Martha's Vineyard has a long seafaring tradition and is bearing witness of how the waterways used to be the main means of transportation before the car and airplane was invented. Whaling was a part of the natives' livelihood before any European ever set foot on the Island. In 1765 the first whale ship on record went out from Martha's Vineyard. For more than 100 years thereafter, whaling turned the Island into a metropolis with a booming economy. Today we still benefit from the generous architecture such riches could support in our whaling town, Edgartown.

The Island was called "Noepe" in the native tongue.

The Vikings were the first Europeans to come here in 1000 AD There is said to be Viking artifacts still in the ground from then. The explorer, Bartholomew Gosnold, of Falmouth, England, named the Island when he came upon it in 1602 in honor of his mother, Martha, and claimed the land for the English Crown. He found the Island to contain the most luscious beauty. Then, in October, 1641, Thomas Mayhew bought the Island from two British lords who had received it from the British Crown.

The Mayhews are responsible for a dignified and peaceful integration with the American Indians on the Island. The younger Mayhew learned the native tongue and introduced Christianity to the Native Americans. In 1651 Thomas Mayhew Jr. established the first school to teach settlers and Indians alike.

When the Indian Wars tore the mainland apart, the settlers on Martha's Vineyard were guarded by their native American friends.

Methodist meetings attracted increasingly more people to Martha's Vineyard. In 1859 the first campground cottage took the place of the makeshift tents, to accommodate the congregation. In 1860 the Camp Meeting Association organized the shelter needs and bought grounds in the meeting ground area. We can still today enjoy a celebrative gingerbread stile architecture in the midst of Oaks Bluffs.

Tashmoo Cottage and Lodge is located in Tisbury, also called Vineyard Haven. Vineyard Haven was a much used shelter for sea traffic passing between New York and Boston in the glory days of sailing ships. Vineyard Haven has some nice quiet streets with beautiful Victorian houses. Main Street has an abundance of charming stores and convenient shopping. Here are many street side cafe's to sit down and enjoy a small town setting, and exciting restaurants to please the most selective palette. Alcohol is not served at restaurants, but you are encouraged to bring your own selections. The waiters will be happy to top your glass off at your request.

Tashmoo Cottage and Hideaway is right in the middle of the West Chop peninsula between the Vineyard Harbor and Tashmoo Lake, one mile from Martha's Vineyard major ferry dock in Vineyard Haven, and one mile from the quiet Tashmoo Beach.

Tashmoo is named after a son of Phohoganot, a powerful sachem who lived on the South side of the island. After teaching his son the skill and power of tribal government, Tashmoo was sent out to form a tribe on his own. His mother Ahoma, a seer, told her son that he would come to a large lake, full of fish, which was connected with the ocean. This lake was surrounded by a wonderful country of hills and valleys, covered with thick forest containing deer and all kinds of game. At the source of this lake, he would find a spring of the purest water which would mark his journey's end. She gave him a pearl shell, telling him to drink from the spring and give it his name. There he should build his wigwam and establish his tribe.

Young Tashmoo found his paradise, and so did we. Lake Tashmoo still contains this quiet magic, and we still drink the water from the source of the pond here at Tashmoo Cottage and Lodge, now piped from the same spring. We treasure every day here in our carefully crafted dwellings in the midst of the forest, at the end of the paved streets and close to the sea.

You are invited to come share our tranquil paradise for your next visit to Martha's Vineyard. Welcome!