Marthas Vineyard Chamber of Commerce - Where To Next - A Travel Podcast With Francesca

On this week's episode of Where To Next, I chat with Carolina Cooney, the Executive Director of the Martha's Vineyard Chamber of Commerce, all about this quaint New England paradise! Carolina gives me the inside scoop on what makes Martha's Vinyard so picturesque, their amazing, fresh seafood, Martha's Vineyard's rich history, hidden gems & more!

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Good morning, and welcome to Whereto Next at Travel Podcast with Me.
Your host my name is Frantaska Presti, and today I am joined by Carolina
Cooney, the executive director of theMartha's Vineyard Chamber of Commerce, here to
talk all about Martha's Vineyard at Carolina, welcome to the program. Thank you
so much for having me. We'reso excited to talk all about Martha's Vineyard.
Envy dot com is where you wantto go for more information and of
course to start planning your trip today. But Carolina, let's just dive right

(00:22):
in. Let's talk Martha's Vineyard.So Martha's Vineyard is a very unique place.
It is an island off the coastof Massachusetts. It is about seven
miles off the coast and it's onlyaccessible by air or by sea, so
you'll either have to take a boator you have to fly in. There
is no bridge. I know peopleare surprised to find that out exactly.

(00:43):
You definitely need to keep that inmind when you're planning. So we are
comprised of about six small towns,each are very unique in their personalities.
We have Vineyard Haven, which isa year round working port town. It's
wonderful, a little small shops,very quaint. We also have oak Bluffs,
which is very steeped in African Americanhistory. It has a great summer

(01:06):
nightlife, lots of great restaurants,it's super fun to go to. Might
be my favorite, but I probablyshouldn't say that. I used to work
at the Oak Bluffs Library, soI'm awfully fond of me. That's sort
of near and dear to your exactlyvery near and dear. Then we have
Eggertown, which is kind of themore preppy style town. It's a little
more Nantuckety has very large, oldhistoric whaling captain's houses which are just majestic

(01:34):
and beautiful, amazing views of thelighthouse. Then we also have the up
Island towns, as we call them, which are more rural in character,
very bucolic. They have stone fences, just beautiful rock walls overlooking the ocean,
with cows and sheep roaming the pasturesand larger trees and are just a
wonderful place to be. Many farmsand local cheeses and things that are made

(01:59):
there. When we able picture inNew England, I feel like the visual
that comes to mind very much isMartha's Vineyard. So what do you think
makes it such a quaint paradise.I think there are a lot of things
about it. There's the Cape Codstyle homes which you see all over here,
which are the theater shingled homes thatjust give it that look and feel
of New England and Cape Cod.We also don't have any large chain stores

(02:23):
or strip malls or anything like that, so it feels a little like a
step out of time when you comehere. It feels very safe and very
homey. We have a very tightknit year around community, and I think
just the different landscape that we havehere is just all very New England,
but it's very unique to Martha's Vineyardas well. Carolina Cooney on with me

(02:46):
this morning, the executive director ofthe Martha's Vineyard Chamber of Commerce. If
you'd like to start planning your triptoday, and of course for more information,
you can find it right now onlineat MVY dot com. I'm a
little biased being from Massachusetts myself,so personally, my favorite thing the Halwai
world is fresh New England seafood.Martha's Vineyard has that and so much more.
So could you tell us a littlebit about the incredible culinary scene that

(03:07):
happens on the island. Well,we definitely have a great foody scene.
The fish couldn't be fresher. Wehave a lot of fish markets that are
just beloved. They've been here formany, many years. Some are families
that have been on the island forthree hundred four hundred years, extremely steeped
in fishing history. We have Minempsha, which is a fishing village where you

(03:29):
can go to the fish shops therewhere the fish comes in daily. You
can see it being processed even there. It's a very unique experience. A
lot of people will go there toget lobster and beat it on the beach
and watch the sunset in Menempsha,which has one of the best sunsets on
the East Coast. It's one ofthe few places where you can see a
true sunset on the East Coast.We also have many excellent restaurants ranging from

(03:53):
fish and chips and stuffed hole hogs, fried clams to very upscale struants that
serve the finest seafood and amazing steaksand anything you could dream of. Ratha's
Vineyards not only a quaint beachside paradisewith great food, of course, but
very rich in history and it's beenrecently highlighted on Bravo's new Summer House Martha's

(04:15):
Vineyard series. I watched it.I loved it, and I would love
if you could expand a little biton the history that Martha's Vineyard has and
how has it been having the showfilmed there and highlight the island. What's
happened like well, I watched allof Summer House as well. It was
one of those things that was hardto look away. And of course,
I mean it was really wild forthose of us who live here because there
were a lot of people that weknow right, just like in the back

(04:36):
round and stuff exactly. And youknow, some of our member businesses were
featured in there, which was fantasticand it was very exciting to see it
all and amazing that it all happenedhere. Yeah, that's so cool.
It's so wild. Last year,I actually thought being filmed just I happened
to be out and about and Ididn't know what it was at the time,

(04:59):
but you just knew something what's goingon? Right? Yes, And
Martha's Vinyord Duds have a very richAfrican American history, especially in Oak gloves,
but really the entire island has beena place that African Americans have vacation
for a long time. It hasan African American History Trail which highlights the
history of the island. We haveInkwell Beach, which is a very popular

(05:21):
hot spot. It's very very popular, sort of the place to see and
be seen. We have Dorothy Westthat lived here. Many other prominent Black
authors, writers, lawyers, artistshave all vacations here or lived here right
now. Of course, many peopleknow Obama has a house on the island,
and I've seen him many times,so that's always exciting, very exciting.

(05:46):
And yeah, it's just a wonderfulplace that has a very welcoming,
accepting atmosphere. Absolutely, and Carolina, before I let you go, give
me a couple of Martha's vineyards hiddengems, if you would. This is
always the toughest because you never knowwhat you should be giving away. I
kind of want to keep them toyourself. So I think we have all
kinds of different hidden gems. Wehave a hidden gem of a restaurant here

(06:10):
in Vineyard Haven called Guard East,and it's sort of just tucked away,
very undercover, but it is anamazing place to get like an afternoon cocktail,
to get lunch, and it overlooksthe harbor, so you could sit
there and just relax and see thefairies coming in and out. The Martha's
in Your Campground Meeting Association we callthem the Gingerbread Houses, and these are
houses that are all painted in veryfanciful colors. They're kind of like tiny

(06:35):
houses, so they're super cute.And actually tonight is a big event.
They're called Illumination Night, where everybodyputs out Japanese lanterns on their porch and
lights them up when it hits dusk. And it's just one of the most
beautiful sites you'll ever see. It'sreally magical. We also have the oldest
still operating carousel in the United States, which people love to go to and

(06:59):
ride, and the Brass Ring.Carolina Cooney on with me this morning,
the executive director of the Martha's VineyardChamber of Commerce, telling us all about
Martha's Vineyard, the ins and outs, what you gotta do, what you
gotta see, what you gotta eat. If you want to plan your trip
today and learn more, you cando it right now at mvy dot com.
Carolina Thank you so much for takingsome time with us today. Thank
you so much for having me