You wouldn’t be far off in thinking that the Carnegie Heritage Center was a library. From 1904 to 2016, it was the Edgartown library, under the auspices of Andrew Carnegie, who built some 2,500 libraries worldwide. The handsome neoclassical brick building was constructed on land donated by Caroline Osborn Warren, a descendant of the Edgartown Osborn whaling family, who lived next door. The building took on its new identity when the Edgartown library reopened at its new location at 26 Edgartown–West Tisbury Road.
After an extensive restoration, the Vineyard Preservation Trust, which owns the building, transformed the space into an Island heritage center. The Carnegie boasts a treasure trove of items related to Vineyard history, and is well worth a visit.
As you enter the building, you see inviting reading rooms on either side. You can sit comfortably for an hour (or two) looking at books from the collection about Vineyard history and the whaling industry. Snuggled in among the books on the shelves are fascinating items, including a collection of beautifully carved ditty boxes, a prized bottle of spermaceti whale oil, elegant scrimshaw, and an 1881 ivory-colored lace and cotton dress with an endearing handwritten note from the owner, declaring that she wore it at age 9 in grammar school. There is an 1835 bill of sale for the whaling ship called the Splendid, with elegant signatures by everyone who financed the vessel to go out to sea. Reading carefully, you can make out Luce, Osborn, and Norton — all big names on the Island.
The “Living Landmarks” exhibition fills the rest of the public space, illustrating the historical development of Martha’s Vineyard. In pride of place on the first floor is an enormous three-dimensional map of the Island, with small models of each of the 20 Preservation Trust holdings. While I knew there were many historic houses, such as the Old Sculpin Gallery, Norton Boathouse, Old Whaling Church, and Union Chapel, others surprised me, such as the Chappy Schoolhouse, Historic Marshall Farmstead, and Grange Hall, among others.
Many people’s first exposure to the Preservation Trust is through the Flying Horses Carousel, the oldest platform carousel in the country. “The first time children touch history is through those restored horses,” says Sissy Biggers, programming director. On exhibit at the Carnegie are a lovely chariot from the original Flying Horses, and an 1861 wooden rocking horse by designer Charles Dare that was a study for the carousel’s steeds.
There are amusing items, too, such as a tub from the Daniel Fisher house, which was the first to have running water in Edgartown. Fisher not only supplied the whaling ships, but made hardtack in what is now the Old Sculpin Gallery, and brokered the oil. “He donated all the lights down Main Street, providing that Edgartown would purchase the whale oil from him to light them,” says Laura Pla, lead educator.
Other items related to Preservation Trust properties include a surprisingly modern-looking 19th century wooden seat and desk where, for nearly a century, children digested their lessons in the one-room schoolhouse on Chappaquiddick.
A host of items filled the shelves of Alley’s General Store, including a black-and-white checked bonnet, an ancient box of Presto carpet tacks, and a bottle of sarsaparilla with a label boasting “Alcohol 16½ percent. An Alternative Tonic containing Diuretic and Laxative Properties.”
There is a section devoted to whaling, including a cast-iron try pot, used in rendering whale blubber into oil, and enormous sperm whale jaws that, mounted vertically, give you a sense of scale as if you were in a small boat trying to harpoon the creature. In one case are gentlemen’s walking canes fashioned from whale ivory and baleen, with fanciful embellishments, and in another, fascinating objects such as a whalebone coconut dipper and pie crimper. The wonderful painting “A Nantucket Sleigh Ride,” by Clifford Ashley, reflects the term that describes what happens when a boat is attached to a wild, fleeing whale racing through the water.
This is just the tip of the iceberg, and the Carnegie Heritage Center is a lovely place to immerse yourself in the history of our Island.
Biggers says, “I hope visitors come away with an appreciation of how important our historic buildings are on the Island. In particular, the Carnegie is an example of what the trust does to maintain all the wonderful aspects of the historic building and give it an entirely new life.”
The Carnegie Heritage Center is at 58 North Water St., Edgartown. It is open Wednesday through Saturday, 10 am to 4 pm, until Dec. 21. Winter hours are TBD. For more information, call 774-549-9107. The center welcomes donations of books about Vineyard history.
