Obama Family's Holiday Destination, Martha's Vineyard: Chic, Calming and Costly
An overview of the island off the north-east coast of America wheren the first family will be staying
The day trippers land at Vineyard Haven but visitors say the real charms of Martha's Vineyard – an island of 87.48 square miles off the north-east coast of the US – lie in places such as Edgartown, where Paul McCartney keeps a home, with its elegant whaling captains' houses and craggy inns.
Oak Bluffs, where the African-American community congregates, is a bit more populist with its array of ice-cream emporiums and nightspots that cater to the fun end of the tourist population.
For those wanting to get away, there are the Chappaquiddick Island nature reserves or West Tisbury, which carries the air of rurality with its agricultural tradition and horse farms. The chic crowd head for Chilmark, a village with ocean views and woodlands which commands some of the highest property prices on the island.
The port of Menemsha, with its fishing shacks battered by weather that keeps the tourists away in winter, was the location for the harbor scenes in Steven Spielberg's Jaws.
The Kennedy clan, top picture, has a sprawling compound in Aquinnah. It used to be called Gay Head but the residents voted to change the name in 1997. It is also officially a Native American township under the guardianship of the Wampanoag tribe.
The island, a favorite holiday spot of former president Bill Clinton and family, above, was also home to one of the earliest known deaf communities in the US giving rise to a particular dialect of sign language, known as Martha's Vineyard Sign Language.
In 1970, just off Aquinnah, a Soviet sailor, Simas Kudirka, attempted to defect by jumping from his ship on to a US coastguard cutter. The coastguard let the KGB board and take him back.
Chris McGreal
Oak Bluffs, where the African-American community congregates, is a bit more populist with its array of ice-cream emporiums and nightspots that cater to the fun end of the tourist population.
For those wanting to get away, there are the Chappaquiddick Island nature reserves or West Tisbury, which carries the air of rurality with its agricultural tradition and horse farms. The chic crowd head for Chilmark, a village with ocean views and woodlands which commands some of the highest property prices on the island.
The port of Menemsha, with its fishing shacks battered by weather that keeps the tourists away in winter, was the location for the harbor scenes in Steven Spielberg's Jaws.
The Kennedy clan, top picture, has a sprawling compound in Aquinnah. It used to be called Gay Head but the residents voted to change the name in 1997. It is also officially a Native American township under the guardianship of the Wampanoag tribe.
The island, a favorite holiday spot of former president Bill Clinton and family, above, was also home to one of the earliest known deaf communities in the US giving rise to a particular dialect of sign language, known as Martha's Vineyard Sign Language.
In 1970, just off Aquinnah, a Soviet sailor, Simas Kudirka, attempted to defect by jumping from his ship on to a US coastguard cutter. The coastguard let the KGB board and take him back.
Chris McGreal
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