A FUTURE WHICH IS DEPENDENT UPON THE SALE OF BEER AND WINE IS NOT A FUTURE FOR THE TOWN OF TISBURY
The Town of Tisbury became a “dry town” on April 5, 1830, when the Town Meeting voted to direct “the Selectmen not to approbate any Person or Persons as licensed retailors of ardent spirits.” This action was taken upon a petition brought by Elijah Hillman, a leading merchant at that time. It was clearly his conviction, and of those who joined with him, that the selling of beer and wine in the town was not good for business.
In 1833, the Town Meeting was more specific: It voted “not to approbate any licenses to Innholders or retailors of ardent spirits within the Town of Tisbury.”
And in 1834, “the Town Voted that the Selectmen grant no certificate of License for selling Rum, Gin, Brandy, Wine, Cider, or any other alchololick liquor.”
Several inns stood then along the harbor shore, famous for their hospitality: Abraham Chase’s Great House, the Claghorn Tavern, Isaac Daggett’s Daggett Manor and William Dunham’s Beachside Inn, and the Mansion House, and Silas Daggett’s Inn on Main Street. None of them suffered or went out of business as a result of this action by the Town. The town and its commercial activity continued to grow and prosper during the 19th century.
While whaling became the primary source of wealth in Edgartown, the extensive nautical activity in Vineyard Haven harbor was primarily mercantile, which included both coastal and trans-Atlantic shipping. In 1807, The County Report included 100 ships per month at anchor here. That number rose to over 3,000/month toward the end of the 19th century. Mrs. Eldridge’s account recorded two, three, four masted schooners carrying lumber, coal, lime, cement, and other bulky freight from as far north as Halifax to Norfolk in the south and beyond.
Known for its nautical skill and entrepreneurial spirit, the town’s most successful whaling captain, Richard G. Luce, turned his voyage to seek whale oil in the South Atlantic in 1830 into a doubly profitable venture by selling his oil in Rio de Janeiro and filling his hold with coffee beans for sale in New England. His contemporary, Captain Thomas Bradley, left the sea at the age of forty to set up a market on Main Street. He became one of the town’s most successful entrepreneurs, the initial developer of William Street and eventually a State Senator. Neither of them, nor their colleague, Captain William Daggett, Jr., felt a need to push for the sale of beer and wine to allow for their success in their impressive and productive enterprises. Their attention was directed more to such public causes as the abolition of slavery.
Because of its entrepreneurial spirit, Tisbury has long been identified as the commercial center of the Island. Even today, its major enterprises, three ship yards, oil distribution, retailers, real estate, are not dependent on the sale of beer and wine for the success of their diverse and productive activities. It is this spirit of enterprise and the energy and innovation it brings that we must look for the future growth and prosperity of our town, rather than anything that would diminish or erode the essential values affirmed in our distinguished and important heritage. We have for long been a community noted for its simplicity, its integrity, its authenticity, but most important of all, for its independence. That means primarily not being dependent upon anything other than the genuineness of our own character.
Freedom from dependency of any sort was and still is today a vital attribute of our being a community. Gratia Harrington not only was born and lived for over 100 years in this heritage, but was throughout her life one of our most articulate and dedicated neighbors about the need to honor and preserve the character of our town. She was at the forefront of opposition to every attempt in the 20th century to change our historic dry town bylaw.
It is to honor her as well as our own distinctive heritage as a coastal town that we should affirm and sustain our character, to refuse to diminish it by taking on a dependency on alcohol that can only diminish who we are.
Elijah Hillman and his colleagues in 1830, and all the many generations which have followed, had it right. We today should vote not to approve any liquor license option for our town.
Jim Norton
Join Our
Mailing List
Get up to date information about the vote and things you can do to help preserve Tisbury.
Read the Letters To the Editor:
Letter Set
Town Ballot Vote will be in April 2010