marthas vineyard things to do

A favorite summer resort for more than a century, New England's largest island attracts the rich and famous, from movie stars and presidents who arrive by private plane, as well as legions of day-trippers disembarking from the ferry. Chances are they will all find what they’re looking for.

Want a postcard-perfect whaling village with immaculate 19th-century homes? Go to Edgartown. Gentle hills leading to the sea? Try Chilmark. Woods and pastoral farms complete with stone walls? Head for West Tisbury. A day at the beach? Shopping break? Stroll through Vineyard Haven, where galleries and boutique shops cater to most of the island’s year-round residents.

The best way to explore is to pedal the roads and paths, such as the scenic 6-mile seaside stretch between Edgartown and Oak Bluffs. In the end, what will you remember? Perhaps a flawless summer day, beach dunes, and a lobster picnic far from the rest of the world.

BEACHES Martha's Vineyard has about 125 miles of shoreline, but not all of its beaches are accessible to visitors. Some of the best are only open to community residents – nice if you can afford to rent a summer home in Chilmark or West Tisbury. Your best bet? Aquinnah Public Beach (also called Moshup Beach) a ten-minute walk from the parking lot at Gay Head. Given the $15 daily parking fee in summer, it's better to arrive by bike.

CULTURE A stroll along the sidewalks of Edgartown leads visitors back in time, past homes and churches dating to the mid-1800s, when prosperous whaling captains built the stately houses that have since been captured in architecture textbooks. Some of these Greek Revival, Colonial, and Federal-style structures, including the Old Whaling Church and the Fisher House, are owned by the island's preservation trust and are open for tours.

HIKING Hundreds of preserved acres encompassing forest, field, and shore offer a feast for hikers – literally. In season, join in the blueberry and huckleberry picking at Fulling Mill Brook Preserve at Chilmark and at the Caroline Tuthill Wildlife Preserve in Edgartown. For a look at the natural New England of times past, head for the Cedar Creek Neck Wildlife Sanctuary in West Tisbury, where marked trails lead through about 250 acres of woodland, complete with ponds and streams, to a beach with a view of the Elizabeth Islands.