Sure, summer on Martha’s Vineyard comes with sticky, sweltering weather. But for every hot and sweaty afternoon, there are just as many cool mornings and delightfully breezy evenings. Such is peak season on the Island. While we may not love sunscreen, how nice to be by the beach? Maybe our ice cream always seems to melt too fast, but how lucky are we to have ice cream at all? And there may be traffic, but with that comes an influx of energy and excitement at bars, restaurants, and events. We embrace all that the season has to offer. Join us – because, either way, summer never lasts forever.
What to Do
Nostalgia is a dangerous drug, but looking back at the past with clear eyes is essential for progress. This year, Americans across the country are doing just that – they’re celebrating the 250th anniversary of the founding of our great and complicated country. On the Island, mark the semiquincentennial with events at the Martha’s Vineyard Museum, including a talk about Grey’s Raid from history power couple Bow and Norah Van Riper in August, and a Vineyard Preservation Trust exhibit about independence at the Vincent House in Edgartown through Labor Day.
Where to Eat
Summer comes with a new slate of changes to the Oak Bluffs restaurant scene, and this year is no different. Taco joint Dos Mas is now an upscale American place called ESH. Highlands General, a store with everything from rotisserie chicken to animal crackers, opened where Linda Jean’s used to be. What was Lobsterville Bar & Grille will now be a cocktail lounge called Jetty Beach House. And Inkwell Beach House will be in the former Martha’s Vineyard Chowder Co. spot, which moved up the street. No matter the name: eat local.
What We’re Watching
What do you call a documentary made with a handcrafted set of miniatures, complemented by live footage? A docu-dollhouse? Puppet vérité? Vineyard filmmakers Anna Fitch and Banker White call it Yo (Love Is a Rebellious Bird), the title of their film about Yolanda Shea, a free-spirited Swiss immigrant friend of Fitch’s. The film played at the Berlin International Film Festival and a rough cut was shown on the Island. We’ll keep our eyes out for the official Vineyard premiere.
What’s Up and What’s Down
Forget about the New York Stock Exchange. We’ll tell you what’s up and what’s down on the Island, what’s rising and what’s falling. Remember: buy low, sell high.
What's Up:
What says summer more than opening a can of something cold and arguing with your nearest and dearest as you struggle to put up a tent, mosquitoes buzzing in your ear? Say what you will about camping – we look forward to it every year. There’s only one campground on the Island, but that doesn’t stop us. Martha’s Vineyard Family Campground, which had been run by the same family since 1972, was sold to Northgate Holdings, an outdoor hospitality company, this spring. So get your tent, do some deep breathing, and head out to your site.
What's Down:
What do we want? Affordable housing! When do we want it? Now – but we can wait until next year, when a West Tisbury project backed by Island Housing Trust will be completed. The $6.7 million development at 401 State Road will include eight affordable units, two of which will be restricted to people making up to 80 percent of the area’s median income. The other two will be capped at 100 percent.
Numerology
$18 million: In the fight against erosion, Edgartown has saved this much money, thanks to its dredge that supplies the town with local sand.
300 yards: In the 1950s, South Beach was about this much farther out, said Andrew Kelly, Edgartown park commissioner.
10 feet: In some spots on Martha’s Vineyard, erosion rates have topped this distance per year.
Well Said
“I go between teary-eyed and feeling like a fifth grader on the first day of school vacation.”
– Peter Wells, who co-owns the Chappy Ferry with Sally Snipes, has proposed selling the business that connects Edgartown and Chappaquiddick, having run it since 2008.
What to Read
Into the Blue by Emma Brodie (Ballantine Books, April 2026)
Emma Brodie, a Martha’s Vineyard resident and author of Songs in Ursa Major (Vintage, 2022), is back with a space-themed love story. Brodie cites some classic romances as her inspiration: Wuthering Heights, Romeo and Juliet, and Star Wars, of course. In Into the Blue, it’s the summer of 2000, and AJ Graves might be working at a video rental store (remember those?) in a small Massachusetts town, but her heart is decidedly elsewhere. She has dreams of leaving home and writing for Saturday Night Live. Before long, Noah Drew enters her life. They become friends, then something even more intimate: acting partners. But when he suddenly vanishes, AJ is left bereft. Readers jump ahead seven years and AJ has moved to New York City. She’s working as an actor when she learns that she’s cast in the same television show as Noah. A classic case of will-they-won’t-they unfolds as the two are forced to confront their attraction to each other and the meaning of their shared past. “This one’s for the yearners,” Booklist wrote in its review.
