Martha's Vineyard, MA #1

Last week we had a trip to Martha's Vineyard for a Saturday wedding of a nephew.  We made it a family vacation by arriving on Wednesday and departing on Monday.  We booked a spacious house on AirBnB.

For those who don't know, Martha's Vineyard is a sizable island off the coast of Massachusetts.  It requires a 45 minute ferry ride to and from.  There are three main towns: Vineyard Haven, Oak Bluffs and Edgartown.  The latter is the oldest European settlement.  Native peoples populated the island for thousands of years.  We stayed in Oak Bluffs.  Much of the island is forested with scrub oak and designated conservation lands preserve some of the important ecosystems.

Thursday was a gorgeous day and we headed to Aquinnah to the Gay Head Cliffs and spend time on the beach. This is a Native American reservation of the Wampanoag.

Here are some of the sights from Thursday.

First we went to check out the lighthouse.

The lighthouse stood here until very recently.  Beyond the fence are the cliffs which are slowly eroding.

Down at the beach looking at these clay cliffs formed by glaciers eons ago.

There large rocks were left when the glacier retreated.

On closer examination the cliffs are multiple colors.

At the top edge you can see holes where we think swallows nest.

My granddaughter enjoyed her first trip to the beach.

We were glad we chose Thursday for the beach because Friday was blustery and cold.  Watch for those photos on another post.