Travel News
Car-Free Martha’s Vineyard Vacation: Biking, Rowing, Beating Traffic
Martha's Vineyard at sunset
When a U.S. president travels, gridlock is almost guaranteed to precede the nation’s chief executive’s arrival and congestion seems to envelop that location. What happens when a U.S. president vacations? Some would claim it’s not much of a vacation for anyone else.
This week, with the Obama family (and entourage) more or less taking over Martha’s Vineyard, Jamie Stringfellow, co-founder of WeekendWalk.com, offers up car-free island vacation ideas that you’ll want to try with or without a presidential traffic jam.
There’s added incentive at the moment to going car-free on Martha’s Vineyard. In addition to the thousands of summer visitors and their cars, there are several hundred Secret Service and press vehicles crowding the island roads.
Kate Feiffer walking along the trails at Cape Poge, Chappaquiddick, where hundreds of acres of trails alongside the Atlantic Ocean and Cape Poge bay are run by the trustees of reservations. Credit: Jamie Stringfellow
Avoiding traffic isn’t the only reason to choose to bike, walk or paddle around the Vineyard. The Obamas’ visit is also an inspiration to get moving. Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” (which has many local chapters, including on the Vineyard) organization is aiming to get families on active vacations.
With over 40 miles of bike paths, hiking trails on thousands of acres of conservation land, the Vineyard is an ideal place to step away from the vehicle. Plus there are quiet country lanes, dirt roads and sandy public beaches.
And you can fill in the getting-there gaps with a stellar local transit company. The Martha’s Vineyard Regional Transit Authority (“VTA” to us locals) will pick you up or drop you off anywhere along its extensive routes.
On the Water
Setting out on a Kayak on Martha's Vineyard. Credit Alison Shaw
The Vineyard is puddled with ponds, lakes, lagoons, bays and harbors. Paul Schneider, co-founder of WeekendWalk.com, wrote The Enduring Shore about his experience kayacking around Cape Cod, Nantucket and the Vineyard. Scneider’s two favorite paddling routes are both “up-island,” on the more rural end of the island where Chilmark, West Tisbury and Aquinnah (Gay Head) are located.
Start in Menemsha (a working fishing village in Chilmark that was the location of many scenes from Jaws), when the tide has just begun to rise, and paddle down the north shore to Lake Tashmoo. “The rising tide is like a river current pushing you along,” says Schneider. “And in the summer, any wind is most likely going to be at your back as well.”
You can pull your kayak up for some great short hikes in the Menemsha Hills Reservation and Cedar Tree Neck. “There are also some prime little beaches to stop and have lunch or a swim,” Schneider says. “Great Rock Bight is probably the best of them. If you are feeling game, you can go all the way to Vineyard Haven, passing right under noses of the private beach patrols of West Chop.”
Gay Head Cliffs, Aquinnah. Credit: Alison Shaw.
If you don’t want to paddle back the way you came, have a pal shuttle you to Point A. Many boat rental companies will do this for you. Boat and windsurfing rentals all over the island are listed here.
For guided paddling trips, my favorites are with Chick Dowd at Island Spirit, who runs sunrise breakfast tours around the Gay Head Cliffs, sunset paddles in Edgartown Harbor, full moon paddles on Menemsha Pond, and overnight adventures to nearby Cuttyhunk. If you’re a newbie to kayaking, Chick will teach you (and your kids) on calm ponds before paddling off into the sunset.
Another great paddling experience is with The Trustees of Reservations, a century-old conservation organization with properties all over Massachusetts. They have guided and self-guided hiking, kayaking and snorkeling tours on the Vineyard and Chappaquiddick.
Biking and Walking Routes
Holly Nadler, who wrote the book Vineyard Confidential, has a favorite biking route along the causeway/bike path along Beach Road from Oak Bluffs to Edgartown that has the Nantucket Sound to your north and Sengekontacket pond to your south. When you ride this route, make sure to stop at the Edgartown “big Bridge” and watch a Vineyard tradition––people jumping off the rails of the bridge into the water flowing from Sengekontacket out to the sea.
At the Polly Hill Arboretum in West Tisbury, there are guided walks such as “Wild Edibles and Medicinals Walk,” where walkers “walk, observe and gather wild edibles to create a delicious salad and herbal tea to enjoy together.”
Self-Guided Inn-to-Inn Tours: Biking or Walking
The great thing about islands is that they are natural loop trails. Though people have circumnavigated the entire island by beach, there are more manageable ways to travel inn to inn.
Inn-to-Inn Route Map.
I recommend start in Oak Bluffs at the Oak Bluffs Inn, a whimsical Victorian B&B with knowledgeable local owners, pick up a picnic at Slice of Life, then head down Beach Road on the bike path toward Edgartown.
The six-mile mile walk or bike takes you along a narrow strip of land between Nantucket Sound and Sengekontacket Pond. You can swim on either side; and there are lemonade and hot-dog trucks parked at the two bridges at either end of the 4-mile long Joseph Sylvia State Beach.
One of the gingerbread cottages in Oak Bluffs. Credit: Jamie Stringfellow
Spend the night in Edgartown, at the Harborview Hotel. For a reward, have a drink on their long front porch overlooking the Edgartown light or have dinner at Alchemy on Main Street, where you can sit above the brick sidewalks and people watch while enjoying some of my favorite island food.
Day two offers lots of options, especially if you’re on a bike: You can ride the bike path to West Tisbury, get on State Road and stop for lunch at Alley’s General Store, then continue to Menemsha, where you can catch the “Bike Ferry” to Lobsterville. This handy little boat, owned by James Taylor’s brother Hugh, saves bikers a good hour of riding narrow roads from Menemsha to Gay Head, and it gets you to the miles-long Lobsterville Beach. Make a right on Lighthouse road and spend the night at Hugh Taylor’s Outermost Inn, which has one of the best restaurants on the island.
The next day, make time for a walk on Philbin Beach at Gay Head, and then pedal up the Moshup Trail, a mythical sacred area for the Wampanoag Tribe, which owns the town of Gay Head, Aquinnah. Afterwards, head “down island” via the bike ferry and North Road in Chilmark.
Spend the night at Vineyard Haven at the Mansion House Hotel and Spa. One of the island’s long-time star chefs, Ben de Forest, recently started cooking again at the hotel’s Zephrus and will make you a suitable end-of-adventure meal. For more on the Mansion House, check out PeterGreenberg.com’s “Behind the Scenes Green: Mansion House” by Virtuous Traveler Leslie Garrett.
For walkers going inn-to-inn, I’d walk the bike path from Edgartown out to Morning Glory Farm, the island’s preeminent farm stand. Get lunch to go and possibly their best-selling book, full of gorgeous photos and recipes. Then double back to the bike path along the Edgartown, Vineyard Haven road, and end, as above, at the Mansion House Hotel.
Island Resources.
- Island bike rentals are listed here.
- For a good map of possible walking and biking inn-to-inn, and other local advice, go here.
- For biking trails all over the island, download a map here.
- For any walking, biking, hiking or paddling adventure that might include a picnic, you can’t miss with the healthy, gourmet takeout options at Slice of Life on Circuit Ave. in Oak Bluffs, and Soigne in Edgartown at 190 Upper Main St.
Happy Trails!
By Jamie Stringfellow for PeterGreenberg.com. Jamie Stringfellow writes from Hermosa Beach, California, and Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. She is the co-founder and editor of WeekendWalk.com. Image credits: Jamie Stringfellow and Alison Shaw (including first image).
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