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Chilmark guide: Beetlebung Corner pizza, Chilmark Tavern BYOB, Allen Farm, Menemsha Hills hiking, and the flea market that has run since 1967.
Chilmark is the most rural of the up-island towns: stone walls, rolling pastures, and a village center that amounts to a handful of buildings at a single crossroads. That crossroads is Beetlebung Corner, where State Road, South Road, Middle Road and Menemsha Crossroad meet. Chilmark is also the island's only dry town, which is why its restaurants, from Chilmark Tavern at the crossroads to the Homeport down in Menemsha, run BYOB (bring your own bottle: no liquor license, so guests supply the wine and the restaurant supplies the glasses). Beyond the corner, Chilmark has the island's highest summit, a working sheep farm founded in 1762, a flea market that has run since 1967, and the grave of John Belushi. For Chilmark's famous fishing village, see our Menemsha complete guide. For a visual overview with photos, see the Chilmark town page.
Filmed August 2025
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The corner is named for the native tupelo trees (Nyssa sylvatica), and the name "beetlebung" is used nowhere but Martha's Vineyard. It goes back to whaling: a "beetle" is a wooden mallet, a "bung" is a stopper for whale oil barrels, and the tupelo's hard, cross-grained wood was ideal for making both. A grove of these trees, which can live 650+ years, still stands at the intersection, and its leaves go deep red and purple in autumn. Beetlebung Corner is the whole of Chilmark's commercial and civic center: post office, town hall, library, elementary school, fire station, general store, and tavern all at the same crossroads.
Up-island navigation in one signpost: West Tisbury and Edgartown one way, Vineyard Haven via Menemsha the other.
Chilmark General Store (7 State Road). A community store has stood here since 1875. It's known for hand-stretched, thin-crust pizza that people compare to New Haven-style apizza, and Giada De Laurentiis called it "outrageous" on Food Network. Pies come in two sizes, from a classic cheese to the specialty pies; this season's prices are on the store's online ordering page. The wide porch with its rocking chairs is half the reason to come. The named sandwiches are popular too: look for the Road Race (roasted chicken, avocado, romesco, aioli on ciabatta), the Brickyard (roast beef, cheddar, caramelized onions, horseradish mayo) and the North End (sopressata, ham, provolone, pesto on focaccia) when they are on the board. Full breakfast until 11 AM with egg sandwiches, burritos, and croissants. Local produce from Morning Glory Farm, Mermaid Farm, and Beetlebung Farm. Specialty cheeses from Vermont Creamery and Jasper Hill Farm. No alcohol (dry town). Open in season, roughly spring through late October, 8 AM–6 PM daily. (508) 645-3739.
Mermaid Farm on Middle Road, where the dairy shed runs on the honor system.
Former owner Bill Rossi told the Vineyard Gazette: "I have heard that this is the center of the universe more than once." Locals, cyclists, families and the occasional celebrity end up in the rocking chairs, and pizza on the porch is how a lot of Chilmark evenings go.
Chilmark Tavern (9 State Road). "Cheers from the wettest dry town in America," as the tavern puts it. Since it opened in 2010 the tavern has worked around Chilmark's 300-year alcohol ban by letting guests bring everything: wine, beer or spirits, with the tavern supplying chillers, glassware and a menu of house-made mixers: Painkiller, Dark N' Stormy, Basil Lime Martini, Raspberry Lime Rickey. Chillers, glassware, bottle service and the house mixers all come for a charge, but the tavern hasn't published its prices yet, so ask when you book. The food is seasonal New American: poulet frites, halibut, confit duck, a Kinneally beef burger. Most mains ran $38–58 on the July 2026 menu, with the strip steak at $79. Reservations are via Resy and a must in summer. Open in season Thu–Mon 5–9:30 PM, closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays; it has closed for 2026 and plans to reopen in May 2027. (508) 645-9400.
Chilmark Tavern’s patio on State Road, planters along the gravel and chairs on the porch. You bring the bottle and the tavern handles the rest.
Chilmark Chocolates closed in December 2019 after a 33-year run. Jan Campbell founded it, and Mary Beth Grady and Allison Burger ran it for 33 years; they were honored as Women of the Year in 2015 for employing workers with disabilities, which a 1987 New York Times article had featured. Their handmade Belgian chocolates (Tashmoo Truffles, Chappy Chewies, Squibnuggets, Beetlebung Bars) became island staples. The shop closed for three weeks every August and never had a website or mail order. Its original sign is now in the Martha's Vineyard Museum. The closest thing to a successor is Salt Rock Chocolate Co., founded by sisters Ali and Sarah Flanders (who grew up next door and worked there as teenagers), selling at the West Tisbury Farmers Market.
