Waxing Poetic

From Gazette editions of December, 1985:

Vineyard residents have become accustomed to receiving mail addressed in unusual ways. But the other day Travis Tuck, well-known Island metal sculptor, called to say he had received a package addressed to Vineyard Heaven. He remarked, “I know it’s a nice place we live in and all, but . . . .”

Often times these days Stephen Potter is up at 5:30 a.m. turning on the wax heater in the cheese-making room at Seaside Dairy in Edgartown. The 200 pounds of wax need time to melt before Sally Snipes comes in to dip blocks of cheddar cheese. And this is the season for cheese.

Sally works every morning dunking blocks of cheese in festive red wax to deliver to stores and mail to customers all over the nation for the holidays. Lynn Potter stays near the phone to catch the calls from people in Boston and New York, Connecticuut and Pennsylvania who want to order a block of cheese from the Island. And Libet Peters comes in to help tie plaid ribbons around the red blocks, seal them in plastic bags, and pack them in cardboard boxes lined with green and white tissue.

And Nelson Jones is making the cheese as usual from the excess winter milk the 100-cow herd produces. This is the second Christmas Seaside Dairy has sold its cheese, and the orders tumble in. Last year Seaside sent about 350 orders to customers. This year Stephen Potter predicts the crew will mail 1,000.

The dairy is one of only five cheese producers in the commonwealth and one of just two using cow’s milk. It is the only cheddar maker. Seaside Dairy distributes cheese to eight or nine Vineyard stores and several shops and farms off-Island. The Potters hope to move into the major metropolitan markets of New York and Boston in the next few months.

For now, everyone’s just concentrating on getting those orders out for Christmas.

Vineyard towns are deep in zoning troubles these days and zoning violations are cropping up everywhere you look. These violations have occupied much discussion in both Tisbury and Edgartown recently. Two weeks ago the Edgartown selectmen ordered the removal of a dormer on the Stobart gallery because it violated the building permit. Last week the owner of the gallery declared that he would not remove the dormer and said he was being used as an example.

In Vineyard Haven, enforcement of zoning rules has also become a difficult subject. This week the Tisbury selectmen worked on regulations governing guest houses, many of which have operated in violation of zoning bylaws. Last week a zoning dispute erupted in a confrontation before the Tisbury board of appeals where the police were called in. And Tisbury is working now with an acting building inspector, with A. Freeman Leonard having retired in July and his appointed successor having quit after just three months on the job.

In West Tisbury there has been an outcry over buildings going up and zoning problems being found after the fact. Chilmark experienced a political explosion over issues of zoning enforcement in 1984, which ended with a split decision by selectmen to replace the building inspector. All across the Island the pattern is the same. The building inspector’s job is thankless and fast becoming impossible.

We are in the throes of a decade-long building boom on the Vineyard and the job of enforcing zoning regulations and building codes together has become too much for one person to handle. The duties of building and zoning enforcement must be separated. Until this happens our Island zoning problems will remain unsolved.

Christmas is still days away, but the presents beneath the tree at the home of Shirley and Frederick McCarthy in Vineyard Haven are piled thickly. Every once in a while, as if to feed the tree, which twinkles this afternoon, two of their children climb the stairs that lead out of the basement, bearing one freshly wrapped package after another. They never seem to stop.

But then neither do the McCarthys. Their reputation as a family willing to pour their devotion into raising children has grown on the Island. Nine years ago, a local minister asked them to become foster parents and open the doors of their home to children who needed a family environment.

The McCarthys have been foster parents to more than half a dozen children, in addition to their own three children, who are grown and also have children. Mrs. McCarthy has trouble recalling exactly how many children have stayed at her home. “I’ve had an awful lot of kids — I think nine. The majority come for a short term and they end up staying. They just love it here. I don’t know, it’s the most fun you could ever have — to have a bunch of children.”

Compiled by Cynthia Meisner

library@mvgazette.com