African American Heritage Trail

July 14, 2021

African American Heritage Trail Honors Story of Esther

A new site on the African American Heritage Trail of Martha’s Vineyard will be dedicated on July 27 at 3 p.m.
African American Heritage Trail
July 28, 2021

New Island Landmark Honors Esther, Who Refused to Be Enslaved

Louisa Hufstader
The African American Heritage Trail of Martha’s Vineyard dedicated a new site at Memorial Wharf commemorating the still-mysterious escape of a fugitive from slavery 277 years ago.
African American Heritage Trail

2003

August 29, 2003
Joseph Carter with Isabel Powell

Adding History to Island’s Heritage Trail: Sunday Gathering Held in Honor of Isabel Powell

Elaine Weintraub
African American Heritage Trail
Adam Clayton Powell
Isabel Washington Powell

Some 250 people gathered Sunday on a glorious late-summer day to honor Ms. Isabel Powell, the matriarch of the Powell family, and the memory of Cong. Adam Clayton Powell Jr. A diverse crowd gathered to pay their respects to Ms. Powell and to take part in the making of history as the Heritage Trail dedicated its 17th site.

1997

September 2, 1997

Ceremonies at Shearer Cottage Dedicate Historic Site on African American Trail

Ethan Kelley
African American History
African American Heritage Trail
Shearer Cottage
Shearer Cottage in Oak Bluffs was the first inn on Martha’s Vineyard, and among the first in the nation, to be owned by and cater to black people. It now has been dedicated to the man for who founded the inn, and is a key stop on the Vineyard’s Heritage Trail.
 
Named for Charles Shearer, the cottage is the culmination of this man’s journey to prosperity.
 

1996

February 23, 1996

Heritage Trail: Island Project Shows Story of Black History

Yvonne Guzman
African American History
African American Heritage Trail
Shearer Cottage
In the Waterview Farm area of Oak Bluffs is a boulder as tall as a man. Back in the 1790s, the Rev. John Saunders de­livered his sermons here, from atop “Pulpit Rock.” Mr. Saunders, who was African-American, was one of the first people to preach Methodism on Martha’s Vineyard.
 
But for anyone who doesn’t know the story, this is just a rock in an Oak Bluffs subdiyision. In fact, many sites, though significant to the Vineyard’s African-American history, sit un­marked.
 
Today, some Island people want to change that.
 

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