Aquinnah
Many year-round residents of Aquinnah are descendants of the Wampanoag Indians who showed the colonial settlers how to kill whales, plant corn, and find clay for the early brickyards. Much later, these Aquinnah Indians were in great demand as boatsteerers in the whaling fleets. It was the boatsteerer who cast the iron into the whale. The Aquinnah Indians were judged to be the most skillful and courageous boatsteerers of that era.
The courage of the early residents of Aquinnah demonstrated itself in the many instances when they took to the seas in deadly weather to aid survivors of wrecks that took place off the Aquinnah Cliffs. As further testament to their valor, a plaque on the schoolhouse commemorates the fact that Aquinnah sent more men, in proportion to its size, to fight in World War I than did any other town in New England.
The brilliant colors of the mile-long expanse of the Aquinnah Cliffs astonished early explorers and have continued to be a source of intense interest to scientists and visitors alike. Here layers of sands, gravels, and clays of various hues tell a hundred-million year-old story of a land first covered with forests, then flooded and laid bare, then covered with new growth, time and again. The seas, glaciers, and land itself have contorted these once-level layers into waving bands of color that stream above the
sea. Erosion continues as it has for centuries, turning the seas red and revealing fossil secrets. From the fossils revealed by erosion we know of the great sharks that swam over what is now Chilmark, of the clams and crabs that inhabited ancient seas. Pieces of lignite from the Cretaceous period are found on the beach, looking like nothing so much as the remnants of recent campfires. Fossil bones of camels and wild horses, as well as those of ancient whales, have been found in the Cliffs. The Aquinnah Cliffs
are a national landmark; yet they are seriously threatened by carelessness. To protect the Cliffs, climbing and the removal of clay are both prohibited by law.
Because of the extremely dangerous rocky ledge offshore, the seas around Aquinnah have always been a place of great peril to the mariner. One of the first revolving lighthouses in the country was erected atop the Cliffs in 1799. It had wooden works that became swollen in damp or cold weather, when the lighthouse keeper and his wife would be obliged to stand all night and turn the light by hand. The current red-brick, electrified Gay Head Light stands in its place.
TOWN GOVERNMENT
NOTE: On May 14, 1997, the voters of Gay Head voted to change the town’s name to Aquinnah. The name change was signed into law on May 7, 1998.
Fire - To report a fire: 911
Police - To report an emergency: 911
To report urgency, but no emergency: 311
State Road Station: 508.645.2313
Aquinnah Town Hall
65 State Road
Aquinnah, MA 02535
508.645.2300; Fax: 508.645.2310
aqbos@comcast.net
TOWN OFFICIALS
Selectmen – Spencer Booker, chair; James Newman, Beverly Wright
Town Administrator - Adam Wilson; 508.645.2300
Town Clerk – Carolyn Feltz; 508.645.2304
Town Accountant – Marjorie Spitz; 508.645.2305
Town Assessor – Angela Cywinski; 508.645.2306
Building Inspector/Zoning Administrator – Jerry Wiener; Leonard Jason, Jr., asst.; 508.645.2307
Constables – Betty Joslow; Giles Welch
Dog Officer/Poundkeeper – Angela Waldron
Dump – Natalie Francis; 24 State Road.; 508.645.2319
Fire Chief – Walter E. Delaney
Gas Inspector – George Apostilades
Harbormaster – Brian Vanderhoop; James Sanfillipo, asst. harbormaster
Health Agent – Amanda Hutchinson; 508.645.2307
Highway Surveyor – Jay Smalley
Library – Cathy Thompson
Moderator – Michael Hebert
Plumbing Inspector – George Apostilades
Police Chief – Randhi Belain; 508.645.2313
Shellfish Constable – Brian Vanderhoop; 508.645.2307
Shellfish Deputies – Hollis Smith; Bret Stearns; Curtis Chandler; William D. Vanderhoop, Jr; James Sanfillipo, Andrew Jacobs. Carl Widdiss
Smoke Dectectors/Carbon Monoxide Detectors/Heating Inspector – Walter E. Delaney
Tax Collector – Winonah Madison; 508.645.2303
Town Counsel – Ronald Rappaport
Trench Inspector – Walter E. Delaney
Wiring Inspector – Peter Dawley
TOWN BOARDS, ETC.
Aquinnah Community Program Committee – Kristina Hook-Leslie; Betty Joslow
MV Cultural Council – Jean Entine, Kathy Newman
Aquinnah Housing Committee – Richard Skidmore, chair; Darrill Bazzy; Mitzi Pratt; Eleanor Hebert; June Manning; Jerry Wiener
Assessors – Michael Stutz; Hamilton (Ted) Cammann; Darren LePort
Board of Appeals – James Vercruysse, chair; Hamilton (Ted) Cammann; Peter Ives; Kathy Newman
Board of Health – Sarah Saltonstall; Richard Skidmore; Jerry A. Wiener, chair.
Board of Registrars – Mallory Butler; Nancy Delaney; Carolyn Feltz; Camille Rose; June Manning
Cemetery Commission – Eleanor Hebert. chair.; Karl Burgess; E. Ryan Malonson; Steven Roth
Citizen’s Advisory Committee – Carolyn Feltz; June Manning; Camille Rose; Richard Skidmore; Marjorie Spitz; Matthew Vanderhoop; Carl Widdiss
Conservation Commission – Walter E. Delaney; Sarah Thulin, chair; Steve Yaffee; Kathy Newman
Council on Aging – Joyce Bowker, director; June Manning; 508.693.2896
Dukes County Advisory Board – James Newman
Dukes County Regional Housing Authority – Richard Skidmore
Land Bank Commission – Carlos Montoya
Land Bank Advisory Board – James Newman; Mitzi Pratt; Richard Skidmore; Peter Temple; Michael Stutz
Library Trustees – Martha Vanderhoop; Nancy Delaney, chair; Betty Joslow
Martha’s Vineyard Commission – Kathy Newman; Camille Rose
M. V. Refuse Disposal & Resource Recovery District & Solid Waste District Committees – Richard Skidmore
Permanent Endowment Fund of Martha’s Vineyard – Helen Edey
Philbin Beach Scholarship Committee – Roxanne Ackerman; Eleanor Hebert; Betty Joslow
Planning Board – Peter Temple; Berta Welch; Carlos Montoya, Jo-Ann Echer; Jed Smith
Shellfish Committee – Ed Belain; James Sanfillipo; Hollis F. Smith; Brian Vanderhoop; William D. Vanderhoop, Jr.; Carl M. Widdis
Tri-Town Ambulance Committee – Randhi Belain; Walter Delaney
Up-Island Council on Aging – Joyce Bowker, director; Kathleen Brady, asst.; Aquinnah Rep: Betty Jaslow; 508.693.2896
Up-Island Regional School Committee – Roxanne Ackerman
