Martha's Vineyard is a well known summer vacation spot. In this collection of columns, former Martha's Vineyard Times editor Nelson Sigelman describes an island preoccupation, less notorious than tourism but more obsessive, rooted in fishing, hunting and waterfowling traditions that shaped the island's character well before a mechanical shark named Bruce and presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama attracted slavish media attention to a 100-square mile speck off the coast of Massachusetts. Martha's Vineyard Outdoors casts a wide net. "The pleasures of Nelson Sigelman's distinctive voice held this non-fishing, non-hunting, feminist, tree-hugging pinko spellbound from the first column to the very last," said Island resident and Pulitzer Prize winning author Geraldine Brooks. The setting is Martha's Vineyard but the stories are rooted in the humor and love of the outdoors found in small communities across the country.

The focus is on Martha’s Vineyard but the information, fishing tips, and stories about Island characters—Bob “Hawkeye” Jacobs jumping off Memorial Wharf to unsnag an albie he hooked—will sound familiar to anyone who has spent time in a community of fishermen. This informative and fun read answers the questions asked in local tackle shops, including the best spots to catch a striped bass on a fly rod—Lobsterville Beach—and rigging tackle for blues, fluke, black sea bass, false albacore, and bonito. Spin fishing, bottom fishing, and fly fishing are all covered. This book follows the island fishing seasons: rods appear on island trucks in April, a sign that schoolies have arrived, and they do not begin to disappear until the venerable Bass and Bluefish Derby, five weeks of single-minded pursuit of fish, ends in October. And there are tips on looking and talking the part . . . “handy phrases include any reference to a falling or rising tide and a rock, any rock, as long as you refer to it with a sense of authority so that the other person is unwilling to ask which rock for fear of seeming like a novice.” Martha’s Vineyard Fish Tales is a “how to” book that flows with the character and personality of a fishing-obsessed island off the coast of Massachusetts.

Originally published: 1st ed. Chester, Conn.: Globe Pequot Press, c1988.

"Two decades of research by Foster and his colleagues at the Harvard Forest encompass the native people and prehistory of the Vineyard, climate change and coastal dynamics, colonial farming and modern tourism, and land planning and conservation efforts." -- From the dust jacket.

Published in association with the Martha's Vineyard Historical Society, this comprehensive illustrated history of the island was written by its foremost authority.

The Methodist campground located in the small community of Oak Bluffs on Martha's Vineyard has been beloved by generations of visitors and residents. It was here, in the years of the Civil War, that the first clusters of small Victorian homes were constructed, replacing the temporary tent platforms that provided shelter to the faithful who had come by side-wheeler to listen to the preaching emanating from the central Tabernacle. Today, these makeshift structures have been transformed into Victorian cottages of almost infinite variety, a colorful, decorative necklace of glorious, unrestrained architectural fancy and diversity. Families have gathered here for generations, not only to celebrate their faith but also to partake in the social rituals such as Grand Illumination Night with its Chinese lanterns that have become an indelible part of our heritage.

Each year the pristine beaches, lush pine forests, and picturesque New England towns of Martha’s Vineyard draw tens of thousands of admirers to this beautiful island. Some of these visitors have become part-time residents, building contemporary homes alongside the traditional Victorian cottages, sea captains’ mansions, and colonial farmhouses that comprise the island’s cultural and architectural heritage. Rarely does one find such a concentration of outstanding contemporary design. Authors Keith Moskow and Robert Linn expand their 2005 survey of Vineyard residential design to present twenty-five new houses that extend the traditional Vineyard vernacular of shingled houses and cottages. Each of the architects has described the goals for the project and the source of the design. Some reference nautical themes, others environmental concerns, and still others appropriateness of materials and scale. A significant number rely on a plan strategy based on a series of pavilions to minimize intrusion in the landscape while still taking advantage of views and prevailing breezes. What links the houses is that they are all built to stand the test of time in the sometimes extreme marine environment and they respectfully break with tradition.