Newsletter Spring 2017

A MARTHA’S VINEYARD LAND TRUST Newsletter Spring 2017 MOSHUP BEACH Issue No. 55 From the Executive Director, Adam Moore Reunion and Remembrance Cambrai. Argonne. Somme. Chateau- ness truths, some of them difficult. Who did A MARTHA’S VINEYARD LAND TRUST Thierry. Ypres. St. Mihiel. Marne. not attend? Who is ill? What changes hath time wrought? Board of Directors So inscribed on the Memorial Colonnade at Christopher P. Alley, President Yale’s University Commons are the names We returned to the Island on the 5:00 pm Brien O’Brien, Vice-President of these battles of World War I. Before the ferry on Sunday. The next day was Walter Looney, Jr., Treasurer colonnade stands a cenotaph, inscribed with Memorial Day. It was cold, and raining Susannah Bristol, Assistant Treasurer these words: hard, and the annual Memorial Day Molly Glasgow, Clerk In memory of the men of Yale who, true to observance ceremony had been moved her traditions, gave their lives that freedom Michael Berwind to the Tisbury School gymnasium. I was might not perish from the earth. Jennifer Blum attending with the Boy Scouts and we 1914 ~Anno Domini~ 1918. Kim Burns joined the Girl Scouts and a Coast Guard Susan Crampton honor guard, and veterans in uniform, and A few steps further stands the Rotunda Mary Lou DeLong representatives of various fire and police of Woolsey Hall, where all of its curving Keith Dodge departments from around the island. walls are inscribed with the names of those Robert Egerton Patricia Favreau alumni who perished in each of the nation’s The Memorial Day event on Martha’s Peter Getsinger wars. Well-worn from repeated rubbing is Vineyard is a meaningful ceremony that is David Grain the carved name of Captain Nathan Hale, well worth attending. Natalie Wood sang a Terry Guylay Class of 1773. beautiful rendition of the National Anthem, Kathryn Ham and my son led the attendees in the Pledge Ellen Harley I had returned to Yale with Melissa and of Allegiance. Commander Virginia Doonan Carol Hillenbrand our three younger children for my 25th of the 102nd Intelligence Wing of the Air Bill Howell Reunion. The reunion began on a Thurs- National Guard gave a speech, explaining William Maloney day afternoon, with a gentle spring rain what it means to be a Gold Star family and Robert McCarron dripping from the elms on High Street and related the story of a Constellation airplane Alley Moore on the Old Campus. Over the ensuing days that crashed in the waters off Nantucket, Hillary Noyes-Keene the reunion built, as more and more friends sacrificing the crew to avoid a greater loss Nancy Randall gathered in New Haven. The event culmi- of life that would have occurred had it Alan Rappaport nated in a massive dinner in the Commons, crash-landed on the island. The ceremony Phil Regan where 1,150 people dined beneath the concluded with a reading of the names of Thomas Robinson lofty timbers and the rows of flags and oil those veterans who had died in the past John Schaefer portraits and near the Memorial Colonnade year. A lunch at the American Legion hall Samme Thompson and the cenotaph, and the memorial next door followed the program. Sarah Thulin Rotunda—a stately place of remembrance. Memorial Day on the Island is solemn, Honorary Directors The reunion invigorated me. Being among especially so on a rainy day. And when this April Hamel old, true friends with whom I have shared day of remembrance passes, so begins the Edo Potter a common bond, and being in the same fa- joyful reunion that is summer on the Rez Williams miliar places causes one to assess one’s life, Vineyard. Familiar faces from far away and to feel inspired and renewed. Overall return. Neighbors stroll the path around Staff the reunion was full of joy and mirth, even Adam R. Moore Sheriff’s Meadow Sanctuary, resuming a jubilation. Executive Director beloved morning routine. Families make an excursion to Cedar Tree Neck Sanctu- William Bridwell Yet at this reunion I noted that, on the eve- ary and spend the day renewing family Property Manager ning’s dinner program, the list of classmates Nevenka K. Daniels traditions of scrambling over boulders and who have died had grown longer and now Office Manager exploring the rocky beach. Anglers fly-fish included people whom I knew. And the Kristen Fauteux Little Beach and surf-cast on the south names of those alumni carved into the walls Director of Stewardship shore. We find the reunion with the Island seemed even more important, especially Susan Hughes invigorating, too, and we approach autumn for an institution older than the United Development Associate renewed and refreshed. Marc Macfarlane States, now in the throes of change. As the Property Manager reunions progress over the