Aquinnah
Many year-round residents of Aquinnah are descendants of the Wampanoag Indians who showed the colonial settlers how to kill whales, plant corn, and find clay for the early brickyards. Much later, these Aquinnah Indians were in great demand as boatsteerers in the whaling fleets. It was the boatsteerer who cast the iron into the whale. The Aquinnah Indians were judged to be the most skillful and courageous boatsteerers of that era.
The courage of the early residents of Aquinnah demonstrated itself in the many instances when they took to the seas in deadly weather to aid survivors of wrecks that took place off the Aquinnah Cliffs. As further testament to their valor, a plaque on the schoolhouse commemorates the fact that Aquinnah sent more men, in proportion to its size, to fight in World War I than did any other town in New England.
The brilliant colors of the mile-long expanse of the Aquinnah Cliffs astonished early explorers and have continued to be a source of intense interest to scientists and visitors alike. Here layers of sands, gravels, and clays of various hues tell a hundred-million year-old story of a land first covered with forests, then flooded and laid bare, then covered with new growth, time and again. The seas, glaciers, and land itself have contorted these once-level layers into waving bands of color that stream above the
sea. Erosion continues as it has for centuries, turning the seas red and revealing fossil secrets. From the fossils revealed by erosion we know of the great sharks that swam over what is now Chilmark, of the clams and crabs that inhabited ancient seas. Pieces of lignite from the Cretaceous period are found on the beach, looking like nothing so much as the remnants of recent campfires. Fossil bones of camels and wild horses, as well as those of ancient whales, have been found in the Cliffs. The Aquinnah Cliffs
are a national landmark; yet they are seriously threatened by carelessness. To protect the Cliffs, climbing and the removal of clay are both prohibited by law.
Because of the extremely dangerous rocky ledge offshore, the seas around Aquinnah have always been a place of great peril to the mariner. One of the first revolving lighthouses in the country was erected atop the Cliffs in 1799. It had wooden works that became swollen in damp or cold weather, when the lighthouse keeper and his wife would be obliged to stand all night and turn the light by hand. The current red-brick, electrified Gay Head Light stands in its place.
TOWN GOVERNMENT
NOTE: On May 14, 1997, the voters of Gay Head voted to change the town’s name to Aquinnah. The name change was signed into law on May 7, 1998.
Fire - To report a fire: 911
Police - To report an emergency: 911
To report urgency, but no emergency: #311
State Road Station: 508.645.2313
Aquinnah Town Hall
65 State Rd
Aquinnah, MA 02535
508.645.2300; Fax: 508.645.2310
aqbos@comcast.net
TOWN OFFICIALS
Selectmen – Camille Rose, chair; James Newman
Spencer Booker; 508.645.2300
Town Coordinator – Jeffrey Burgoyne
Town Clerk – Carolyn Feltz; 508-645-2304
Accountant – Marjorie Spitz; 508.645.2305
Building Inspector/Zoning Administrator – Jerry Wiener; Leonard Jason, Jr., asst.; 508.645.2307
Constables – Carl M. Widdiss; Betty Joslow
Dog Officer/Poundkeeper – Angela Waldron
Dump – Natalie Francis; 24 State Rd.; 508.645.2319
Fire Chief – Walter E. Delaney
Gas Inspector – Francis Kuszewski
Harbormaster – Brian Vanderhoop; James Sanfillipo, asst. harbormaster
Highway Surveyor – A. Forrest Alley
Library – Jennifer Christy; 508.645.2314
Moderator – Walter E. Delaney
Plumbing Inspector – Francis Kuszewski
Police Chief – Randhi Belain
Shellfish Constable – Brian Vanderhoop
Shellfish Deputies – Hollis Smith; Brian Vanderhoop; William D. Vanderhoop, Jr; Carl Widdiss
Smoke Dectectors/Carbon Monoxide Detectors/Heating Inspector – Walter E. Delaney
Tax Collector/Treasurer – Audrey Jeffers-Mayhew; 508.645.2303
Town Counsel – Ronald Rappaport
Wiring Inspector – Peter Dawley
TOWN BOARDS, ETC.
Aquinnah Community Program Committee – Kristina Hook-Leslie, chair; Lauri Bradway; Betty Joslow; Julianne Vanderhoop; Virginia Yorke
MV Cultural Council – Jean Entine, Kathy Newman; Carrie Vanderhoop
Aquinnah Housing Committee – Derrill Bazzy, chair; Mitzi Pratt; Eleanor Hebert; June Manning; Richard Skidmore; Carl Widdiss; Jerry Wiener
Assessors – Hugh C. Taylor; Michael Stutz; Carl M. Widdiss. Asst: Angela Cywinski. 508.645.2306
Board of Appeals – James Vercruysse, chair; Hamilton (Ted) Cammann; Peter Ives; Kathy Newman; Vernon Welch Rick Lee
Board of Health – Sarah Saltonstall; Richard Skidmore; Jerry A. Wiener, chair. Amanda Hutchinson, clerk. 508.645.2307
Board of Registrars – Mallory Butler; Nancy Delaney; Carolyn Feltz; Jeananne Jeffers; Audrey Jeffers-Mayhew; June Manning
Cemetery Commission – Karl Burgess, chair; Eleanor Hebert; E. Ryan Malonson; Steven Roth
Citizen’s Advisory Committee – Carolyn Feltz; June Manning; Camille Rose; Richard Skidmore; Marjorie Spitz; Matthew Vanderhoop; Carl Widdiss
Conservation Commission – Walter E. Delaney; Sarah Thulin, chair; Steve Yaffee; Kathy Newman
Council on Aging – Joyce Browker, director; Betty Joslow; 508.693.2896
Dukes County Advisory Board – James Newman
Dukes County Regional Housing Authority – Derrill Bazzy
Finance Committee – Stefanie Hecht; Isaac Taylor, chair; John Walsh; Susan Shea, alt
Land Bank Commission – Carlos Montoya
Land Bank Advisory Board – James Newman; Sarah Thulin; Carl M. Widdiss; Jerry Wiener; Berta Welch
Library Trustees – Martha Vanderhoop; Nancy Delaney, chair; Betty Joslow
Martha’s Vineyard Commission – Kathy Newman; Susan Shea
Martha’s Vineyard Hospital Task Force – James Worthington, selectmen’s representative
M. V. Refuse Disposal & Resource Recovery District & Solid Waste District Committees – James Newman; Richard Skidmore
Permanent Endowment Fund of Martha’s Vineyard – Helen Edey
Philbin Beach Scholarship Committee – Roxanne Ackerman; Eleanor Hebert; Betty Joslow
Planning Board – Jo-Ann Eccher; Camille Rose, chair; Peter Temple; Berta Welch; Rick Lee
Shellfish Committee – James Sanfillipo; Hollis F. Smith; Brian Vanderhoop; William D. Vanderhoop, Jr.; Carl M. Widdis
Tri-Town Ambulance Committee – Randhi Belain; Walter Delaney
Up-Island Council on Aging – Joyce Bowker, director; Kathleen Brady, asst.; Aquinnah Rep: Gladys Widdiss; 508.693.2896
Up-Island Regional School Committee – Roxanne Ackerman
