Menemsha seaport at sunset; Martha’s Vineyard CC

Martha’s Vineyard Cultural Sites

Seaport of Menemsha
DESCRIPTION: This was the scene of the escape to New Bedford and from there to Canada of Randall Burton, a fugitive from enslavement in Mississippi, who was hidden in Aquinnah (formerly called “Gay Head”). There is also an interesting whaling statue as you walk along the beach.
ADDRESS: Vineyard Sound in Menemsha

Mural of Captain William Martin
DESCRIPTION: See it at Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School
ADDRESS: Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road; Oak Bluffs

Cottages Corner
DESCRIPTION: Formerly a firehouse, it is owned by and houses the African-American Women’s Philanthropic Organization, “The Cottagers.”
ADDRESS: Pequot Avenue at Circuit Avenue; Oak Bluffs

Powell House, “The Bunny Cottage”
DESCRIPTION: This is the home of Isabel Powell, left to her following a divorce from Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Adam was one of the earliest African American US Congressmen after Reconstruction and a Reverend at Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem.
ADDRESS: Oak Bluffs

Nancy Michael Memorial Plaque
DESCRIPTION: This wise woman was the subject of litigation between the town of Edgartown and Tilbury.
ADDRESS: Memorial Wharf, Edgartown Harbor

Rebecca Amos Memorial Plaque
DESCRIPTION: The life of Rebecca, a former West African slave, is celebrated by a plaque at Great Bight Reserve; she inherited property from her Native American husband, Elisha Amos, in this area where there is a field still known as Rebecca’s field.
ADDRESS: North Road, Chilmark

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