decades, the Yet as with each passing college reunion, remembrance aspect grows in significance. so with each passing summer reunion the Founded in 1959 by Henry Beetle These are happy occasions, yet they are also feeling of remembrance grows in impor- Hough and Elizabeth Bowie Hough poignant. People face each other and wit- tance. For a nation that is also in the throes continued on page 3 2 50th Anniversary of Cedar Tree Neck Sanctuary In 1967, however, the real conservation effort at Cedar Tree Neck began. Along with Allen Morgan, president of the Massachusetts Audubon Society, Henry Beetle Hough led a campaign to conserve Cedar Tree Neck as a nature preserve. He solicited donations from all those who cared and each week reported the campaign progress in the pages of the Vineyard Gazette, of which Mr. Hough was the editor. The Cedar Tree Neck effort was a great success. By the end of the year, Mr. Hough and his brother, George Hough, had donated their land at Fish Hook, the Norton family had donated its land as the A.S. Reed Bird Refuge, Georgina Stevenson had donated her hilltop land at Norton’s Circle, and the Daggett family had sold, through Cedar Tree Neck Sanctuary, Photo:Stephen Chapman a bargain sale, its land as the Obed Sherman Daggett and Maria Roberts Daggett Sanctuary. Together, these lands, and all the lands The year 2017 marks 50 years since Cedar Tree Neck Sanctuary given since, compose Cedar Tree Neck Sanctuary. was established. At 490 acres in size, Cedar Tree Neck Sanctuary is the largest of all of Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation’s properties. The anniversary will be celebrated this year and explored with maps and photographs in future issues of the Sheriff’s Meadow The first donation of conservation land at Cedar Tree Neck actually Foundation newsletter. occurred more than 50 years ago. In 1962, Henry Beetle Hough donated a one-acre property containing a little pond to the nascent Join us for a guided walk of Cedar Tree Neck on Thursday, July 20, 2017, Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation. Mr. Hough named the pond on 9:00 - 11:00 am the property Lake Elizabeth in honor of his wife, Elizabeth Bowie Hough. Harvesting of Wood Reunion and Remembrance continued from page 2 Policy Adopted At its meeting of May 19, 2017, the Board came from Cedar Tree Neck in West Tisbury of change, it seems especially important of Directors of Sheriff’s Meadow Founda- and the white pines used in the sheathing that on the Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation tion adopted a new policy concerning the and subflooring of the house came from the conservation lands, much remains the same, harvesting of wood on Sheriff’s Meadow land of Ed and Ellen Harley in Edgartown. intentionally so. The path over the dunes Foundation properties. The policy establish- to Cedar Tree Neck will be there forever. es a permitting process by which Sheriff’s Any harvesting of wood under this policy, The trails at Middle Road Sanctuary shall Meadow Foundation can issue permits to whether from a dead or living tree, will not always remain. This permanence of the land cut trees that have been marked by Sheriff’s occur during summer months, will occur and of the institution that owns the land, Meadow Foundation staff. only with respect to marked trees, and will makes these sanctuaries a fitting backdrop occur only subject to a written permit. for the summer reunion, with each other The policy is intended to guide and encour- and with the Island. It can feel as if we age the sustainable gathering of wood and To build on this new policy, Sheriff’s never left, yet we also feel the absence of other forest products from Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation is also creating a new those no longer with us. Meadow Foundation lands. The Founda- volunteer program for its properties and tion hopes that the forests can provide will be writing a community forest manage- What I noticed this year, for the first time, firewood to those who both heat their ment plan to address all of the issues sur- is that the college reunion ended and the homes with wood and wish to procure the rounding the Foundation’s extensive forest summer reunion began on a day and in a firewood themselves. The Foundation also holdings. place of remembrance. For me, whether hopes to be able to work with those who beneath New Haven elms or Island oaks, make bowls, furniture, utensils, lumber, Those with questions about the new policy reunion and remembrance embrace, and boats and other objects that come from are encouraged to contact Adam Moore that embrace tightens with each passing trees. It should be noted that the oak joists at [email protected] or at year.

Load more