Live on Martha’s Vineyard long enough and you might pick up some strong opinions about what makes the Island special. For every other island out there, we imagine there are plenty of locals with some equally strong opinions. So, we decided to call them up and ask them about the place they call home.

THE ISLAND: Tortola, British Virgin Islands

THE ISLANDER: Aragorn Dick-Read

THE STORY IN BRIEF: Tortola, the largest and most populated of the British Virgin Islands, is home to 24,045 people – similar to our count of 20,530. But while we have about ninety-six square miles of space, Tortolians have about one-fifth of that. Back in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, the mountainous island was a haven for pirates. Now, it’s packed with offshore finance companies that do business around the world. But some locals, like Aragorn Dick-Read, have their sights set closer to home.

GOOD MOON RISING: Dick-Read was born and raised on the island and he’s lunar focused: it’s in the name of his Good Moon Farm, which he started about twenty years ago, in part to combat the island’s heavy reliance on food shipped in from the U.S. He also creates metal ball sculptures designed to be lit on fire, which he lights at full moon parties that he hosts at his art studio on the beach.

GENERATION TO GENERATION: When Dick-Read was growing up, his mother asked him if there would be enough opportunity to justify him remaining on the island. “It’s a small community,” he said, “but we’re kind of blessed in that, like Martha’s Vineyard, we have a tourism economy.” Both his farm and his art practice benefit from visitors. Now that he has his own kids, Dick-Read wonders about the opportunities available to them. 

ISLAND TO ISLAND: Fortunately, he doesn’t have to worry much. Both his sons, Zanti and Ceiba, have an adventurous spirit that has taken them far. Zanti has even been to Martha’s Vineyard – and he got here by sailboat. “He went up and checked the whole scene out up there and made some nice connections with the wooden boat world,” Dick-Read said, including with folks at Gannon and Benjamin boat builders. Next, father and son plan to build a forty-foot wooden sloop. Will they take it back up to the Vineyard? Only time will tell. “We’ve got to build it first,” he said.