Photos of long ago Martha’s Vineyard.
Chris Baer teaches photography and graphic design at Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School. He’s been collecting vintage photographs for many years.Holmes Smith GroceryThe Holmes Smith grocery store, photographed here about 1905, occupied the building...
This was then: antique photos of Martha’s Vineyard
The Casino burned down in September 1892, together with the Sea View Hotel and a number of other neighboring buildings. 'A southwest wind is all that saved the town,' reported the papers.
This was then: A full bath more than once a week
the other rules of the game included 'Sleeping long hours with windows open, Drinking as much milk as possible, but no coffee or tea, Drinking at least four glasses of water a day, and Playing part of every day out of doors.'
This was then: Oak Bluffs, early summer
Fred Metell, whose sign appears in the background, was a popular Oak Bluffs plumber who later sold the Island’s first electric refrigerators. His father, José Pimental, arrived on the Vineyard in the 1870s from Flores Island in the Azores; his name was corrupted to “Joseph P. Metell” and he became the progenitor of the Island’s Metell family.