Why We Love Martha's Vineyard

The Everything-to-Everyone Store 

Since opening its entrances in 1858, Alley's General Store in West Tisbury has been the central social affair point for local people, travelers, and wash-ashores who need a gallon of milk, penny candy, pet cleaning agent, the latest Vineyard knickknack T-shirt, or a colossal coffee and some critical deck time in one of the store's rockers. 

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Whiz spotting on Martha's Vineyard. 

Nobody can truly reveal to Who You'll Run Into 

Unlike the clamoring party circuit of that other East Coast summer escape for A-listers, the Hamptons, Martha's Vineyard offers large names a respite from velvet ropes and bursting cameras. Alongside an intermittent splashy event—island standard Spike Lee assessed BlacKkKlansman at the Strand Theater last year, for instance—the stars who come here by and large hug the laid-back pieces of unassuming local area occupants. (Clearly, the Secret Service detail is clear for the most praised visitors of continuous years, the Obamas.) A sampler of a part of the famous individuals moving toward their days here: Meg Ryan at the canine show at the Martha's Vineyard Agricultural Society Fair … Bill Murray eating in the parking structure at the Menemsha town coastline … Mary Steenburgen and Ted Danson at the Martha's Vineyard Playhouse … Larry David at 7a Foods in West Tisbury (where he's been known to organize the Liz Lemon sandwich) … David McCullough at the West Tisbury Free Public Library … Peter Farrelly at Offshore Ale Co. in Oak Bluffs … Skip Gates speeding up his three-wheeled bike in transit along Beach Road … Seth Meyers on the porch at the Chilmark General Store … Caroline Kennedy and Carly Simon at the West Tisbury Farmers' Market. restaurant oak bluffs

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Last Call Never Tasted So Sweet 

For more than thirty years, candy darlings have gone to Chilmark Chocolates like pioneers to the Holy Land. Simply the shop's peculiar hours (shut in August?) could leave them disappointed. In any case, if you need an example of this training, act now: At the completion of this current year the loved up-island confectionary will close for incredible, making its Vineyard-propelled hand customized treats—like Chappy Chewies, Squibnuggets, and Tashmoo Truffles—just sweet memories. 

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Serenity Now 

You can depend on the normal Martha's Vineyard garden—pink roses, blue hydrangeas, white picket divider—to beguile the eye. To deal with the soul, nonetheless, go through an evening in the incredibly untypical nursery of Mytoi, a Japanese-style pearl on Chappaquiddick. Nearly crushed by a 1991 typhoon, this 14-part of land scene of comfortable nurseries, winding ways, and concealed anteroom was resuscitated by the Trustees of Reservations (which moreover has the nearby Cape Poge Wildlife Refuge and the nature hold Wasque, two desert gardens through their own effort).