Chilmark Free Public Library (522 South Road). The oldest library on Martha's Vineyard (1882) has the highest per-capita circulation in Massachusetts: 60,000 items a year for ~900 residents, from a collection of 34,000 items. The building dates to 1790, and there's WiFi, computers, author talks and art exhibitions. (508) 645-3360.
Jonathan Allen established the farm in 1762, and it is the oldest continuously working family farm on Martha's Vineyard. Clarissa Allen (8th generation, running it since 1975) and her husband Mitchell Posin keep 100+ Corriedale sheep on 100 acres of pasture that have always been farmed organically, with no pesticides or chemical fertilizers ever applied.
The farm shop sells hand-woven throws and blankets (woven on-site for 35+ years by Clare Ives), hand-knit sweaters, hats and yarn, plus grass-fed lamb, beef, chicken and eggs. The farm is at 421 South Road, with sheep on the hill above the sea. Open daily May–October, weekends through Christmas. Available for weddings. (508) 645-9064.
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The Trustees of Reservations manage these 211 acres, with ~3 miles of marked trails on two connected loops. The Harris Loop (~1 mile) climbs to Prospect Hill at 308 feet, the second-highest point on Martha's Vineyard, with views across Vineyard Sound to the Elizabeth Islands, Aquinnah, and Menemsha Harbor. The Nashawakemuck Loop (~1.5 miles) descends to a cliff-edge viewing platform and a rocky north-shore beach, one of the quietest stretches of shore on the island.
The Brickyard Trail (1.6 miles one-way, red blazes) connects to the ruins of a 19th-century brick works whose first kilns date to the 1840s. At its peak in the 1860s it employed ~75 workers, French-Canadian lumberjacks among them, and made 800,000 bricks/year that were shipped to build Boston, New York and Newport. You can still see a 45-foot brick chimney (unstable, so it's best admired from the path), 10-foot cut-stone walls, the original water wheel and stone channels, railroad wheels and the foundations of the workers' barracks. An osprey nests on the chimney. Part of the route is a storybook trail, with pages of a children's book on wooden posts, and families love it. Allow 3+ hours round-trip. Along the way there are glacial boulders, vernal pools and good birding (northern gannets, blue-winged warblers, eastern box turtle). It's rated 4.7 stars on AllTrails. The trailhead is on North Road, with parking for 20 cars, and it's free, year-round, sunrise to sunset. The ground is rocky and uneven, so hiking shoes help, and so does tick spray. In hunting season (October–December) blaze orange is a good idea. Dogs appear to be allowed on leash. For more trails, see our hiking guide.
At 311 feet above sea level, Peaked Hill is the highest point on Martha's Vineyard, Cape Cod and the Islands. The 148.9-acre Peaked Hill Reservation (Martha's Vineyard Land Bank) has a 1.7-mile loop trail through scrub oak and wild blueberries (ripe in August), with views south to Nomans Land Island and west toward Aquinnah.
Nearby Radar Hill (308 ft) was a WWII U.S. Army Signal Corps station, and its concrete foundations, foxholes and mortar pits are still there, along with named glacial boulders such as Wee Devil's Bed and Stonecutter's Rock. Access is via Tabor House Road off Middle Road; free, year-round.
John Belushi's grave draws a steady stream of fans. Belushi (1949–1982) was buried March 9, 1982; Dan Aykroyd led the funeral procession on his motorcycle. He was first buried in an unmarked plot deeper in the cemetery, and the grave was moved to the entrance on May 27, 1983, after fans overwhelmed the site.
The slate headstone has a skull and crossbones in the old New England Puritan "death's head" style. The inscription reads: "I may be gone, but Rock and Roll lives on." A large boulder across the path is carved "BELUSHI." Visitors leave beer bottles, cigarettes, coins, and movie quotes. Playwright Lillian Hellman is also buried here. 322 South Road. Free, open to the public. The island's other famous graves and houses are in our who-lived-where guide.
The island's oldest outdoor flea market started in 1967 with five card tables. In its 60th season it has 60+ vendors on a big grassy field, every Wednesday and Saturday, 9 AM–2 PM, late June through early September: handmade jewelry, wampum, hand-screened T-shirts, pottery, vintage Vineyard maps, antiques, farm produce and coffee. Cash is handy. 142 North Road. No admission, free parking. Sponsored by Chilmark Community Church.
