From the October 21, 1994 Just a Thought column by Arthur Railton: At least a dozen times since Labor Day I’ve been asked, “Did you have a fun summer?” Those of us who live here don’t spend much time thinking about having fun in summer. We’re too busy making sure that everybody else is.

From the Vineyard Gazette edition of Sept. 7, 1945: The sale of the S.M. Mayhew Company general store in West Tisbury was completed last week. Charles A. Turner, proprietor, turned the business over to Albion A. Alley, long his chief clerk, and thus the establishment, conducted in the same building and on the same site since 1858, changed hands for the third time in its history.

From the Vineyard Gazette editions of September 1942: The primaries for the nomination of candidates whose names will be on the ballot at the state election in November will be held on Tuesday, September 15. Not for many years have the primaries held so much interest to Vineyarders, with two contests for county offices in which the Republican nomination is usually the equivalent of election. For the first time in the history of Martha’s Vineyard, or of the motion picture industry, the Island is to be the scene of a World Premiere tomorrow night, with the first public showing of The Moon and Sixpence, made from W. Somerset Maugham’s famous novel, at the Edgartown Playhouse.

From the Vineyard Gazette editions of August, 1933:

A relic of times when Edgartown was a port under the jurisdiction of the British king came to light last week in the form of an old coin found by an employee of James Lineaweaver, a summer resident of Edgartown. The Lineaweaver summer home at Tower Hill is near the site of the old landing where, doubtless, merchant vessels of two centuries and more ago often discharged and fitted.

From the Vineyard Gazette editions of August, 1958:

The Menemsha of today presents a contrast with the Menemsha that Ralph B. Potter of Cranston, R.I. knew sixty summers ago. But this contrast has not been reached abruptly, as Mr. Potter can assure you, for he has vacationed at Menemsha for every one of those sixty summers, and has watched the changes come in slowly and irresistibly.

From the Vineyard Gazette editions of August, 1983:

West Tisbury salvager and treasure hunter Barry Clifford says he’s found proof, at least to his own satisfaction, that he’s discovered the pirate ship Whidah, sunk with its vast treasure, off the coast of Cape Cod in 1717.