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A walking tour of Edgartown, Martha's Vineyard, on video: Main Street from the Old Whaling Church to the harbor, the whaling captains' houses on North Water Street, the run to the Edgartown Lighthouse, Memorial Wharf and the Chappy Ferry, the same walk in winter, and how to get here by bus, bike or car.
Edgartown is the island’s whaling town, and the best way to see it is still on foot: Main Street down to the harbor, the white captains’ houses along North Water Street, the lighthouse at the end of the beach and the little ferry shuttling across to Chappaquiddick. The whole loop takes about an hour, or an afternoon if you stop for every porch and shop window.
We have filmed these streets several times over the years, in 4K in summer and in short clips in winter and at night, and a runner filmed the dash out to the lighthouse. The videos are gathered below in walking order, with what you pass, what it costs (mostly nothing) and how to get here. Our Edgartown town guide has the beaches, restaurants and history in full; this page is the walk.
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Start at the top, where the Old Whaling Church stands at 89 Main Street. Methodist whaling captains built it in 1843, when the town’s whaling money was at its peak, and Frederick Baylies Jr. designed it with six Doric columns and a 92-foot clock tower that is still the highest point in town. The building belongs to the Vineyard Preservation Trust; the clock and the tower belong to the town. A few doors down, Edgartown Town Hall was the congregation’s earlier church, the one they outgrew.
From there Main Street drops gently toward the water: brick sidewalks, picket fences, the Dukes County Jail behind its white fence, then the shops, galleries and restaurants in buildings that have served the town for more than 150 years. At the corner of South Water Street, The Port Hunter at 55 Main Street was the hardware store where Chief Brody buys sign paint in Jaws; the police station and the Amity Gazette office were shot a few steps away on South Water Street. The video below walks the whole street in 4K on a summer day.
Filmed July 2021The island moves on: shops, signs and prices may differ from what you see here. The text of this guide was checked November 2026.
The Old Whaling Church on Main Street in Edgartown in late October 2026, with the maples down the street turning red.
The corner of Main and North Summer Street, with an ice cream shop on the corner and benches out front.
The Dukes County Jail on Main Street, the white clapboard building behind the picket fence, with Cannonball Park a short walk away. The signs at the corner point left for Oak Bluffs and Vineyard Haven and right for Edgartown center and Chappaquiddick.
A sunny summer day on Main Street in Edgartown: bunting on the porches, benches under the trees and a white belfry over the rooftops.
Edgartown Town Hall today: the white clapboard front, the twin stairs and the sign over the door. The room where Quint scratched the chalkboard is inside, and the building still runs the town.
The Port Hunter’s old sign over the door on Main Street.
Main Street where it meets Water Street, shoppers crossing on an October Saturday under the plane trees.
Church Street runs off Main beside the Whaling Church, and for most visitors without a car it is where Edgartown begins: the downtown VTA stop is here, with a timber shelter, the route map on the board and the public restrooms right behind it at the Visitor Center, which opens seasonally. There are no restrooms down at Memorial Wharf, so this is the stop to make before the harbor. The clip below is the street in 2022, the church clock looking down on it.
Filmed June 2022The island moves on: shops, signs and prices may differ from what you see here. The text of this guide was checked November 2026.
Church Street in the off-season, the Whaling Church’s clock over the bus stop.
A timber bus shelter in Edgartown with the trees still bare and the restrooms right behind it. The downtown VTA hub is on Church Street, and the lot there fills early on summer mornings.
If you only do one thing in Edgartown, make it a slow walk up North Water Street. The houses here went up during the whaling boom, roughly 1820 to 1860, in Federal and Greek Revival styles: white clapboard, columns, widow’s walks on the roofs. Local accounts count more than 100 whaling captains’ homes in town, many of them built in a single decade between 1835 and 1845, and the Vineyard Gazette once noted that the island supplied more whaling captains and whalemen in proportion to its population than anywhere on earth. One of them, Captain Valentine Pease of the Acushnet, had a 21-year-old Herman Melville in his crew in 1841 and is widely believed to be the model for Captain Ahab. The whole district, these houses plus Main Street’s commercial blocks, is on the National Register of Historic Places, and none of it needs a ticket. Our short clip below follows a brick sidewalk in Edgartown past white picket fences, hedges and porches.
Filmed April 2024The island moves on: shops, signs and prices may differ from what you see here. The text of this guide was checked November 2026.
At 58 North Water Street the Carnegie Heritage Center, in the 1904 Carnegie library building, has a reading room, a heritage shop and the Vineyard Trust’s exhibit on island history. Its 75-minute Historic Walking Tour gets you inside the Old Whaling Church, the Daniel Fisher House and the Vincent House from about 1672, the oldest surviving house on the island; 2026 pricing is $30 for adults and $15 for ages 6 to 17, and in late October 2026 the tour ran by appointment only. The street ends at the Harbor View Hotel, with lanes dropping to the water on the right. The short clip below is the historic district in passing.
