Berta Welch News Today

Travel these days has opened up, but you don’t need to go far to find mountains, lush farmlands, coastline, and beautiful sandy beaches.

The Aquinnah select board unanimously approved establishing a Aquinnah Cliff lease committee during its Tuesday afternoon meeting. During a previous meeting, the board reached a consensus to have a final draft for Cliff lot leases by January after a discussion with leaseholders.  Currently, there are two types of leases: one directly from the town, and […]

The Aquinnah select board reached a consensus to have a final draft of the leases for lots on Aquinnah Cliffs by January during a Tuesday afternoon meeting.  The board had two leases, one for the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) and another for individual leaseholders, who are also tribal members. However, a tribe council […]

The Aquinnah select board unanimously approved a shared-use agreement for Vern Welch’s Menemsha dock lease with the Martha’s Vineyard Shellfish Group during a Thursday afternoon meeting. After the vote, The Times questioned whether board chair Juli Vanderhoop should have disclosed her relationship with the shellfish group before voting. Vanderhoop is listed as vice president of […]

The Aquinnah select board wants more information before they support a shared-use agreement for a Menemsha dock lease.  Vern Welch, a Menemsha dock leaseholder, met with the board on Thursday and informed them that he has been in discussion with the Martha’s Vineyard Shellfish Group about the possibility of raising some of their shellfish seeds […]

Islanders gathered at the old Aquinnah town hall for the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s (BOEM) public hearing regarding the Revolution Wind draft environmental impact statement (EIS) on Tuesday evening.  According to the Revolution Wind website, this project will provide “Connecticut and Rhode Island residents 100 percent renewable energy to help conserve the New England […]

The Aquinnah select board unanimously voted to reissue the request for proposal (RFP) for the 9 Aquinnah Circle property, which came under debate during a previous meeting, during a Tuesday meeting. This time around, representatives from the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) and Aquinnah Cultural Center will be included in the RFP process.  Two […]

A newly available online exhibit at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) features a number of videos made by members of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) describing elements of history, culture, art, and practice of their people. The exhibit also serves to illustrate the efforts Wampanoag people are making now […]

Local Wampanoag artists will be featured throughout February on the Smithsonians National Museum of the American Indian website.

Last week was Groundhog Day and of course the groundhog saw his shadow and the rest of the U.S. will get six more weeks of winter. We, here on Martha’s Vineyard, will have winter until mid-May like we always do, regardless of the groundhog and its shadow. That’s about 13 weeks, but who’s counting? At […]