The people at the Home & Garden Television network like to say they didn’t choose Martha’s Vineyard as the location of their nineteenth Dream Home giveaway; it chose them. About a year ago, when the HGTV team was scouting potential sites, the Vineyard was an easy sell. “This is an ideal location. It’s beautiful here,” said Jack Thomasson, the official house planner for the HGTV Dream Home. “People are really friendly on Martha’s Vineyard. The Island has a lot to offer.”
Sydney Bender
Most of the year I live in the San Francisco Bay Area and when it comes up in conversation that I own a house on Martha’s Vineyard, people always get that look. “Oh, I see,” the look says, “you’re one of those rich East Coasters with a vacation home on that exclusive little island.”
Elizabeth Nordlinger
We’ve all heard the complaints – some Island towns are saddled with higher property taxes, while others are among the lowest in the state. The residential tax rate in Chilmark is a mere $2.48 per thousand dollars of property value, for instance, while over in Tisbury it’s more than three times as much at $8.39. Pop into any Vineyard cocktail party and you’ll hear plenty of theories. Chilmark offers fewer municipal services than other towns, some will say. Others claim it pays less than its fair share for education.
I first met Albert back in the eighties. My then-future wife rented his house in Edgartown one summer and I used to bump into him from time to time. Albert was a little rough around the edges and a bit of a free thinker, but basically a straight-up guy.
Geoff Currier
For the true enthusiast, owning a home alongside an Island golf course can be as exciting as a hole in one.
Joyce Wagner
An Edgartown village heirloom is staged to make a difference in Rwanda.
Karla Araujo
For the last thirty-five years, Jean Dupon has owned and operated Le Grenier at 96 Main Street in Vineyard Haven, serving French cuisine in the second-story restaurant and cultivating a devoted clientele. But now he’s ready to say au revoir to all that – the restaurant industry and its fifteen-hour days. “I’m sixty-nine years old,” he says. “It’s time to relax.”
Erin Haggerty
