Island Light: Unity
Keeping cool wetting a line in Duarte's Pond.
Keeping cool wetting a line in Duarte's Pond.
Telegraph Hill and Oak Bluffs' sentry, the East Chop Lighthouse.
Telegraph Hill and Oak Bluffs' sentry, the East Chop Lighthouse.
Imani Foster catches a break between jobs in Edgartown.
Imani Foster catches a break between jobs in Edgartown.
The big yachts are here in Edgartown Harbor.
The big yachts are here in Edgartown Harbor.
Working fishing boat tied up to Menemsha dock.
Working fishing boat tied up to Menemsha dock.
Lines grow longer by each day as holiday nears.
Lines grow longer by each day as holiday nears.
Ocean Park porches lighted by morning sun.
Ocean Park porches lighted by morning sun.
Wanna tell about my baby Lord, you know she comes around.
Wanna tell about my baby Lord, you know she comes around.
Emanuel da Silva shreds on his jet ski in Sengie.
Emanuel da Silva shreds on his jet ski in Sengie.
Oars and paddles await their turn on Sengekontacket.
Oars and paddles await their turn on Sengekontacket.
Towering pines create a canopy in the State Forest.
Towering pines create a canopy in the State Forest.
'Tis the season for baled hay.
'Tis the season for baled hay.
Farm field in West Tisbury.
Farm field in West Tisbury.
The Fourth of July is upon us. And now the Vineyard joins the rest of the nation in celebration of our national day of independence, the first long holiday weekend of summer, a moment when the season explodes on the Island, a time when we all hope the fragile resources of this special place will withstand the crush of crowds and traffic and tens of thousands of vacation visitors.
Fourth of July on the Vineyard brings a unity to the community, a gathering of people from near and far. And so they come to the Vineyard for this Independence Day celebration. The skeptics may ask why and we are reminded of an answer published in the Gazette long ago:
"Day by day they come, more and more of them, the summer migrants called by the sea and open country, by shore, hill and country sky. Scientists, we remember, even maintain that our home is the sea itself; if not that, then an Island comes nearest."