From the May 7, 1965 edition of the Vineyard Gazette by Constance Greenough Fuller:

My first sight of the Island of Martha’s Vineyard was on Aug. 1, 1889. On that memorable day my parents, my sister, two little brothers and I took “the Dude train” from Boston to Woods Hole where we embarked on the steamer City of Portsmouth which landed us at West Chop. Seventy-five years ago the West Chop dock on which we were landed was a center of lively Island activity. Horses and carriages were drawn up on the dock waiting to receive their passengers while horses and wagons serving the freight house all contributed to the gay excitement of the steamer’s arrival in those days.

West Chop had its birth in the minds of three gentlemen from Boston who had for a number of years come to the Island to shoot ducks during the season along its South Shore. Their idea was somewhat akin to having one’s cake and eating it, too. When they came on Island a comfortable place of their own at which to stay, and possibly one which others might find equally attractive?

On this sound thinking the three gentlemen from Boston got together to form a land company, the original purpose of which was to provide them with comfortable quarters during the ducking season at little, preferably no, cost to themselves, and also to afford quarters for some well favored friends and their families who might be invited to join them.

There was the thought in their minds, also, that West Chop was a most favorably situated spot at which to summer, and possibly their friends and others of their ilk could be persuaded to buy land from their newly formed land company on which to build summer cottages. This could cause no one pain as being quid pro quo, if ever offered - and so, the colony known as West Chop came into being.

The first buildings to be built by the land company in promoting the establishment of West Chop as a summer resort colony are as familiar parts of the scene to all of its residents today as in years past. “The gentlemen from Boston” first built The Cedars, The Inn, and three cottages. Adjacent to these buildings they built another building known then as now as the Casino, the ground floor of which offered recreation for rainy days on its bowling alley and billiard table, while on the second floor there was a room reserved for dancing.

Although The Cedars and The Inn have been maintained so as to meet the improvements and comforts demanded by newer generations, they still provide the same simple comforts as in days past. The Casino, unlike the other two principal buildings, has undergone major interior reconstruction. Gone are the bowling alley and billiard table from the ground floor, having been replaced by a spacious room which serves many purposes - church services on Sunday, meetings and the Saturday night dances during the summer season.

Instead of the six tennis courts which today will be found occupied from dawn to dusk (except on Sunday when by unwritten law play on the Chop does not begin until after church service in the Casino), there was only one court way back then. I remember it well, but none too favorably, as after one week’s play on its concrete surface I always needed a new pair of tennis shoes.

During that first summer of 1889 the three families which occupied the original cottages had their meals in the large dining room of The Inn. They were Dr. and Mrs. Holmans and their six children. Mr. and Mrs. Charles Jackson with their four, and Mr. and Mrs. Charles P. Greenough together with four offspring.

We were a very small community at first and dependent on horses and carriages, bicycles and walking for communication with the rest of the Island. Little by little West Chop grew however, as through the years other houses were built, until finally the day came when all of its shore front had been sold and the lovely lots in woodlands were attracting rightful attention from prospective West Choppers.

A few years after West Chop had been launched successfully another real estate venture got under way at Makonikey when a small hotel and two cottages were built. The City of Portsmouth operating out of Woods Hole then added the new development to her schedule, calling at Makonikey on her regular runs as she did at West Chop. The service to Makonikey continued until the City of Portsmouth was condemned by the U.S. Coast Guard.

Thereafter service by boat to Makonikey ceased while West Chop continued to enjoy regular service at 7 a.m., and 7 p.m. provided by the big Island steamer then in operation. Vineyard Haven people traveled by horse and carriage to and from West Chop when taking the steamer off-Island or returning.

Yes, the face of the Island has changed very much during the past seventy-five years, but of great importance to me as it must be to many others, the atmosphere of peace which lays over it has not. Here Peace still does exist.

Compiled by Hilary Wall
library@mvgazette.com