{"nrhp_refnum":"01001060","name":"Gay Head-Aquinnah Town Center Historic District (Boundary Increase)","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"South Rd., Totem Pole Way and Jeffers Way","address_restricted":false,"city":"Aquinnah","county":"Dukes County","state":"MA","lat":41.34167750000003,"lon":-70.8137907447387,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2001-10-01","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Community Planning and Development","Native American"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A boundary increase to the Gay Head/Aquinnah Town Center Historic District on Martha's Vineyard, Aquinnah, Massachusetts. It adds two discontiguous units along South Road, Totem Pole Way and Jeffers Way, with 17 contributing and 3 noncontributing residential, commercial and agricultural buildings from the 19th and 20th centuries.","why_significant":"The added properties share the modest massing, shingled wood-frame construction and restrained Craftsman, Victorian Eclectic or no-style details of the existing 1999 district. They include late 19th-century homes tied to local families and civic life, such as the Linus Jeffers House, which served as post office, grocery and town office before the 1929 Town Hall. The early 20th-century Totem Pole Inn complex adds a group of Craftsman-style cottages.","narrative":"This boundary increase extends the Gay Head/Aquinnah Town Center Historic District on Martha's Vineyard with two groups of buildings along South Road, Totem Pole Way and Jeffers Way. The additions include 17 contributing and 3 noncontributing buildings, mostly one to one-and-a-half-story, shingled wood-frame houses with Craftsman, Victorian Eclectic or no particular style. Among them is the Linus Jeffers House at 4 Jeffers Way, built before 1893, which housed a post office, a grocery and town offices until the Town Hall opened in 1929. The Adriaan Vanderhoop House at 46 South Road and the house at 57 South Road are modest vernacular dwellings from the late 19th century. The Totem Pole Inn, from the 1920s, sits on a two-and-a-half-acre parcel with an innkeeper's residence, four Craftsman cottages and a garage. Together these properties reflect how the town center grew around its civic buildings and Wampanoag families such as the Jeffers and Vanderhoops.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Late Victorian; Late 19th and early 20th century American Movements: Craftsman; No Style","criteria":[],"status_note":"Current functions include single dwellings and vacant (not in use). Condition ranges from good to poor; the Totem Pole Inn garage is in poor condition. Some houses are seasonal residences.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:13:05.12912-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/2/7946/63794602/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/01001060.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/01001060/91b156c976-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/01001060/91b156c976-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"John Phelan","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gay_Head_Community_Baptist_Church,_Aquinnah_MA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">John Phelan</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gay_Head_Community_Baptist_Church,_Aquinnah_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63794602","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gay_Head%E2%80%93Aquinnah_Town_Center_Historic_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5528591"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/dukes-county/gay-head-aquinnah-town-center-historic-district-boundary-increase-01001060/"}