“i never “got” the whole Marthas Vineyard/ Nantucket Island thing...the beaches are weedy and ugly, the water never really gets “warm”, always seems very windy. Nope, give me Tropical breezes and Palm Trees any day...”
BTTT
Why did people go to Atlantic City? You could take the train from Philly and NYC.
In the 1800s people used to take the train up to the mountains of NH because it was cooler. Keep in mind this was before we all had AIR CONDITIONING. There was a Grand Hotel in the town I live in southern NH. They would take the train up from Boston and then a stage coach for the last five miles.
MV was also a summer camp location for the Methodist church.
Oak Bluffs was the center of the tent revivals. The Methodists that came were mostly Blacks. Many of them were the hired help of the rich people that had houses to the south in Edgarton.
Nantucket was the whaling capital of the world.
It wasn't until the 1970s when it became the escape for the NYC Wall Street crowd. Now there are more billionaires and hedge fund guys on Nantucket than you can count.
It has gotten ridiculously expensive during the summer. $700-1400+/night just for a hotel room in August.
I grew up just across Nantucket Sound in Chatham and you’re not wrong about the Islands.