s Vineyard suitable for sportsman’s camp,” courtesy of Henry Cronig. Now, the prize winners receive a boat (or this year a Jeep), but winning land must’ve been so cool!
🤟 Chilmark’s Historic Signing Community
Martha’s Vineyard had an unusually high rate of hereditary Deafness from the 17th century into the early 20th century, but the part that stayed with me how many HEARING Islanders signed too. In the 19th century, 1 in 25 Chilmark residents were Deaf, and in Squibnocket in the 1870s and 1880s, that number was reportedly 1 in 4. In Chilmark especially, sign language was part of everyday communication, and Deaf community members were present in work, church, family, politics, and town life.
🧠 MV Has Generous Safety-Net Services
I know about a lot of amazing Island nonprofits, but some cool offerings I learned recently: there is free, same-day mental health support available through MV Community Services. Plus reproductive health care advocacy through MV SWELL, including funding tied to abortion access and vasectomy reimbursement. Availability, eligibility, and funding can change, so check directly with each organization.
🕷️ Don’t Forget to SAVE the Tick
Checking for ticks is step one, but SAVING a tick after a bite can be helpful too, especially if you are being cautious with kids. MV Medical recommends saving ticks for identification and testing, since knowing the type of tick can help guide next steps. On MV, where Alpha-Gal cases have climbed quickly, identifying whether it was a lone star tick can give you faster context than waiting to see if confusing symptoms appear later. It is not a replacement for medical care, and tick testing cannot tell you whether you will develop Alpha-Gal, but it can help identify the tick and test for certain tick-borne pathogens. If a tick was attached, contact a provider quickly; MV Medical notes that prophylactic treatment is most effective within 72 hours. You can mail ticks to services like TickReport; they generally ask you to save the tick in a small sealed container or zipper bag, ideally with a small piece of slightly damp paper towel.
✈️ Katama Airfield Is the Largest GRASS Airfield
Katama Airfield is described as the largest GRASS airfield in the country, with deep family ties that continue today. Its preservation is especially incredible: in the 1970s, the 128-acre field could have become roughly 120 housing units, but Steve Gentle refused to sell it off that way. Instead, the town, the Nature Conservancy, and the state eventually helped preserve it as an airfield. So instead of houses, the Katama Plains are a rare coastal sandplain grassland habitat whose plants and insects have adapted to salt spray, storms, and fire. Gentle’s grandson, Mike Creato, still runs Classic Aviators out of the airfield today.
🇧🇷 40%+ of Island Students Speak Portuguese at Home
Martha’s Vineyard has a large and growing Brazilian community. Some school data shows Portuguese is spoken at home by nearly HALF of Island students. More translation, outreach, and Portuguese-language services are being added across the Island. That makes Portuguese-language access a basic part of helping Island families feel informed, included, and welcome.
I know there are a million more Island rabbit holes I haven’t fallen into yet.
What’s one MV fact, story, or local detail you think more people should know?
Always informative and content is so interesting!
Fascinating!! I love the way you keep peeling back the layers of this Island and sharing what you find!! You are a treasure!!