Edgartown Village Historic District

Edgartown Village is a compact harbor-side district of about 150 acres on the west shore of Edgartown Harbor, on Martha's Vineyard. Roughly 500 buildings stand closely together on small lots, many bordered by white picket fences along narrow, tree-lined streets. Most are wood-frame houses of the 19th and early 20th centuries, built of post-and-beam construction and finished in white-painted clapboard or shingle; only five are brick. The street pattern is a modified grid that curves with the shoreline and traces back to the 1650s, when long rectangular water lots were laid out for the island's settlers. East-west streets such as Main, Cooke, High and Winter follow the side lines of those early lots, while Water Street and Pease's Point Way began as routes to planting fields and the waterfront. Inventory sheets record Federalist, Greek Revival, mid-Victorian and Arts & Crafts buildings. About 77 later buildings are classed as intrusions.