“As the sun dips to dusk, downtown Edgartown pairs pyrotechnics with a picturesque backdrop of its iconic lighthouse and seascape.” –MV Times, June 28, 2023
Edgartown Lighthouse is part of Martha’s Vineyard Museum’s roster of stewardship. We keep two lighthouses: East Chop Light and Edgartown Light. We invite you to visit both this summer. Lighthouses can call forth innumerable memories and stories, and like everything, some are good and some, perhaps, not so good. But let’s admit that life wouldn’t be so miraculous without experiencing both. You may have a story about your wedding photos or ceremony, another may have a story about a shipwreck, another of how it guided them home (or watching the fireworks from the lighthouse beach!). The Edgartown Light has been part of the Fourth of July setting for decades, and has come to represent many things to many different people.
It is a festive and charged time of year (pun intended). The Fourth of July is a celebration of Independence for most Americans (like Juneteenth, which we just celebrated for the descendants of slaves). We all have holidays and traditions — something important to us that helps us remember, commemorate, or show gratitude. Everyone has at least one day of their own to be the center of attention, or be quietly recognized for being alive and adding something special to the world.
Martha’s Vineyard Museum is a welcoming place where each of us can bask in the history of our storied Island, and gain knowledge that can raise our awareness, build empathy, and pull us into another time. Having new information, or the opportunity to be among historic objects, helps put things into perspective.
Here is one such story. Most Fourth of July parades include fire engines, a time to spotlight what our first responders do for us. Research librarian Bow Van Riper and chief curator Bonnie Stacy shared a very cool story with me last week about an item in our collection. During a time when the threat of fire was always looming in New England in the 19th century, Nantucket town suffered a disastrous blaze in 1846, and Vineyard Haven in 1883. In 1855, the town of Edgartown bought a state-of-the-art hand-pumped fire engine, made by the Button Co. of Waterford, N.Y. A team of firemen pulled the engine to the site of the blaze, filled its copper tub with water, divided into two teams who stood on either side, and pulled down on the long wooden handles to work the pump and force water through the hose onto the fire. By 1937, the “Button Pumper” was no longer put to use. So the Edgartown Fire Department donated it to the Dukes County Historical Society, now Martha’s Vineyard Museum. However, there was a condition: that they be able to borrow it for parades, which they’ve continued to do regularly. The engine is still part of the museum’s collection. It has been housed in the Edgartown Fire Museum, along with other vintage engines, since 2011. It still can be seen on the streets of Edgartown in the Fourth of July parade, pulled by firefighters who today, just like in 1855, are dedicated volunteers.
Come hear these and other stories at Martha’s Vineyard Museum, or just come and relax with the best view of Vineyard Haven Harbor on the Island. Edgartown Lighthouse is open seven days a week from 10 am to 4 pm, weather permitting. We also have a virtual exhibit called “Treasured Beacon: The Edgartown Lighthouse,” which you can access from our Edgartown Lighthouse webpage. East Chop Lighthouse is open seasonally on Sunday evenings around sunset. Admission is $5 for adults, children 12 and under are free, and MVM members are always free.
Visit mvmuseum.org for more information about upcoming exhibitions and events. The museum is open Tuesday through Sunday year-round. Summer-season hours: Tuesday, 10 am – 7 pm; Wednesday through Sunday, 10 am – 5 pm. Admission is free to members; admission for nonmembers is $18 for adults, $15 for seniors, $5 for children 7 to 17, and free for children 6 and under. Islander rates are available.
