President Obama and his family will return to Chilmark for their summer family vacation, The Times has learned. Though not confirmed by the White House, the Obamas are expected to stay in a four-bedroom house valued at $7.6 million with an attached two-bedroom guesthouse on Snail Road, off South Road and surrounded by woodlands.
Friday, a White House official confirmed that the president and Ms. Obama will travel to Martha’s Vineyard on Saturday, August 10. They will remain on the Vineyard until Sunday, August 18, when they will return to Washington. The White House said there are no public events scheduled at this time.
David M. Schulte, owner of the only house on Snail Road and an adjoining lot, said in a telephone call with The Times that he knew nothing about a presidential visit. Mr. Schulte said he had heard the Obamas would stay in Farm Neck in Oak Bluffs.
Mr. Schulte is the founder and managing partner of Chilmark Partners, a Chicago-based corporate finance and restructuring advisory company. The former editor-in-chief of the Yale Law Journal, before founding Chilmark Partners, Mr. Schulte created and ran Salomon Brothers Corporate Reorganization Group.
There has been no confirmation by the White House of where the president will stay.
Mr. Obama and his family have vacationed in Chilmark every year since his 2008 election, except for 2012, when he was campaigning for re-election.
The official announcement Friday of a presidential Island vacation confirmed the rumors that have swirled here for months. On an Island where word gets around quickly, it was no secret that the Secret Service had begun laying the groundwork for the Obamas’ return.
In 2009, 2010, and 2011, the Obamas rented Blue Heron Farm in Chilmark, a 28.5-acre compound on Town Cove off Tisbury Great Pond. The house was sold in December 2011 to an architect, Lord Norman Foster, and his wife, Lady Elena Foster, of Thames Bank in Great Britain.
If past presidential vacations hint at future performance, the Obamas will continue to do what many vacationing families do when they are here. The will go to the beach while dad plays golf, bike, hike, and enjoy dinner with friends.
The Obama vacation falls during one of the busiest times of the summer. In addition to the annual Agricultural Fair, the Oak Bluffs fireworks, and Campground Illumination night, the Boston Globe reports that Harry Belafonte will perform at an invitation only event at Dreamland theater in Oak Bluffs, on August 12, an event that’s being organized by Charles Ogletree, Mr. Obama’s former professor at Harvard Law School.
