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Mad Martha's, Ben and Bill's lobster ice cream, Back Door Donuts and 20+ more dessert spots. Flavors, prices, hours, and the only real late-night guide.
Table of contents [Show]
| Shop | Town | Type | Signature item | Price range | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Back Door Donuts | Oak Bluffs | Bakery (no ice cream) | Apple fritter | $2.80–$10 | Late night, after 10 PM |
| Mad Martha's | OB / EG / VH | Homemade daily | MV Sea Salt Caramel | $7–$10/scoop | Classic island scoops |
| Ben and Bill's | Oak Bluffs / Edgartown | Homemade + gelato | Chocolates and candy | $7–$11/scoop | Adventurous eaters |
| Big Dipper | Oak Bluffs | Homemade | "Jaws" flavor | $6–$10 | Ice cream with a café menu |
| Rosie's | Oak Bluffs | Self-serve froyo | 30+ toppings bar | $6–$9 | Customizers / kids |
| Dairy Queen | Edgartown | Soft serve chain | Blizzard | $3–$8 | Budget travelers |
| Menemsha Galley Temporarily closed Closed for the season; back in spring 2027, per its own site | Chilmark | Soft serve | Sunset + soft serve | $6.60–$7.60 | Most romantic spot |
| Cliffhangers | Aquinnah | Organic soft serve | Near clay cliffs | $5–$8 | Aquinnah visitors |
Mad Martha's Vineyard Haven shop on a bright August day, with no line out front yet.
Ben and Bill’s hangs its sign over Circuit Avenue, the same street as the Mad Martha’s flagship.
Back Door Donuts serves no ice cream. It's on this list because it's the island's only dessert after 10 PM.
The bakery itself has been operating since 1948, but the "back door" tradition (walking through the alley behind the building to find fresh donuts and pastries hot from the fryer) turned it into a summer ritual. USA Today's 10Best readers ranked it the fourth-best doughnut shop in America in June 2026. Phantom Gourmet and Condé Nast Traveler have both featured it.
The apple fritter is the signature: roughly the size of a small plate, fried golden, glazed, sold for about $10. Lines on peak-summer weekends run 15 to 45 minutes. Getting there at 7 PM, when the back door opens, means the shortest wait and the freshest batch. Individual donuts cost a few dollars each.
Mad Martha's is the island's ice cream institution, with every flavor made fresh daily in-house. There are three shops: Edgartown, Oak Bluffs (the flagship), and Vineyard Haven.
The merchandise wall inside a Mad Martha’s shop: tees, hats and bags under a painted beach scene, with signs asking for no ice cream fingers on the shirts.
The story is real: the Vineyard Gazette's account of the Clintons' first island vacation, in August 1993, lists ice cream at Mad Martha's among the family's outings.
Flavors worth trying:
Martha's Vineyard Magazine named Ben and Bill's the Best of the Vineyard for ice cream in 2026, with Mad Martha's the runner-up. The counter explains it: a long board of homemade flavors plus gelato, and a fudge and candy case that is practically a shop of its own.
The Ben and Bill’s sign after dark, with the Captain’s Club and Ryan’s arcade lights beyond it on Circuit Avenue.
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A shady town street in summer, flags out and cars along the curb. Each down-island town has its own ice cream favorite.
Circuit Avenue and the surrounding blocks in Oak Bluffs have more dessert options per block than anywhere else on the island, so if you have one hour for dessert, this is the place.
Big Dipper: homemade ice cream, with a café side; its hours are not posted online, so check before you go. The "Jaws" flavor gets people talking. Prices are mid-range.
Big Dipper’s front lists coffee, donuts, bagels, hot dogs and paninis, with an Ice Cream sign by the door and a 24-hour ATM.
Carousel Ice Cream Factory: on Circuit Ave, a dependable stop with a long menu and a kid-friendly feel, right next door to the Flying Horses Carousel, which makes it easy for families already there.
Rosie's: self-serve frozen yogurt with a bar of thirty-plus toppings. Lower calorie counts posted next to each flavor, if you want to know. Good for kids who like to build their own.
Vineyard's Ice Cream and Coffee Co. (listed around the web as Vineyard's Best): the little porch near the ferry with Richardson's ice cream, fresh bagels and coffee. After a quiet stretch, it was open with a full porch when we walked by in late August 2026.
The counter inside: drinks on the left board, bagels and breakfast sandwiches on the right, smoothies over the coffee machine.
Vineyard's Ice Cream and Coffee Co. with a full porch in August 2026: Richardson's ice cream, fresh bagels and the ferry line a minute away.
Fresh bagels under the awning at Vineyard’s Ice Cream and Coffee Co. in Oak Bluffs, a short walk from the ferry.
