News
Menemsha businesses have reopened after a Monday afternoon fire destroyed the Coast Guard boathouse and wooden pier and forced the evacuation of the village.
Menemsha Texaco, Larsen’s and Menemsha Fish Market, the Galley restaurant and the Home Port restaurant returned to normal hours of operation Tuesday morning.
At 10 o’clock in the evening on June 30, Theodore (Tod) and Kate Sedgwick had just turned out the lights of their shoreside colonial summer home in Vineyard Haven, ready to settle into their first night of vacation when the phone rang with an unusual insistence.
“I said don’t answer it, we know where our children are,” recalled Mrs. Sedgwick.
On the phone was Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia calling Mr. Sedgwick to inform him that he had been confirmed as the United States Ambassador to Slovakia.
A fatal accident in downtown Vineyard Haven last Tuesday left a young mother dead, and her family and friends devastated; it also has badly distressed many Islanders who witnessed the sudden tragedy.
Services were held yesterday in Melrose for Dina DeCecca, the mother of two young children who died while bicycling with her family and friends from the ferry on State Road, when she fell under an 18-wheel tractor-trailer.
A huge fire erupted in the U.S. Coast Guard boathouse in Menemsha yesterday afternoon, completely destroying the 68-year-old building along with an extended wooden pier that leads to the west dock on the Menemsha harbor. Also destroyed in the blaze were at least one truck and an unknown number of small boats nearby. Miraculously there were no injuries save one minor injury to a volunteer fireman, a Coast Guard public affairs spokesman confirmed last night.
Policemen were giving drivers two options at Beetlebung corner on Monday afternoon after the Coast Guard boathouse in Menemsha caught fire. They could either turn onto Middle Road or South Road. Menemsha Crossroad remained closed.
After a weekend long July Fourth celebration, the party continued in Vineyard Haven last Thursday night to celebrate Tisbury’s 339th birthday at the annual Tisbury street fair. It was all food, games, music and dance as families packed Main street to enjoy a night out of fun.
Gary Sylvia was standing next to Tisbury engine number 13 at the head of Main street, helping to sell T-shirts to raise money for the fire department as well as troops overseas through the Red Shirt Friday fund.