Like many homes in downtown Edgartown, the property at 52 South Summer Street is linked to the town’s whaling history. Built on the corner of South Water and Cooke Streets in 1860 by Captain Asa Gifford, it was eventually moved up a block and sold to Captain Ellsworth West. In whaling’s heyday, the street “harbored more homes of captains than any other street in Edgartown,” wrote the Vineyard Gazette.
This past summer, the 5,827-square-foot home sold for $9,250,000. A far cry from the property owned by the captains, it boasts a wine cellar, media room, in-ground pool, and guest suite above the carriage house. Despite its various renovations, the historic exterior has been maintained thanks to the town’s Historic District Commission.
The Crunch
40: Number of properties sold in the month prior to publication. Down from 42 during the same time frame in the previous year.
349: Number of properties on the market at the time of publication. Up from 285 in the year prior during the same time frame.
$27 M: Highest price paid for a property in the month prior to publication: a pondfront, 5,656-square-foot, single-family home on more than eighteen acres in Butlers Cove in Edgartown.
$380 K: Lowest price paid for a property in the month prior to publication: a 305-square-foot condo on Skiff Avenue in Vineyard Haven.
$2.1 M: Median price of properties sold in the month prior to publication.
$6.4 M: The sale price for the historic farmhouse in Vineyard Haven owned by Marc Brown – creator of the children’s book and television series, Arthur – and his wife, artist Laurene Krasny Brown, since 1988.
Based on arms-length transactions recorded by LINK, the Island’s multiple listing service.
This article appears in Fall-Winter Home & Garden 2026-2027.