Weekly Column: The Edges of Vineyard Haven

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Geraldine Brooks was born and grew up in Sydney, Australia – but now considers Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts (population 3,800) as “my town.”

She writes about her town in Smithsonian, February 2009, p. 23.
Among her reflections about Vineyard Haven, four topics emerge, including a surprise or two.

• Town Meetings – “I love these meetings. It’s where I begin to grasp the intertwining histories of families who have lived on this island since the 17th century, in the case of the English-settler descendants, and much earlier for the Wampanoag Indians who thrived here before the English arrived and who never allowed themselves to be displaced.”

• Seasons – “The island of Martha’s Vineyard is two quite different places: summer and off-season, although those of us lucky enough to live here prefer to think of the demarcation differently: summer and secret season.”

• Cemetery – “And if, like me, you’re a cemetery buff, Vineyard Haven has some of the best. When the winds are too raw and blustery for the beach, I walk my dogs to the graveyards and commune with the island dead. There’s a lovely little old cemetery up by West Chop, where some of the many writers who’ve loved this town are laid to rest.”

• Edges – “Here’s what I love most about my town: its edges. In three directions, Vineyard Haven ends abruptly, as a town should, surrendering, gracefully and completely, to farms and fields and watery expanses of harbor and salt ponds. Within minutes, you can leave town behind and be lost on a woody trail, eye to eye with a ewe or out on the whitecaps with a sea gull.”

It’s a worthy check-list for those who care about the places where they live.