The arboretum is technically in West Tisbury, on the Chilmark border: 72 acres on the National Register of Historic Places. Polly Hill (1907–2007) started planting in 1958, at about 50, eventually naming dozens of her own plant selections and growing camellias and magnolias thought impossible this far north.
The North Tisbury azaleas bloom from late May to mid June, the 284-foot Kousa dogwood allée from mid-June into July, and the Julian Hill Magnolia has 18-inch flowers. The arboretum also holds a nationally accredited stewartia collection shared with Harvard's Arnold Arboretum. Grounds open daily sunrise–sunset year-round. Visitor Center Memorial Day–mid-October, 9:30 AM–4 PM. Admission $10 adults (May–Oct), $5 (Nov–Apr), kids 12 and under free. Family Explorer Backpacks and a Woodland Gnome Hunt for kids. 809 State Road. (508) 693-9426.
Summer (June 1–September 15): only Chilmark residents, their guests and renters, with passes checked at a gate, so there's no public access for non-residents in summer. Vehicle sticker: $100/season. Walk-on pass: $25/season.
Off-season (September 16–May 31): open to everyone, free. For visitors who are not renting in Chilmark, this is the only way onto Lucy Vincent Beach.
The beach is known for its clay cliffs, glacial moraine deposits approximately 21,000 years old with multi-colored layers holding Miocene-era fossils (shark teeth, whale bones). Since 1915 over 400 feet of coastline has eroded, and the freestanding rock spire known as "The Goddess" collapsed the night of May 1, 2020. The surf is powerful and the rip currents unpredictable, which makes it one of the best bodysurfing beaches on the island. Chilmark's posted rules list no lifeguards here, though the town has stationed guards in recent summers, so it's safest to swim as if it were unguarded.
The sandy path down to Squibnocket Beach at the end of the day.
Access restricted to Chilmark residents/renters June 15–Labor Day (sticker: $65/season). The long-standing local custom is that evening visits after the attendant leaves (around 5 PM) are tolerated, but the town's written rules do not promise it, so confirm locally and let any posted sign win. Off-season: open to all. It's rockier than Lucy Vincent, with powerful surf, and one of the island's top surf spots. No lifeguards. President Obama and family accessed Squibnocket during their Chilmark vacations at nearby Blue Heron Farm.
The raised walkway at Squibnocket in up-island Chilmark on a clear off-season day, dry marsh grass on both sides.
The Community Center at 520 South Road, near Beetlebung Corner, has been run by the Chilmark Town Affairs Council (CTAC) since 1957. It has tennis courts (hard and clay), a basketball court, a playing field, a playground and sailing programs on Menemsha/Quitsa Ponds.
The Chilmark Road Race, a 5K on Middle Road founded in 1978, is held the second Saturday in August and finishes at Beetlebung Corner. Registration is $35 (ages 12+), capped at 1,600 runners; it opens July 1 and often sells out within days. Course records: Men 14:38, Women 17:07. All proceeds benefit the Community Center.
The grounds host the biennial Martha's Vineyard Book Festival. The 2025 edition (20th anniversary) had Jeffrey Goldberg, Kara Swisher, Wally Lamb, and Seth Meyers.
The Menemsha jetty is one of the most productive shore fishing spots on the island. It's open to everyone, and the only permit you need is the $10 Massachusetts saltwater permit (free for 60+). September is the prime month for striped bass and false albacore, and the jetty is a favorite spot during the annual Martha's Vineyard Striped Bass Derby.
Calm water at Menemsha: boats on their moorings and two swimmers wading in the shallows.
For charter fishing, North Shore Charters (Captain Scott McDowell, more than 30 years as a charter captain) runs a half-day for $850 and a full day for $1,650, up to six. Menemsha Blues (Captain Jonathan Boyd) and Captain Clarke Charters also operate from the harbor. Species: striped bass, bluefish, bonito, false albacore, fluke, plus offshore tuna and marlin.
The seasonal Menemsha Bike Ferry crosses the channel in under 3 minutes ($5 one-way / $8 round-trip, cash) with bikes, strollers and dogs aboard. It lands near Lobsterville Beach and Dogfish Bar in Aquinnah and saves 7 miles of hilly cycling.
Chilmark's three main roads are worth driving for their own sake. Middle Road, "perhaps the least improved of island main roads," passes Keith Farm, where cows graze with the Atlantic behind them. South Road has an old stone animal pound from the sheep-farming days, and North Road has north-shore views and farm ponds. All three wind past miles of stone walls, many of them "Lace Walls" (single-thickness stone, loosely stacked with visible gaps), remnants of the island's sheep farming era.
