Martha’s Vineyard

On Wednesday I took the train up to Boston, grabbed a rental car to Woods Hole, and then took the ferry over to Martha’s Vineyard.

The Vineyard is 230 square kilometres – you can drive around it in around 90 minutes. Jaws was filmed here in 1974. In 1977 the island tried to secede from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts after they lost their seat in the State House. They talked of becoming the 51st state (which was highly unlikely) but what was hilarious is that other states tried to woo them – Connecticut, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont and Maine all said they would welcome the Vineyard as part of the state – and one state even offered them two seats in their State House!

A typical road on the island. Pretty much every road is surrounded by bush and is lovely to drive along.

This is the street I am staying on, in Oak Bluffs. It’s a gorgeous little town – one main road of shops, and around 1,500 houses.

This photo is taken in Edgartown and in the distance is Chappaquiddick Island. Chappaquiddick is of course most well known as the place where Senator Edward Kennedy drove off a bridge, resulting in the drowning of Mary Jo Kopechne. Kennedy did not report the crash and the car and her body were found the next morning.

And this is where I spent most of the day. It is around a one minute walk from where I am staying. I can see why it is such a popular place with so many prominent Americans.