West Tisbury

West Tisbury has all the characteristics people associate with a typical "New England village," with its white church, general store, post office, old mill, farms, and ponds. It was the mill site that originally attracted the settlers here, because there was no stream in Edgartown strong enough to dam for a water wheel. The grist mill gave way in 1847 to the manufacture of satinet, a heavy fabric for whalemen's jackets made from Island wool.

The Congregational church on State Road is always open to visitors. Solid and settled as it now looks, even this structure did not escape the Islanders' penchant for moving buildings around. The original churchyard, where the first settlers of the town are buried, is about a quarter of a mile down the road. Near the church is the Dukes County Academy building, now West Tisbury's Town Hall. Next to that is the famous old Agricultural Hall, site of the Farmer's Market and other events in the summer.

Several old houses here started out as inns, back when a trip from the down-Island ports to Gay Head or Chilmark was a long haul over sandy roads. Daniel Webster stayed at the house next to the store building. Across the little pond from the old inn is a house built by the son of Miles Standish in 1668. Captains owned the largest houses in town, and some of the finest are still occupied by their descendants. Several captains' houses can be found on Music Street, given its name after a number of its families purchased pianos with new whaling money.

The Lambert's Cove settlement has its share of fine homes and a charming white church. The cove was once a place of anchorage for the town of West Tisbury. The area housed clay works, salt works (needed for the herring which were exported), and extensive trap fishing operations. All this has vanished. Even the road to the harbor is gone. A woodland path leads to the beach, which is now set aside for year-round and summer residents of West Tisbury.

Other points of interest are the Cedar Tree Neck Nature Preserve and the Christiantown Memorial to the Praying Indians. Cedar Tree Neck may be reached from the Indian Hill Road. It is a matchless piece of unspoiled Vineyard woods with a freshwater pond and brooks, bounded by North Shore Beach. Picnics, fishing, and bathing are not permitted here, but there are marked trails for those who appreciate the opportunity to watch birds, follow woodland paths, and walk along a quiet shore. The Memorial is located off Christiantown Road. Here one may see a tiny chapel, a pulpit rock where services were held for the Wampanoag Indians in the 17th century, and the rough small burial stones of these first converts. The Martha's Vineyard Garden Club has planted a wildflower garden nearby.