Growing up in New England, I’d always heard about Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard, but had never been to either. They seemed like vacation destinations for the wealthy. I didn’t have intentions of ever visiting as I didn’t know much about either island. However, an opportunity presented itself that has now allowed me to be an annual visitor to one of those islands! In 2017, my sister Lauren was living and working in Boston. One of her friends/co-workers offered to rent out her summer home on the Martha’s Vineyard to Lauren for a few days. My sister invited me and five of our mutual friends to do a long weekend on the island. There would be four of us traveling together from New Hampshire and three from Boston. We all met in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, at the ferry terminal early in the morning and took the ferry to Oak Bluffs. The house we were staying at was in West Tisbury, a few minutes drive from an amazing beach. The island isn’t terribly large so everything was relatively easy to get to.
Our first day on the Vineyard we decided to go out to a fancy dinner. We weren’t really familiar with the island at the time, so we went to M.V. Chowder Co. in Oak Bluffs. After dinner we thought we’d walk around a bit and find a bar for a night cap but we felt a little silly – we were so overdressed! We stopped at Lookout Tavern for a drink but didn’t stay long.
Our second day was full of exploring. Lauren had mentioned an alpaca farm that we should stop at. We had no idea what to expect but this was (and still is) one of our favorite places to go. Island Alpaca is a quaint farm with about 50 or so alpacas on site and a small gift shop. You’re able to pet the alpacas and take pictures with them. The workers are so knowledgeable and love the animals. I learned so much during our first visit. My favorite alpaca was Angelica. She was such a hungry lady and just ate the whole time we were there. I loved her!
We also went to Edgartown to see what that part of the island was like. While Oak Bluffs reminded me more of a touristy beach town, Edgartown seemed a little more upscale. We got lunch at The Wharf Restaurant and Pub before walking around, then did some shopping downtown. There were well-known brand stores like Lily Pulitzer but smaller independent stores too.
Another one of Lauren’s co-workers had a house on the island and he invited the seven of us over for a delicious seafood dinner. After dinner he took us back to Edgartown to Back Door Donuts, a famous donut shop with two locations on the island. The Edgartown location opened at 10 pm and we had to wait in a long line to place the order. The donuts were pretty good but the experience was a lot of fun!
The day we left, we spent the morning at the beach because our return ferry left out of Vineyard Haven in the late afternoon. We had time to kill before our departure so we walked around and did more shopping. We loved Vineyard Haven – it was the perfect mix of the laid back atmosphere of Oak Bluffs and the charm of Edgartown. There were so many quaint shops and art galleries.
The sunset on the ferry ride back to Woods Hole was the perfect ending to our long weekend and the beginning of our annual summer tradition.
Have you ever been to Martha’s Vineyard? If so, where is your favorite place to go on the island?
📍I acknowledge the lands mentioned in this post are the ancestral lands of the Wôpanâak (Wampanoag) and Pokanoket people.
The Adventures of Suze 
Leave a comment