Chris Baer
This was then: The Tea House
The Betty Benz Tea House served lunch and afternoon tea at the Lagoon Bridge until its destruction by hurricane. “For ‘Tea’ we serve a...
This was then: George Fred
Captain George Fred Tilton of Chilmark, like his brother Zeb, is a Vineyarder of such legend that it’s not even necessary to use his...
This was then: The fut path
In 1685 Ponit, son of Cheesehahchamuk and sachem of Nobnocket, stated in a court record that the bounds of his sachemship had been defined...
This was then: The Neptune Club
The Neptune Club of Norwalk, Conn., poses on the steps of their hotel in Oak Bluffs. This yachting club, made up of wealthy businessmen...
This was then: Fancy poultry
When new millionaire William Barry Owen retired from the gramophone business in London and headed back to his native Vineyard Haven in 1904, he...
This was then: Professional development
The Martha’s Vineyard Summer Institute, located in the Highlands section of Oak Bluffs, offered summer courses for teachers for almost 30 years during the...
This was then: The Cigar Smoking Machine
In 1904, Edgartown inventor Elmer Bliss was issued patent 768,892 for a life-size automaton designed to advertise tobacco products. It smoked real cigars by...
This Was Then: The Hospital
The Martha’s Vineyard Hospital opened in 1922 on Eastville Avenue in the former home of Capt. Hiram and Charlotte Daggett. But this was not...
This Was Then: The Duke
“Pitted with small-pox, and with a hesitation in his speech which at moments of excitement made him difficult to understand, there was nothing in...
This was then: Professor Gough
Wheelmen pose in front of a turn-of-the-century Oak Bluffs bike shop, where the Martha’s Vineyard Savings Bank stands today. The signs read “Repairing &...
Dexter's Barber Shop
Edgartown barber Clarence Dexter (1865–1925) shaves a customer at his shop on North Water Street, in the building now occupied by Skinny’s Fat Sandwiches....
This Was Then: The Courthouse
The Dukes County Courthouse, built in 1858 from local brick, is by no means our first courthouse. The first trial on record on Martha’s...
This Was Then: The pirates of Lake Tashmoo
The Christian Science Monitor reported, “Most of the 190 persons taking part were lineal descendants of characters whose parts they were taking.” Many of...
This was then: The Standpipe
Horace Tilton, Dr. Orland Mayhew, Carey Luce, Frank Bodfish, and horses Domion and Dick pose near the site of the new Tisbury School in...
This was then: Chief Chadwick
Blacksmiths Ed Colleton (1876–1964; left) and Elmer Chadwick (1868–1953; right) stand in Chadwick's workshop in Vineyard Haven, located roughly where Tisbury Market Place is...
This was then: Zeppelin over Gay Head
An airship floats past the Gay Head Cliffs in the late 1920s or early 1930s, to the delight of chilly onlookers.
Dan Grossman of Airships.net...
This was then: Ole Borgen
Norwegian-born Ole Borgen operated a general store and gas station out of the old post office building in North Tisbury, where "Bananas" is today....
This was then: The men who built “Hedge Lee.”
Overlooking Vineyard Haven Harbor stands "Hedge Lee" — an enormous Italian villa with a red tiled roof and white stucco façade, associated in recent...
This was then: Fred James
Fred James
Charles "Fred" James (1868-1924), left, and friend share drinks on the Tivoli platform in Oak Bluffs. Mr. James was a very familiar figure...
This was then: The hydroplane
The Hydroplane
In July 1919, this Curtiss NC-3 hydroplane landed with great fanfare in Oak Bluffs after a bumpy two-and-one-half-hour flight from New York. Aboard...