Henry Beetle Hough, in his 1936 book “Martha’s Vineyard, Summer Resort,” listed the Island’s five most colorful, outward-facing characters of the late 19th century: a “bell ringer at the camp meeting,” “a somewhat mad woman with her hens,” “Blind Nathan Athearn from North Tisbury who went about with a green market basket calling, ‘Bananas […]
At 3:45 am on Friday, Jan. 18, 1884, the 275-foot steamer City of Columbus, bound for Savannah from Boston, struck Devil’s Bridge off Gay Head, and sank beside the treacherous rocks. Despite the heroic labors of local residents mostly Wampanoag fishermen willing to brave the bitter, dangerous winter surf more than a hundred […]