Vineyard Haven harbor on a sunny day, boats on their moorings.
Take a sunny-day stroll through Vineyard Haven, Martha's Vineyard. Boutique shopping, restaurants, and entertainment in this year-round port town.
Take a walk on a sunny day around Vineyard Haven on the island of Martha’s Vineyard. Vineyard Haven is a year-round working town, home to some of the best independent shops, restaurants and entertainment on the island. Once you dock in Vineyard Haven Harbor, downtown is a short walk up Main Street, which is lined with locally owned shops: clothing, vintage, books, and everything in between. Shopping here keeps the money on the island. The restaurants in Vineyard Haven are downtown and at Tisbury Marketplace, with a few scattered elsewhere: fish markets, casual counters, and a couple of proper dinner rooms. Vineyard Haven has ice cream too.
Filmed May 2021The island moves on: shops, signs and prices may differ from what you see here. The text of this guide was checked September 2026.
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Exploring the town? Start with our complete Vineyard Haven guide: food, beaches, parking and the local rhythm, all in one place.
Island tip of the dayInsiderNo. 84 of 86New tip at midnight, island time
A 502-foot breach opened at Norton Point on January 1, 2026, cutting the sand link between Katama and Chappaquiddick: the Chappy Ferry is once again the only way across, likely for years. OSV drivers should check current beach access with the town of Edgartown.
Joshua Slocum, first to sail alone around the world, spent his last years farming in West Tisbury and vanished from Vineyard Haven harbor in November 1909. The voyage, the farm called Fag End, the last departure, and what a visitor can actually see: the harbor, a marker stone by a country road, the museum's Slocum papers, and the book itself.
The red bus that gets the loudest cheer in the Edgartown Fourth of July parade belongs to Camp Jabberwocky, a tuition-free summer camp for people with disabilities that has run on the Vineyard since 1953. An islander's account of where it came from and what it is. For anything official, the camp's own site is the source.
Lake Tashmoo in Vineyard Haven hides a century of stories: the 1887 waterworks that watered the town, a golf course where a bull was a hazard, town baseball and the frozen winters when islanders raced ice boats.
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.
The complete guide to Vineyard Haven, Martha's Vineyard's year-round port town. Main Street shopping, Black Dog Tavern, Owen Park, and ferry terminal.
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