Travel information about Martha's Vineyard goes stale faster than almost anywhere we know. Six towns each set their own rules, half the island reopens and closes on a seasonal clock, ferry schedules shift four times a year, and a restaurant that anchored a street for forty years can change hands over a winter. Most travel sites copy each other and hope for the best. We decided to do it differently, and this page explains exactly how.
Our rules
Rule 01
Primary sources or nothing
When we publish a ferry fare, we read it off the operator's own fare table, not a roundup article. Event dates come from the organizer. A claim that exists only on other blogs stays out until an official source or the business itself confirms it.
Rule 02
We are on the island
Nearly every photograph on this site is ours, taken here. That matters for more than looks: a photographed departure board at the dock or posted hours in a shop window is evidence, and more than once our own photos have corrected what the internet believed.
Rule 03
We cross-check
Official sites, the island's own newspapers, and what we see on the ground get compared against each other. When they disagree, we chase down which one is current, and when a claim cannot be confirmed, it gets a caveat or it gets cut.
Rule 04
We hedge honestly
If a price or schedule cannot be verified for the season ahead, we say "confirm when booking" instead of inventing precision. A range with a caveat is more useful to you than a confident number that is wrong.
Rule 05
We correct in the open
We keep checking after we publish. Guides are re-verified against primary sources on a rolling basis, and when the island changes, the page changes with it. The "Updated" date on a guide moves only when a person actually reviewed it, never as a trick for search engines.
Rule 06
No pay-to-play
Nobody can buy a recommendation here. Advertising is clearly separated, affiliate links are disclosed where they appear, and we never buy or sell links. If we recommend a place, it is because we would send a friend there.
Help us keep it right
Readers are part of this system. If you spot something that is off, an outdated price, a closed shop, a schedule that changed, email us at [email protected]. Reader notes regularly become corrections within a day, and sometimes they become entire guides: a reader planning a trip for May 2027 recently asked what would be open, and that question turned into our guide to what is open year-round.
The honest fine print
The island changes daily in season, and no publication can promise that nothing shifted since its last check. For anything your trip depends on, the final word always belongs to the ferry line, the town or the business itself. Our promise is simpler and worth more: we checked, we tell you when we checked, and we fix what we got wrong.
Island prices, hours and details change often. Please verify with businesses before you go. Full disclaimer
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