Martha’s Vineyard

Before you return to the mainland, take the time to visit the enchanting islands of Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard. Leave your car in the parking lot at any one of the various departure points (Hyannis, Woods Hole, Falmouth, or New Bedford) from which airplane or ferry services (but not necessarily both) are available. Some ferries are catamarans and make very fast trips. The frequency of both air and ferry service depends on the season and the weather (on the day I was to go to Nantucket, fog prevented me from flying and I ended up taking the one-hour ferry from Hyannis). You can fly to Nantucket or Martha’s Vineyard from Hyannis (the best and most frequent service), Providence, and Boston with Cape Air (800-352-0714), Island Airline (508-228-7575), and US Airways (800-428-4322). Hy-Line (508-778-2600) has a one-hour, high-speed catamaran, and the Steamship Authority runs a high-speed catamaran and other boats that take somewhat longer (508-495-FAST). Ferries to Martha’s Vineyard leave from Falmouth, Hyannis, Woods Hole, New Bedford, and Nantucket. I suggest that you ask the staff at the inn where you are planning to stay for their recommendation of the best and fastest routes. The two offshore islands of Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard were major whaling industry seaports from 1740 to 1830. The wealthy tradesmen who were associated with this very profitable venture built many of the magnificent homes along the streets of the seafaring ports of both islands. Martha’s Vineyard has a great number of villages, so unless you are going to restrict your visit to the village where the ferry docks, you will either have to rent a car (my suggestion if you are planning to make more than just a brief visit) or take taxis to reach the various parts of the island. Of course, you can also rent a bicycle, but remember that the villages, which appear to be so close together on the map, are really several to many miles apart. If you fly to Martha’s Vineyard, you will need to rent a car since the airport is some distance from the island’s points of interest. The ferry (from Wood’s Hole, Hyannis, Falmouth, or Nantucket) will bring you into one of the three principal townships on Martha’s Vineyard. Vineyard Haven, Oak Bluffs, and Edgartown are distinctly different from one another, although they are all fishing villages. Vineyard Haven, the principal entry point to the Vineyard and a source of rental cars or bicycles for touring the island, has a group of shops and restaurants, but very quickly changes into a rural landscape stretching along the coast with homes built in the 19^th century. There is particular charm in the settlement of Oak Bluffs, a meeting place for Methodists in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries. Around the meeting ground and the tabernacle that was built for these religious gatherings, a colony of small, wooden cottages decorated with gingerbread (Victorian lace-like) trim were built and painted in wonderfully vivid colors. Edgartown was the seaport from which the whalers left to hunt the elusive whale, and the island’s mansions were built in this area. Be sure to visit Gay Head with its clay cliffs, which have stood high above the sea for the last 100 million years—their colors and majesty are memorable.