News
Hello, Grace
Aimee N. Blood and Paul B. Cotton of Vineyard Haven announce the birth of a daughter, Grace Ann Cotton, born on April 20 at the Martha’s Vineyard Community Hospital. Grace weighed 8 pounds, 2 ounces at birth.
Tisbury Kindergarten
The Tisbury School has invited the parents or guardians of children who will be five years of age on or before Sept. 1, 2008, to register their child for kindergarten at the school. To request a pre-registration packet, call Barbara Armstrong by April 11 at 508-696-6500.
Gabriel Arrives
Edna and Fabricio Dos Reis of Oak Bluffs announce the birth of a son, Gabriel Baia Dos Reis, born April 4 at the Martha’s Vineyard Community Hospital. Gabriel weighed 7 pounds, 15 ounces at birth.
As a young architecture student, Craig Whitaker took some time off from study one day to go see a movie, a western. A spaghetti western, as it turned out, directed by the Italian Sergio Leone in Spain and starring Clint Eastwood.
Mr. Whitaker didn’t know that when he went in, but as soon as he saw Clint Eastwood ride into town, he knew the movie had not been shot in America, for Eastwood was riding into a plaza.
“In America,” he said, “We don’t have plazas. We have Main street.”
Up-Island, they don’t do Main street. Post offices and general stores are not a given either. In fact, go up far enough and town center — or even proof of life — can be difficult to locate.
Earlier this week, on a sunny, warm May afternoon, Main street in Edgartown resembled a ghost town.
Although year-round places like Edgartown Hardware were doing a moderate business, well over half of all businesses were closed while several storefronts were empty.
Go back a few decades, though, and the scene was quite different.