Tales of Edgartown Lecture Series
Tales of Edgartown
A Summer Lecture Series. Stories of Edgartown, told where history happened.
Monday Evenings at the Cooke House
TALES OF EDGARTOWN LECTURE SERIES
Spend Monday afternoons in the Legacy Gardens at the historic Cooke House in Edgartown, where Island historians and storytellers bring Edgartown’s rich and surprising past to life. Each week, a new speaker explores a distinct chapter of local history—from colonial gardens to textile traditions, from legendary ferry crossings to the evolution of Edgartown itself.
This annual summer series invites you to slow down, listen, and connect with the stories that shaped this place and the people who called it home. Programs take place in the gardens or inside the Cooke House itself, depending on the topic and weather. Enjoy light refreshments and meaningful conversation in one of Edgartown’s most beautiful and historic settings.
July 7 – August 25, 2025
Join us on Mondays from 4:00-5:00pm at the Cooke House & Legacy Gardens (51 School Street, Edgartown)
Individual Tickets:
• $30 per lecture
Season Pass – $150
• Admission to all 7 lectures in the series
• Valid for one person
THE SCHEDULE
July 7 – An Everyday Life Tour of the Cooke House (4-5PM)
Join celebrated Island historian Norah Van Riper for a tour of the Cooke House in Edgartown. What’s so special about a house like this one? The Thomas Cooke House, built in 1766 and occupied until the late 1920s, witnessed profound changes to everyday life on Martha’s Vineyard while real people called it home. Step inside one of the Island’s oldest houses on a special guided tour focused on how Islanders lived, from before the American Revolution through the Roaring ’20s.
July 14 – The Vineyard and the World: A Common Humanity (4-5PM)
Join author and Island lover Gail Straub for an interview about her critically acclaimed new book Home Inside the Globe: Embracing Our Common Humanity. Hailed as a tour de force, the book offers a powerful call to action for building a more compassionate world. In conversation with longtime Vineyard resident Ellen Wingard, Straub will explore how the book’s themes of pluralism and multiculturalism connect with the rich, multicultural heritage of Martha’s Vineyard. In a world divided by conflict and difference, this conversation offers an uplifting vision of shared humanity.
July 21 – The Pond People of Pohogonot (4-5PM)
Discover the hidden legacy of Pohogonot with Island educator, artist, and historian Chris Baer. Once a thriving village in Edgartown, Pohogonot hosted a public school, the town poorhouse, and, for over a century, the Dukes County Registry of Deeds. Home to the “Pond People”—a hard-boiled community of farmer-fishermen known for their guns, feuds, and fervent religion—Pohogonot later transformed into a remote private retreat for Fall River liquor magnate George D. Flynn. There, his VIP guests, including mayors from New Bedford and Fall River, would disappear for weeks at a time, mixing gunning with plenty of alcohol. This compelling talk offers a rare glimpse into a forgotten and colorful chapter of Martha’s Vineyard history.
August 4 – Colonial Essentials: The Garden That Fed and Healed (4-5PM)
Imagine life as a colonist in the New World. What would you eat? How would you heal if you fell ill?
The Colonial Gardens at the Cooke House Museum recreate the type of courtyard gardens Islanders once relied on daily. Part pantry, part medicine chest, and part kitchen garden, these spaces were essential to colonial households—used for treating ailments, preserving food, dyeing fabrics, freshening linens, and more.
Roxanne Kapitan of Garden Wisdom, along with the team from Oakleaf Landscape, played a key role in the design, installation, and care of the Museum’s Legacy Gardens. She continues to educate the community about resilient perennial foods through her work at the forest garden at Martha’s Vineyard Public Charter School, a project supported by a grant from the Cedar Tree Foundation.
August 11 – Beyond the 527 Feet: Peter Wells’ Story of the Chappy Ferry (4-5PM)
Join Island legend Peter Wells for personal stories and behind-the-scenes insights from his decades running the iconic Chappaquiddick Ferry. Learn about the rich history of this 527-foot crossing—and the community, challenges, and colorful moments that have made the ferry one of the Island’s most beloved institutions.
August 18 – The Way We Wore: Island Textiles & Fashion, 1642–1850 (4-5PM)
Island historian Norah Van Riper invites you to explore Martha’s Vineyard’s rich textile heritage in this interactive program, which demonstrates (almost) the entire process of turning raw wool and flax into useful textiles by hand. Today, wool and linen are considered luxury fabrics, but for most of Western history, they were the everyday fibers worn and used by all social classes. Sheep arrived on Martha’s Vineyard with the earliest English colonists, and flax became an important Island crop. The sheep thrived so successfully that wool became Martha’s Vineyard’s premier cash crop for nearly two centuries. But what changed—and why?
August 25 – Whaling Port to Summer Resort (4-5PM)
Whaling had sustained Edgartown for fifty years, but by 1870 the industry was dying. The success of Oak Bluffs showed the potential of a resort economy, but it took nearly fifty more years for Edgartown to fully embrace its new identity as a summer destination. Join MVM Research Librarian Bow Van Riper for a look at the town’s sometimes-rocky attempt to reinvent itself—from whaling port to seaside resort—and how that transformation shaped the community we know today.
All Cooke House photography by Ray Ewing