Filmed October 2026
North Water Street on a summer morning, with the sign for The Coco and l’étoile hanging over the brick sidewalk and shops across the street.
Brick sidewalks, white picket fences and big white houses under the trees. Nantucket has cobblestones, and the Vineyard has six towns that each look different.
Riding through the old village in October: white and shingled houses, brick sidewalks and picket fences.
The Harbor View Hotel on Saturday, October 10, 2026, pumpkins on the steps and guests out on the long porch.
A lane down to the water near the Harbor View Hotel in October, hedges on both sides and the harbor at the end.
Past the Harbor View the pavement gives way to a sandy path across the marsh, and ten to fifteen minutes from downtown you are at the Edgartown Lighthouse. The video below is the whole route at a run, from Main Street out along the path, filmed by MrFelix on YouTube. Walked, it is the easiest quarter hour on the island, though the first stretch is steep and the rest is soft sand and some rocks, so it is not a wheelchair route.
The light station dates to 1828, when the first lighthouse stood on an artificial island offshore and the keeper rowed to work; a 1,500-foot wooden walkway built in 1830 earned the name Bridge of Sighs, for the islanders who watched whaling ships leave from it. The 1938 hurricane finished the old building. The tower standing today was built in 1881 as a range light on Crane’s Beach in Ipswich and barged here in 1939, and it still flashes red every six seconds. Around its base, the Children’s Memorial, created in 2001, holds more than 1,000 granite cobblestones carved with children’s names. The town bought the lighthouse from the federal government in 2014 for one dollar, and the Martha’s Vineyard Museum looks after it. Climbing costs $5 in season (free for ages 12 and under), but the museum lists the tower closed until spring 2027, so check mvmuseum.org before you walk out for the climb. Lighthouse Beach around it is free all year, and because the light faces east, sunrise is its hour.
Filmed May 2024The island moves on: shops, signs and prices may differ from what you see here. The text of this guide was checked November 2026.
Bought from the federal government in 2014 for one dollar; the climb costs five.
Edgartown Lighthouse seen over the salt marsh between the houses in summer.
Edgartown Lighthouse in the blue hour with its lamp lit, the easiest foreground on the island for a first night photo.
Come back along the water to Dock Street. Memorial Wharf, renovated in 2022, has a free upper deck with the whole harbor in front of you, open year-round, and it is the best seat for watching the Chappy Ferry. Chappaquiddick is officially part of Edgartown, 527 feet of harbor water away, and the On Time ferry crosses it in about 90 seconds, continuously, three cars at a time plus walkers and bikes; the story goes that a ferry with no schedule can never be late. 2026 fares are $5 per passenger round trip, $17 for a car and driver and $8 for a bike and rider, paid in cash or by island check, since the ferry takes no cards. In summer the Pied Piper from Falmouth lands here too, the only boat that puts you down in Edgartown itself; its 2026 season ended with Labor Day weekend. The short clip below is the Pied Piper tied up at the dock in Edgartown.
Filmed July 2022The island moves on: shops, signs and prices may differ from what you see here. The text of this guide was checked November 2026.
Jaws fans will know the harbor: Hooper’s arrival, the tiger-shark scene on the dock and Mrs. Kintner’s slap were all shot here, and the Chappy Ferry itself carries Brody and the mayor mid-argument in the film. The short clip below is the wharf and the ferry at night.
Filmed January 2026
Edgartown Harbor from the docks off Dock Street on a clear summer day, with Chappaquiddick across the water.
The Chappy ferry slip beside Memorial Wharf, with the harbor and the Chappaquiddick shore beyond: the crossing the film made famous.
The Chappy Ferry landing on Dock Street in a quiet moment; in July the line runs up the street.
The Pied Piper at Memorial Wharf on a sunny day, the Falmouth boat that lands right in town.
Boats in Edgartown Harbor, where the channel to Chappaquiddick is 527 feet across.
The loop works just as well with the leaves down. Edgartown keeps a core of restaurants and inns open through the cold months, the streets empty out, and in December the porches and lampposts are wrapped in garland and lights. Christmas in Edgartown runs Thursday to Sunday, December 10 to 13, 2026, its 45th year: the lighthouse is lit on the Friday evening and the parade comes down Main Street on Saturday morning. The short clip below is the town on a winter day, and our December guide has what stays open.
Filmed December 2025
Garland, red ornaments and lights wound around the porch posts on Edgartown’s Main Street in December 2025.
An Edgartown street under its winter lights, the old houses dark behind them. On New Year’s Eve this is the walk home from dinner, usually with nobody else on it.
The wharf tree, built from stacked lobster traps and hung with buoys and lights.
An Edgartown side street at dusk after a snowfall, plowed down the middle, with the lamps already lit.
