The last year has been the start of a journey for all of us at HarborWorks, the flagship project led by the new nonprofit, Vineyard Lands for our Community (VLC), an Island community redevelopment nonprofit, which seeks to reimagine and revitalize Vineyard Haven’s working waterfront.
As we pushed this effort off the dock in 2024, we have appreciated all of the support and good feedback we have received from the Island through our public outreach. And now, as the Island turns the corner into 2025, we are ready to set sail and truly transform the waterfront and bring it into a thriving future.
As we get there, we want to be sure to honor the harbor’s long history at the center of our Island.
A deep-water anchorage, Vineyard Haven Harbor has for more than 350 years been a refuge, a welcoming community, for thousands of mariners, brigs, schooners, and boats of all kinds, pausing to rest, ride out a storm, or await the tide change and resupply. This harbor in Vineyard Sound was America’s Harbor — a safe port for mariners from across the world, and the beloved home to Vineyarders connected to the sea. In the 1800s, the harbor was a port of call in one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes, with Vineyard Sound ranking second only to the English Channel. It hosted the Holmes Hole Railway in the 1840s, which serviced a global hub that constructed numerous schooners, and repaired many and varied sails, hulls, and rigging — a history that carries on through the modern-day to the wooden boatbuilders at the Gannon & Benjamin Marine Railway. The harbor was also home to a federal Marine Hospital in 1895, which is now transformed into the M.V. Museum. It was the physical and spiritual shelter of the Seamen’s Bethel, which was located where the existing Steamship Authority terminal stands, and is now the American Legion Post. Vineyard Haven was, and still is, at its core a working “haven,” a year-round community of true grit and creative energy, always reusing and refashioning its past into its future.
Today, the harbor continues to be working and welcoming. It serves as Martha’s Vineyard’s main port of entry, a maritime transport hub, a mecca for recreational boaters and visitors, and home to many artists and artisans. Vineyard Haven aspires to integrate its cultural heritage and economic vitality — its history, crafts of artists and artisans, varied Island cultures, and its marine, energy, and transportation industries. To that end, it recently completed a Master Plan, the first in 350 years, that embraces all of these aspirations to create a thriving future.
HarborWorks is that Island-wide initiative that propels these enduring values of true grit and creative energy. VLC is devoted to strategizing and resolving the economic, climate change, and community issues needed to build a sustainable future. Can we all come together to get this project done? Yes, we can, but only with your help.
Already, in collaboration with Tisbury Working Waterfront, LLC, VLC has raised $5.5 million to purchase the properties that are home to the Gannon and Benjamin boatyard and The MV Times, and the adjacent Workshop Gallery and Althea Designs. Recently, an individual has pledged to secure the two remaining adjacent parcels. Ernie Boch Jr. has generously agreed to include his neighboring property (Boch Park) as part of VLC’s vision for HarborWorks.
These five contiguous properties, which cover two acres of working waterfront and are worth more than $10 million, will be transformed into HarborWorks. HarborWorks is designed to celebrate the existing community of “makers,” including our internationally acclaimed wooden boatbuilders, and studios for a community of artists sharing and selling their work, and to elevate learning with offices for the Island’s leading maritime education organizations, as well as a working community news organization that will teach a new generation the craft of fact-based narrative journalism. A public courtyard will tie these historic Island uses together with open access to the beach, with shared community space for all.
So what are our next steps in 2025? Right now, we need to raise the funds that will be required to obtain the necessary permits for the project. We have all five properties currently under various stages of agreement, but we need $1.2 million to complete the final architectural, engineering, legal, and regulatory work to take HarborWorks across the finish line. Every dollar counts. We did a successful fundraising effort this fall. And we believe we can do it again, with your help.
The harbor will continue to embrace its past as it defines its future. Our hope is that in years to come, sea-worn tugboats and gleaming ferries will tie up alongside classic schooners and locally built wooden boats, while its shores become a destination for artists, artisans, visitors and Island residents alike. Past, present, and future all will be “riding at anchor” together, protecting the harbor’s resources and propelling its future.
Vineyard Haven Harbor has always been a hearty and most welcoming port, with its signature true grit, determination, and creativity. Let’s keep it that way. Thanks to many of you who have already shown your support. We hope you will support our Island project to preserve and reimagine our shared “haven” for creativity and welcome. We have much more to do in 2025. Visit vineyardlands.org.
Written by the Vineyard Lands for our Community (VLC) Team: Steve Bernier, Cole Powers, John McDonald, Andrew Flake, Marilyn Vukota, and Phil Wallis. The group can be reached at office@vineyardlands.org.