The Sweet Spot, 12 Circuit Avenue Extension, inside the Dockside Marketplace on the harbor: scoops and a candy counter under one roof, the stop between the ferry and Circuit Avenue.
The Sweet Spot’s counter in the Dockside Marketplace on the harbor, turquoise with painted dots and the menu board on the wall behind.
Edgartown has fewer dessert shops than Oak Bluffs, but some of them are good value and a couple are real originals.
Vineyard Scoops: kid-friendly, reasonably priced by island standards, with a rotating menu. Handy if you're already on Edgartown's main shopping block and want a scoop without a long wait.
Ben and Bill's, 22 Dock St (in the former Scoop Shack space): the chocolate emporium's second island location, opened in summer 2025, scooping the same homemade flavors as the Oak Bluffs shop a short walk from the harbor. The lines run shorter than on Circuit Avenue in August, which is part of why locals tend to steer you there.
Ice Cream and Candy Bazaar: an Edgartown ice cream and candy shop with an old-fashioned look. The candy selection is huge. Good for nostalgia and for travelers who like their ice cream with a side of mixed-era candy.
Dairy Queen: yes, there is one, about the only chain restaurant on the island. It's also the cheapest ($3–$8), which helps with several kids or a tight budget. A Blizzard is a Blizzard.
Murdick's Fudge Closed In October 2026 the company announced that its three island shops are closed; the fudge is still sold online.: not ice cream, but for decades the island's other dessert institution, on the Vineyard since 1979. In October 2026 the company announced that its three island shops are closed; the fudge is still sold online.
Mad Martha’s in Vineyard Haven in summer 2026, striped awnings and bikes out front.
Vineyard Haven was dry for most of its history (full liquor with meals only arrived in 2017), which is probably why dessert has always had a bigger place in town life here.
Bernie's Ice Cream and Fudge was still on the MV Times' summer 2026 list of Vineyard Haven ice cream shops; its hours are not posted online, so check before you go. For a scoop in town, Mad Martha's (24 Union St) and Tisberry cover the bases.
Tisberry Frozen Yogurt: Pinkberry-style frozen yogurt in a clean, modern shop with more than 25 toppings, a little like Rosie's in Oak Bluffs but more polished. Good if someone in your group prefers frozen yogurt.
Yommi (State Road, Vineyard Haven): not a scoop shop, but it fits here. Frozen superfood bars, vegan and made with island ingredients, sold from a storefront shared with Morning Dew Juice since July 2026. Tuesday to Sunday, 11 to 5, by the door sign.
Up-island has fewer shops and more scenery, plus what we think is the best setting on the island for a cone.
Menemsha Galley: soft serve ($6.60–$7.60 for cones and cups) eaten on the dock or beach at Menemsha while the sun drops into the water. The Galley is closed for the season and plans to reopen in spring 2027. Islanders and visitors gather on the beach for the sunset and applaud when the last sliver disappears, and a soft serve there is about the cheapest good evening on the island.
Chilmark General Store: known for its front porch and its pizza. It stocks SoCo Creamery pints for take-home. It doesn't scoop ice cream in-house, which is good to know before you drive up-island for a cone.
Cliffhangers: the only ice cream option near the Aquinnah cliffs, serving organic soft serve. Prices in the $5–$8 range. If you're driving out to see the clay cliffs, it's the dessert stop by default, and a good one.
Ophelia's food truck: appears at the West Tisbury Farmers Market with scratch soft serve made with Ronnybrook Farm dairy and local fruit and honey. Hours depend on market schedule; worth checking if you're in the area on a Saturday market day (the Wednesday market ended in late August).
| Item | Low End | High End | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single scoop | $6 | $10 | Menemsha Galley cones from $6.60 |
| Double scoop | $9 | $13 | typically $12–15 in town |
| Sundae | $8 | $15 | Larger sizes cost more |
| Back Door Donuts fritter | $10 | $10 | Fixed price; donuts about $2.80–$4.70 |
| Soft serve (cone or cup) | $5 | $8 | Menemsha Galley $6.60–$7.60; Cliffhangers $5–$8 |
| Dairy Queen | $3 | $8 | Most affordable on island |
The Homer, a chocolate donut buried in sprinkles, $8.75 in the bakery case.
After 9 PM the choices shrink fast:
Back Door Donuts (Oak Bluffs) is the only dessert you can count on after 10 PM. In summer it runs 7 PM to midnight. The shop has closed for the rest of the 2026 season and plans to reopen in 2027.
Big Dipper is a short walk away if you’d rather have ice cream than donuts; its hours change through the season and are not posted online.
