Gay Head

Since the 1700’s a beacon has warned sailors of the dangers off the shores of Aquinnah. Now the light herself was in danger of tumbling into the sea. A read of the fascinating history of the lighthouse and efforts by the local towns to save her can be found on the Gay Head Lighthouse Advisory Committee website

The lighthouse is located on the island of Martha’s Vineyard, off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Often simply called “The Vineyard” by locals, originally it was called Noepe by the Wampanoag, native to the island before the arrival of English and Cape Verde immigrants. The descendants of the Wampanoag still live on the peninsula called Aquinnah, where the lighthouse location was established. During the age of whaling, the island was a hub for ships putting to sea in search of whales and their oil, a lucrative business that made many of the ship owners wealthy men. The country’s civil war brought an end to the whaling industry on the island. Confederate warships seized or trapped the whalers in the Vineyard’s harbor, causing the island’s financial ruin.

The island was reborn when the Edgartown Methodists began to hold their annual meeting on the island in 1835. “Campers” attending the yearly meeting enjoyed bathing on the island’s beaches and soon the Vineyard began it’s conversion to a seaside resort.

The quintessential definition of a New England island resort town, the Vineyard served as Amity Island in the original movie “Jaws.” Much of the movie footage was shot in the waters off the Vineyard, as well as locations ashore.

The island is very busy in the summer, overflowing with visitors from the mainland. I took the ferry across with friends, but was unable to visit the lighthouse properly, instead just stopping at an overlook along a scenic drive of the coastline.

If you go: Catch the ferry to the island from Hyannis on Cape Cod. It’s a leisurely 2+hour cruise out to Edgartown Harbor, or you can take a faster ferry from the Cape or North Kingstown in Rhode Island.