VTA Route #4 (via North Road, direct to Menemsha) and Route #5 (via South Road to Aquinnah) serve Chilmark, currently fare-free. Drive: ~25 minutes from Vineyard Haven. Cycling is scenic but hilly, and North Road from West Tisbury is one of the prettiest rides on the island.
The fishing village of Menemsha (with its sunsets, Larsen's lobster, Dutcher Dock, and Jaws filming locations) sits at Chilmark's northwest corner. See our complete Menemsha guide for restaurants, parking, and sunset tips. Chilmark's restricted beaches (Lucy Vincent and Squibnocket) require resident stickers June through September, but Menemsha Beach is free and open to everyone, and the whole beach claps after a good sunset. For all beach details, see Every Beach Ranked. Our lobster guide covers the fleet and the markets.
A 
B 
C A: the harbor shacks and the dinghy dock in summer; B: the Texaco station by the harbor, order window and all; C: the beach lot at Menemsha with the umbrellas up.
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Beetlebung Corner, where State Road, South Road, Middle Road and Menemsha Crossroad meet: post office, town hall, library, school, fire station, general store and tavern all at one crossroads. The tupelo grove there gives it the name; beetles and bungs were the mallets and barrel stoppers made from its hard wood in whaling days.
Yes, the island’s only dry town. The sit-down restaurants here, Chilmark Tavern and the Homeport in Menemsha, are bring-your-own: guests supply the wine and the restaurant supplies the glasses. Edgartown and Oak Bluffs have the island’s only package stores, so pick up a bottle on the way.
Hand-stretched thin-crust pizza compared to New Haven apizza (the store’s menu lists a classic cheese at $12 for 13 inches or $18 for 17), named sandwiches like the Road Race and the Brickyard, and a wide porch with rocking chairs. The store tradition dates to 1875.
The island’s highest summit, Peaked Hill; a working sheep farm founded in 1762; a flea market running since 1967; and the grave of John Belushi. Menemsha, the fishing village, has its own guide.
Menemsha Beach is free and open to everyone. Lucy Vincent and Squibnocket are for residents and their guests in summer; our beach access guide has the details.
Island tip of the day Food No. 22 of 86 New tip at midnight, island time
West Tisbury Farmers Market (Saturdays 9 AM–noon at the Agricultural Hall): Salt Rock Chocolate and Khen's egg rolls sell out fast; arrive right at 9 AM.
Cell service on Martha's Vineyard town by town: towers down-island, no tower in Chilmark or Aquinnah and the named dead spots, what each carrier reports to the FCC, free Wi-Fi at all six libraries and on the ferry, the $10 xfinitywifi pass, prepaid plans and 911 when you have no bars.
The twelve things that catch first-timers on Martha's Vineyard, from car reservations and the two ferry terminals to resident-only beaches, the last bus from Aquinnah and cash for the Chappy Ferry, each with an easy fix, plus the fall and winter dates.
EV charging on Martha's Vineyard: about 34 public stations, nearly all Level 2, listed town by town with ports and prices (the Edgartown Park and Ride, town halls, libraries, the airport, the Aquinnah cliffs), two fast-charging ports at the VTA, the Chilmark plans, no Supercharger, the ferry's EV rules, and how to run an electric week on a 20-mile island.
How to get a Steamship Authority car reservation to Martha's Vineyard: the February opening and its virtual waiting room, the residents' head start, the five-reservation limit, the wait list that works, the 2026 fares ($127 midweek, $168 summer weekends), the free first change and the 14-day refund rule, no standby, and why most visitors should leave the car in Falmouth.
Every public restroom we know of on Martha's Vineyard, town by town: the two ferry terminals (open year-round), Kennebec Avenue in Oak Bluffs, Church Street in Edgartown, the Stop and Shop lot in Vineyard Haven, West Tisbury Town Hall, the Menemsha beach lot and the Aquinnah cliffs, which beaches have them (not State Beach), what is seasonal, and the fallbacks that work in winter.
The Hamptons or Martha's Vineyard? A New York scene two to three hours away by Jitney or train, with ocean beaches behind a $750 season permit, against a six-town island reached by an hour's flight or a day's train and boat, where thirteen beaches are free to all, the bus is free and the nights are quiet. Getting there, beaches, beds, towns, nightlife, children and cost, honestly.
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