<p>A proposal to bring trolley service to Oak Bluffs saw enthusiastic support from selectmen this week.</p>
A proposal to bring trolley service to Oak Bluffs saw enthusiastic support from selectmen this week.
Starting this summer, tour operator Scott Dario wants to give 45-minute trolley tours of the down-Island towns.
The trolleys, which would accommodate 26 passengers, would visit Edgartown and Vineyard Haven, but only make stops in Oak Bluffs, Mr. Dario said.
“I really want to make it an Oak Bluffs tour,” he told selectmen at their meeting Tuesday. “In fact, that is how I want to sell it on the website.”
That exclusivity won the favor of the board.
“I am thrilled with this idea,” said selectman Kathy Burton, who clapped when Mr. Dario finished his presentation. “I have been looking to have somebody to do these trolleys for ages.”
Mr. Dario asked for permission to drive up Circuit avenue, the main street in town, but not to stop mid-street, so as not to delay traffic.
He asked for the selectmen’s support in creating an itinerary and identifying a site for drop off and pick up.
“It’s going to be a small, intimate tour,” he said.
In another fledging endeavor, Oak Bluffs resident Skip Finley introduced a plan to construct a memorial to Sen. Edward W. Brooke.
Senator Brooke, the first African American elected to the U.S. Senate after reconstruction and a longtime summer resident of Oak Bluffs, died Jan. 3 at age 95.
Mr. Brooke owned a home at Nashawena Park, the site of the proposed memorial.
Mr. Finley said a nine-person committee formed to build the monument has reviewed several options for what form it would take: statue, sculpture, bench or boulder. They plan to solicit comments from community members and present the project to several town boards.
They also plan to raise the funds for the memorial.
Selectmen offered encouragement and commended the committee’s process so far.
“I think it’s wonderful that we are recognizing some of the great historic figures in this town and I’d like to see more of it,” said Oak Bluffs Association director Christine Todd.
Comments
There is a good precedent for
Robert Blacklow OB and Lincoln MAThere is a good precedent for doing something for Senator Brooke: the African American trail in Oak Bluffs: there are plaques for Adam Clayton Powell outside his former home, for Isabell West, the Harlem renaissance writer and long-time Oak Bluffs resident, for the Scherer house and cottages, home of the first NAACP location on the Vineyard and others. All these are tasteful and tell their stories eloquently and effectively in a dignified and low key fashion near the location in Oak bluffs where they lived. I hope that a similar arrangement can be made for Senator Brooke. He would want it that way.
Senator Brooke's old home on
skip OBSenator Brooke's old home on Nashawena park is on the African American Heritage Trail and there is a plaque on it. A representative of the MVAAH Trail is on the committee along with a representative of the Cottager's Inc. Senator Brooke's cousin, the historian, writer and retired educator Dr. Adelaide Cromwell-a member of the committee-will be writing the inscription.
While the Trolley tour is
FR WTWhile the Trolley tour is generally a good idea business wise, I think they should follow the successful model of other trolley tours where the ticketed passenger may use the tour for one complete loop, and be able to get on and off at various points of interest along the way. It provides a much greater value as they also see it as a mode of transport from each stop. It also benefits local businesses outside of the start and stop point, as the passenger stops to eat. sightsee, buy trinkets etc, and in fact might spend even more than they normally would now that they have a greater selection to choose from.
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