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Thanksgiving 2026 on Martha's Vineyard, taken from each organizer's own page: three restaurants serving dinner, four take-home menus with order deadlines from November 17, the Oak Bluffs Turkey Trot, the weekend's festivals and the Chowder Cup, plus ferries and buses.
Wild turkeys working a leafy side yard in the fall. Once the summer crowd leaves you see them along a lot of island roads.
Thanksgiving falls on Thursday, November 26, in 2026. By then the island is on its winter footing: every Steamship Authority ferry from Woods Hole runs to Vineyard Haven, the buses are on the off-season timetable, and a good many restaurants have closed until spring. A few of the kitchens that stay open make an occasion of the day, and a farm, a market and two cafés take Thanksgiving orders that you can carry back to a rental house.
We read everything below on each restaurant's, farm's or organizer's own page on November 10 and 11, 2026, and we say so wherever a page left something out. The first take-home order deadline is Tuesday, November 17, so that section is worth reading first if you'd like someone else to roast the turkey. For the months after the holiday, our Thanksgiving to March winter guide picks up where this one stops, and Martha's Vineyard in November covers the rest of the month.
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Three island dining rooms have Thanksgiving dinner on their own pages so far, one each in Edgartown, West Tisbury and Vineyard Haven.
Bettini, the restaurant at the Harbor View Hotel at 131 North Water Street in Edgartown, has the fullest listing. The buffet has multiple carving stations and the adult price of $165 includes a Scotch tasting. Tables book through Resy or at (508) 627-3761, and the hotel takes full payment when you reserve. If you cancel by Friday, November 20, 2026, the refund is the price less 20 percent, and after that date it is nonrefundable. For something looser, the Bettini Bar is open from 12:00 PM to 9:00 PM that day, first come, first served, with limited bar seating.
The Harbor View Hotel on Saturday, October 10, 2026, pumpkins on the steps and guests out on the long porch.
Restaurant Foster at Lambert's Cove Inn, 90 Manaquayak Road in West Tisbury, serves what its menu calls a Thanksgiving Feast. The table starts with Zach's Irish brown bread and Vermont maple butter. The first course is a North Tabor Farm salad or roasted cauliflower and leek soup, and the entrées are cider-brined roast turkey, Burgundy braised beef short rib, a roasted Cape Cod fillet, or a roasted butternut and wild mushroom lasagna. The printed menu carries no date, so it's worth confirming the day when you call 508-422-8051.
The Black Dog Tavern at 20 Beach Street Extension in Vineyard Haven, steps from the ferry, has a three-course menu for Thursday, November 26, at $90 per person and $40 for children 12 and under. The first course is the Tavern's clam chowder or an autumn harvest salad. The plate is herb-roasted turkey with sage and onion stuffing, mashed potatoes, char-roasted carrots, green bean casserole and creamed corn, with cranberry-orange relish, dinner rolls and gravy on the side, and dessert is pumpkin, pecan or apple pie. The Tavern's page gives four seatings, at 11:30 AM, 1:30 PM, 3:30 PM and 5:30 PM, and takes reservations by phone at 508-693-9223.
The Black Dog Tavern by the harbor in Vineyard Haven, its black dog sign on the post and the water just beyond.
With a kitchen in the rental, you can order most or all of the dinner from four island businesses. Black Sheep and Maker Café both hand orders over on Wednesday, November 25.
Black Sheep at 17 Airport Road in Edgartown has the earliest cutoff and a long menu. Gravy for that $170 turkey is $17.50 a quart. Most sides serve three or four and run $16 to $20, a half pan of mac and cheese for 10 to 12 people is $95, and a pack of six dinner rolls is $14. Besides the two $30 pies there is a chocolate bourbon pecan pie at $35 and a pumpkin caramel cheesecake at $75. Orders go in by phone at 508-338-7770 (option 2) or by email to cateringsales@blacksheeponmv.com and are paid in full at that point, with a full refund if you cancel before November 17. Pickup comes in four windows: 11 AM to 12 PM, 12 to 1 PM, 2 to 3 PM and 4 to 5 PM.
Black Sheep, the sign promising fromage, charcuterie and picnic to pantry, and the Open sign out in late October.
Maker Café on State Road on an October night in 2026, with string lights along the ramp and mums and pumpkins by the yellow door.
Morning Glory Farm at 120 Meshacket Road in Edgartown calls this its 51st year of Thanksgiving offerings. The turkeys come from Out Post Farm in Holliston, Massachusetts, and each part of the order form has its own deadline, so a turkey and a pie can mean two dates to remember. The farmstand is open seven days a week until 5:30 PM. Its own pages give the opening time as 8:30 AM in some places and 9:00 AM in others, so 9:00 is the safer bet.
Morning Glory’s farm store in October, with pumpkins stacked on wooden racks, picnic tables out front and the farm’s wind turbine behind the roof.