Lighthouse Beach in Edgartown on a cold evening, a strip of leftover snow along the sand and the lighthouse at the far end. In May you can walk it without meeting anyone.
There is no year-round ferry to Edgartown. The Steamship lands in Vineyard Haven all year and in Oak Bluffs from May to October, and the VTA Route 13 bus connects both to Church Street about every 30 minutes, the long way round by Beach Road and State Beach, roughly 15 minutes from Oak Bluffs. All VTA rides are fare-free through June 30, 2027, the buses carry bikes on the front rack, and you can flag one down at any marked stop. The late buses back run only on Friday and Saturday nights, so check the timetable before dinner. Our Vineyard Haven to Edgartown bus ride shows the whole trip on video.
Driving, skip downtown: time limits are posted on the street signs, and the easy answer is the free Park and Ride lot on Dark Woods Road near the Triangle, which has a shuttle into town in season (confirm current hours with the VTA; in late October it was free with no shuttle) and four Level 2 EV ports. Cyclists come in on the paved path from Vineyard Haven, about 7 miles, shown in full in our Vineyard Haven bike guide, and Edgartown Bicycles at 212 Upper Main Street sits at the town end of it. The parking guide covers every lot and fee.
A VTA bus beside the Old Whaling Church in Edgartown.
The Edgartown Bicycles sign at 212 Upper Main Street in October 2026, with the shingled shop beside it and leaves along the road.
About an hour for the loop from Main Street to the lighthouse and back along the harbor, longer with shop and porch stops. The lighthouse is 10 to 15 minutes from downtown on foot.
The streets, Memorial Wharf’s upper deck and Lighthouse Beach are free. The lighthouse climb is $5 in season, the Vineyard Trust’s guided historic tour is $30 for adults and $15 for ages 6 to 17, and the Chappy Ferry is $5 round trip on foot.
In season, yes, weather permitting. The museum lists it closed until spring 2027, so check mvmuseum.org or call 508-627-4441 before you plan around the climb.
Downtown spaces have posted time limits. The Park and Ride on Dark Woods Road is free, with a shuttle into town in season.
Early morning for the lighthouse, which faces east and catches the sunrise, and the hour before sunset for the harbor from Memorial Wharf.
How we checked: the Main Street walk and the Church Street, historic district, wharf and winter clips were filmed by MV Vacation over several years and are on our YouTube channel; the run to the lighthouse was filmed by MrFelix. The history and prices come from the Martha’s Vineyard Museum (the lighthouse), the Vineyard Preservation Trust (the Old Whaling Church and its historic tour), the Chappy Ferry’s posted 2026 fares, the VTA and the Steamship Authority, as cited in our Edgartown town guide and lighthouse guide. Last checked November 1, 2026.
Exploring the town? Start with our complete Edgartown guide for food, beaches and parking.
Step 1 · WhenMonth PickerTwelve months compared on NOAA numbers, crowds, prices and what is open. 
Step 2 · DaysDay-by-Day Trip PlannerMorning, afternoon and evening sketched for every day, events dropped in, emailed to you. 
Step 3 · CostTrip Cost CalculatorFerry, beds with the rooms tax, meals, getting around and activities in one price range. From MV Vacation, written on Martha’s Vineyard · https://mvvacation.com/blog/edgartown-marthas-vineyard-walking-tour · printed . Hours, prices and schedules change; the page online is the current one.
Edgartown hotels and inns street by street, from North Water Street to Upper Main and Katama: rooms, breakfast, parking, pets, minimum stays and season as each property states them, with rates by band and how to book for 2027.
The Hallmark Martha's Vineyard Mysteries are not filmed on Martha's Vineyard: Victoria, British Columbia plays the island on screen. But the books behind the movies are pure Vineyard, and the real places are better than the set.
On August 19, 1991, Hurricane Bob hit Martha's Vineyard at the height of the season: 98 mph winds, 84 boats wrecked in Edgartown Harbor alone, a sloop in the Harborside Inn pool, and a false autumn by Labor Day. The story of the storm, told through an original Vineyard Gazette storm edition we found in an island thrift shop.
Inside Edgartown's 4th of July: the Main Street parade with fifes, floats, classic cars and Camp Jabberwocky, then fireworks over the harbor, with photos, video and tips for doing the day right.
Take a guided Jaws tour of Martha's Vineyard with local guide Mike Currid. Walk the real Amity Island in Edgartown and book the “Amity” Walking Tour.
A first-hand look at the Edgartown Historic Walking Tour and “Amity” Jaws Tour with Mike Currid of the Edgartown Tour Company: what to expect, what you'll learn, and how to book.
Island tip of the day Ferry No. 2 of 79 New tip at midnight, island time
Walk-on passengers never need a reservation on SSA ferries. $11 one-way: buy at the terminal or via the SSA eFerry mobile site. On peak summer weekends, arrive 30 minutes early to guarantee your seat.
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