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Martha’s Vineyard Museum

7.1.19

Encyclopedia Vineyardia: T

Tabor, Philip: English colonist who moved to Great Harbour (Edgartown) from Cape Cod and appears in the land record books as early as 1647. A townsman in good standing for some years, he was elected as a magistrate in 1653 and owned a large tract of land at Mashacket. In 1655, however, his successors in office “agreed” that Tabor was guilty of unspecified immoralities and he sold his land and moved to Rhode Island.

Toad Rock: Aquinnah landmark that looks, naturally, like a giant toad. According to Wampanoag folklore, the toad was a companion of the giant Moshup, and turned into stone when that deity left the Island. Now in a land bank preserve, the rock is thought to have also been used as an unofficial “post office,” where Wampanoags gathered and left messages for one another in the toad’s enlarged right “eye.”

Toboggan Slide: Carnival ride built in 1887 next to the original site of the Flying Horses carousel on North Bluff in Oak Bluffs. Measuring 850 feet from top to bottom, the ride was fast and popular but, as it turned out, short-lived. In the fall of 1888 a violent northeaster struck the Island, causing major damage. “Summer visitors this year will witness the fearful results of last winter’s storms,” The New York Times reported in 1889. “The carrousel [sic] that stood next to the Casino has been moved from the sea front to safer quarters near the main street, and the toboggan slide is a thing of memory.”