Maker Café at 339 State Road in Vineyard Haven goes beyond turkey: there is pork shoulder carnitas at $18 a pound and a whole branzino at $45 that serves two, and sides are $18 a quart. The café contacts everyone on Friday, November 20, with an assigned pickup time. The Black Dog Bakery Café is a little farther up the same road at 509 State Road. Its take-out dinner comes in three sizes, each with a turkey, the sides, rolls and one of the bakery's pies. Pecan pie adds $5, and extra pies and sides are by pre-order only. The flyer gives the pickup window but not the day, so it's worth asking when you order.
For anyone cooking from scratch, Cronig’s Market lists Thanksgiving as one of the three days it closes, along with Easter and Christmas, and the island's Stop and Shops fall under the Massachusetts law that keeps supermarkets closed on Thanksgiving Day. That makes Wednesday the day to shop. Our grocery stores guide covers the island's markets.
Thanksgiving morning has a 5K in Oak Bluffs. The Turkey Trot starts at 8:30 AM on Thursday, November 26, in front of the police station. The course goes up Circuit Avenue and along Wing Road toward the firehouse, turns right on County Road and right again on Vineyard Avenue, then left on Dukes County Avenue to the harbor, where it turns right and heads back up to the finish. The sign-up page gives the race's place as 9 Oak Bluffs Avenue. Online sign-up is $22.20, which includes a $2.20 fee, and closes on Wednesday, November 25, at 10:00 PM. For anything else about the race, the page sends you to the Oak Bluffs School 8th grade fundraising site.
Circuit Avenue after dark in November, shop signs lit and the street quiet.
Friday and Saturday carry most of it. Each of these is on its organizer's own page with a 2026 date.
The Fall Festival at Felix Neck is Mass Audubon's day at the sanctuary in Edgartown, with food for sale from Aquila. It is free, though Mass Audubon's page says registration is required, and the Register button is on that page. The organizers suggest weather-appropriate layers and ask for patience with parking; the sanctuary's number is 508-627-4850. Our Felix Neck guide has the trails for a walk afterward.
The walk from the parking area to the nature center, where every visit starts, here in full leaf.
The Agricultural Hall in West Tisbury, here dressed with quilts for the 2026 fair. The Artisans festival sets up in the same hall.
The Harbor View's carriage rides use Percheron draft horses and pass Eel Pond, the historic village and Edgartown Harbor. Rides leave at 10:30, 11:15, 12:00, 12:45, 1:30, 2:15, 3:00 and 3:45, and the hotel books them at 508-627-7000. A cancellation seven days ahead is refunded less 10 percent, and bad weather moves the rides to the following day. The Vineyard Artisans festival is the same Friday and Saturday in West Tisbury, and the Featherstone Holiday Gift Show is open every afternoon of the weekend.
The Chowder Cup is the Edgartown Board of Trade's tasting. You sample the chowders and vote for the people's choice, and there is cold local beer, music and a raw bar. A Child Under 10 ticket is listed at $0, the Board of Trade recommends buying tickets in advance, and the proceeds go to the Board and Edgartown's small businesses.
The porch and garden of the Dr. Daniel Fisher House, with hydrangeas in bloom and tables set out on the lawn.
After the weekend the towns turn to December. Light Up Oak Bluffs is the following Saturday, and Christmas in Edgartown is the weekend after that. Our events calendar and This Weekend page keep up with what gets added.
Edgartown in November, after the summer crowds have gone.
The Steamship Authority's winter schedule runs from October 23, 2026, to January 5, 2027, and every boat on it sails between Woods Hole and Vineyard Haven. It lists 14 trips each way, the first at 6:00 AM from both sides and the last at 9:45 PM from Woods Hole and 9:30 PM from Vineyard Haven. The printed schedule marks every trip as daily and shows no holiday exception. It also says the schedule can change and that unscheduled trips may be added in peak periods, so the SSA's own schedule page is the one to check for the day you travel. Walking on is $11 each way, and the SSA says its boats sometimes reach passenger capacity on busy weekends and holidays. A car under 17 feet is $79 one way and needs a reservation. The reservation office, at 508-477-8600 from 7:30 AM to 4:00 PM, is closed on Thanksgiving Day. Our ferry guide and car reservation guide go into the detail.
The Island Home, one of the two winter boats, crossing Vineyard Haven Harbor on a gray fall day, with the stone jetty and a few boats still on their moorings in front.
From New Bedford, Seastreak is sailing to Vineyard Haven from Wednesday, November 25, through Sunday, November 29. On the 25th, 27th, 28th and 29th, boats leave New Bedford at 8:45 AM and 2:00 PM and leave Vineyard Haven at 12:30 PM and 5:30 PM. The timetable allows 50 minutes for the crossing. On Thanksgiving Day there is one round trip, out at 8:45 AM and back at 3:15 PM. An adult ticket is $49 one way or $84 round trip, a child from 3 to 12 is $29 or $55, and infants 2 and under ride free but still need a ticket. Seastreak's fare table also notes a 3% booking fee and a temporary fuel surcharge of about 5%, both added at the time of purchase. Dockside parking at the New Bedford terminal, 49 State Pier, is $20 per calendar day and cashless.
The VTA buses are fare-free through June 30, 2027, and they do not run on Thanksgiving Day. On Thursday that leaves a car, a taxi or a walk, which matters if dinner is in another town. Sunset is at about 4:15 PM all week. The bus schedule page has the routes for the other days, and the island without a car covers the rest.