Most other shops close between 9 PM and 9:30 PM. If you are coming back from a sunset dinner in Menemsha or a late show in Oak Bluffs, your only guaranteed dessert stop in summer is the alley behind Back Door Donuts (closed until 2027).
If you want ice cream after 9 PM and Back Door Donuts is out of the way, an earlier dessert stop before the shops close does it. A 7 PM dinner and a 9 PM scoop work fine; it only gets tricky after 10 PM.
Inside a small café: a pastry case by the door and a front window lettered for coffee, sandwiches, custom desserts and acai bowls.
Beyond dessert, there's our Martha's Vineyard food tour and lobster roll guide, and for the rest of the evening, including where to go after the ice cream shops close, the Martha's Vineyard nightlife guide.
Inside Vineyard's Ice Cream and Coffee Co.: a pink parlor room with lace curtains and wire chairs, bagels in the morning and scoops all afternoon.
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Mad Martha’s, the island institution, with flavors made fresh daily in Edgartown, Oak Bluffs and Vineyard Haven; Ben and Bill’s for homemade scoops, gelato and chocolates; and Big Dipper Ice Cream & Cafe in Oak Bluffs.
Back Door Donuts in Oak Bluffs, the island’s only late dessert, although it serves no ice cream: go to the back door of the bakery at 5 Post Office Square for donuts hot from the fryer, 7 PM to midnight in season. It has closed for the rest of the 2026 season and plans to reopen in 2027. The apple fritter, about the size of a small plate, is about $10; USA Today readers ranked the shop fourth in the country in 2026.
Fifteen to 45 minutes on peak-summer weekends. Getting there at 7 PM, when the door opens, means the shortest wait and the freshest batch. And it is Back Door Donuts, not “Back Alley’s”.
About $6 to $11 at the homemade shops. Dairy Queen in Edgartown is the budget option, and the Menemsha Galley’s soft serve at sunset runs about $6.60 to $7.60.
Yes, the visit is real: the Vineyard Gazette's account of the Clintons' August 1993 vacation, his first summer as president, lists ice cream at Mad Martha’s among the family’s outings.
Oak Bluffs Summer Day 2022, the View from Nancy's on the Harbor Temporarily closed Closed for the season; reopening May 2027, per its own site 
Martha’s Vineyard Songwriters Festival at Nomans 2025 Temporarily closed Closed for the season; back in 2027, per its own site 
Oak Bluffs Summer Day Sunset at Lobsterville Bar and Grille and A Car Ride To Vineyard Haven 
The island's farmers markets, checked October 2026: the West Tisbury Farmers Market at the Agricultural Hall (Saturdays to October 31, 9 AM to noon), the Harvest Festival on October 24, the indoor winter market, Edgartown's summer Tuesday market, and the farm stands that stay open all year.
Where Martha's Vineyard's oysters, bay scallops and quahogs come from: the public solar hatchery on Lagoon Pond that turned fifty in 2026, the dozen oyster farms in Katama Bay, Menemsha Pond and Vineyard Sound, the wild beds in the great ponds, the autumn scallop season and its limits, visitor shellfish permits by town, why rain closes a pond, and where to eat them.
Lobster on Martha's Vineyard from trap to paper plate: how the small Menemsha fleet fishes, the Massachusetts rules on size, egg-bearing females and whale-safe gear, where to buy lobster off the boat (Larsen's, Menemsha Fish Market, The Net Result), how to eat it on the dock with your own bottle, and how a visitor can get a permit and catch a few.
Every supermarket and market on Martha's Vineyard with posted hours: Stop and Shop, Cronig's, Reliable Market, Alley's, the meat and fish markets, the Falmouth Stop and Shop before the ferry, Instacart and pre-stocking delivery, and an honest word on island prices.
Is Martha's Vineyard a dry island? Town by town: Chilmark is fully dry and BYOB, West Tisbury and Aquinnah pour beer and wine with meals, Vineyard Haven serves full liquor but has no liquor store, and only Oak Bluffs and Edgartown have package stores. Corkage, beach rules, the ferry and the state laws, checked September 2026.
Every farm stand and visitable farm on Martha's Vineyard, checked with the farms in September 2026: Morning Glory, Beetlebung, North Tabor, Mermaid Farm's 24-hour dairy shed, Native Earth, Allen Farm, Island Alpaca, the FARM Institute and the West Tisbury Farmers Market, with hours, honor-system rules and the fall pumpkin dates.
Island tip of the day Timing No. 60 of 79 New tip at midnight, island time
The SSA ferry from Vineyard Haven is least crowded Tuesday and Wednesday mornings. Avoid Friday (heavy arrivals) and Sunday (heavy departures).
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