Three island restaurants had Thanksgiving dinner on their own pages when we checked. Bettini at the Harbor View Hotel in Edgartown has a buffet from 12:00 PM, with the last seating at 7:00 PM, at $165 per adult and $75 for children 12 and under. Restaurant Foster at Lambert's Cove Inn in West Tisbury serves a Thanksgiving Feast from 12 noon to 5:00 PM at $135 per guest. The Black Dog Tavern in Vineyard Haven has a three-course dinner at $90 per person and $40 for children 12 and under, with seatings at 11:30 AM, 1:30 PM, 3:30 PM and 5:30 PM.
Black Sheep closes first, at 4 PM on Tuesday, November 17. Morning Glory Farm takes turkey orders until Wednesday, November 18, bakery orders until Friday, November 20, and kitchen orders until Sunday, November 22. Maker Café takes online orders until Friday, November 20, and The Black Dog Bakery Café takes prepaid orders until 2 PM the same day.
The Steamship Authority's winter schedule lists its Woods Hole to Vineyard Haven trips as daily, with no holiday exception printed, and its reservation office is closed that day. Seastreak runs one round trip from New Bedford on Thanksgiving Day, leaving at 8:45 AM and returning from Vineyard Haven at 3:15 PM.
Cronig's Market lists Thanksgiving as a closed day, and the island's Stop and Shops fall under the Massachusetts law that keeps supermarkets closed on Thanksgiving Day. Wednesday is the day to shop.
The Oak Bluffs Turkey Trot is on Thursday morning at 8:30 AM. On Friday there is the free Fall Festival at Felix Neck from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM and carriage rides at the Harbor View Hotel. The Vineyard Artisans festival is at the Agricultural Hall on Friday and Saturday from 10 AM to 4 PM, and the Chowder Cup is in Edgartown on Saturday.
No. The VTA does not run on Thanksgiving Day. Buses are back on the off-season timetable on Friday, and they are fare-free.
How we checked: we read each business's and organizer's own page on November 10 and 11, 2026. That means the Harbor View Hotel for Bettini and the carriage rides, Lambert's Cove Inn for Restaurant Foster's menu, The Black Dog's Tavern and Bakery Café pages and menus, Black Sheep, Morning Glory Farm, Maker Café, the Turkey Trot's sign-up page, Mass Audubon for Felix Neck, the Vineyard Artisans, the Chowder Cup's ticket page, Featherstone, the Oak Bluffs Association, Edgartown's events calendar, Cronig's Market, Seastreak, and the Steamship Authority's printed winter schedule. Two things we could not pin down: the Bakery Café's flyer gives a pickup window but no pickup day, and Restaurant Foster's menu prints no date. Ferry fares, the reservation office's holiday closing and the bus notes come from our own ferry and bus guides, which we check against the Steamship Authority and the VTA, and the note about full boats is from the Steamship Authority's fares page. The supermarket closing on Thanksgiving Day comes from the state's holiday closing law, Chapter 136 of the Massachusetts General Laws. The sunset time is calculated for the island. If anything here looks out of date, tell us and we'll fix it.
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/thanksgiving-on-marthas-vineyard-2026 · printed . Hours, prices and schedules change; the page online is the current one.
Martha's Vineyard in December 2026: First Friday on December 4, Light Up Oak Bluffs on December 5, Christmas in Edgartown December 10 to 13, 4:15 sunsets, one ferry into Vineyard Haven, and what stays open through Christmas.
Halloween on Martha's Vineyard 2026, town by town: Edgartown's Happy Haunting on Sunday, October 25, Halloween in Oak Bluffs on Saturday, October 31, the museum's Halloween on the Hill, the library events, haunted Edgartown walks and Circuit Arts' revue at the Grange, plus how the Vineyard Haven puppet parade ran in past years (set for October 31 at 4 PM).
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Newport or Martha's Vineyard? A drivable Gilded Age city with the Breakers ($32), the free 3.5-mile Cliff Walk, festival weekends at Fort Adams and a late harbor front, against a six-town island reached by an $11 ferry with twenty beaches, a free bus and quiet nights. Getting there, sights, beds, nights, children, weddings, and doing both from Rhode Island.
Block Island vs Martha's Vineyard, honestly: a 9-square-mile island with one village and a $12 year-round ferry from Point Judith against 90 square miles, six towns and an $11 boat from Woods Hole. Size, ferries (the car fare gap is huge), beds, beaches, the week versus the weekend, and which one fits your trip from Rhode Island.
New Year's Eve on Martha's Vineyard: the $150 dinner over the lit harbor, the two-seating table in Edgartown, live music at the Ritz, the family First Night at the Playhouse, where the lights are, what runs on the holiday (the ferry does, the reservation office does not), what is open on New Year's Day, and the empty January that begins the week you leave. 2026–2027 dates.
Island tip of the day Timing No. 78 of 79 New tip at midnight, island time
Owen Park Beach in Vineyard Haven is almost never crowded: most visitors go straight from the ferry to bigger beaches. Calm, shallow, perfect for a last-morning swim.
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