Gingerbread Houses Galore!

On Martha's Vineyard in the town of Oak Bluffs is a magical little neighborhood of gingerbread houses that has to be seen to be believed. It started out as a religious community and now it's a National Historic Landmark and people live in these adorable little houses (mostly summer people, I think). You can go here if you want to know more about it. It's really fun to walk around and see all the different houses. Come take a walk with me!

 

I tried and mostly failed to be a good editor for this post. There are too many pictures that I like!

The tulip house

I love the wrap-around porch.

And the gingerbread children cutouts!

"Seaside Sanitarium" is the name of this one. 💙

What's up with the door on the second floor?!

Wizard of Oz fans, rejoice. I've found the perfect house for you.

 

I like this song and the name of this pretty little cottage.

Many of the cottages have cute and clever names. These were some of my favorites.

And this one (because most of these houses are pretty small!).

A real-life Victorian dollhouse!

They really are historic and well-preserved houses. Many were built during the Civil War.

There are hydrangea bushes and pretty flowers, of course.

My love for wrap-around porches is real.

This picture has three of my favorite things in it: a wrap-around porch, hydrangeas, and hanging flower baskets.

Different house but same as above!

This house looks like it's intentionally being eaten up by plants and trees.

Pretty in pink! 💗 The little girl in me loves this house.

Aptly named.

The attention to detail!

On the other end of the spectrum, this one is simple and elegant.

This one too.

This one has a distinctly German feel to it.

"Summer Love" has always been my favorite cottage of all. 

I love how over-the-top feminine and pale pink and full of love it is. And the name too! It's adorable.

Conjoined cottages?

So pretty!

This neighborhood really does have a magical, fairy-like feel to it...

Indeed.

This is the huge tabernacle in the community center. Peter chilled in here while I wandered around.

And their super-pretty church.

Here are a couple of bonuses from when we were last there in 2009!

4-year-old John in front of Summer Love

8 months pregnant me in front of Summer Love!

 

If you ever go to Martha's Vineyard, do yourself a favor and take time to see the gingerbread houses!

Martha's Vineyard

Peter and I went on a really good small-bus tour around Martha's Vineyard when we were there last July. I wish I could remember the name of the company that did it because I highly recommend it (whatever it is!). 

The tour guide was an older man who'd been a school-teacher on the island for decades and had lived there even longer. He seemed to know everyone and everything about the Vineyard. He knew Jackie Kennedy Onassis when she lived there, and he had the inside scoop about the Obamas buying a house there (he was friends with their real estate agent). He pointed out the areas where certain celebrities lived and famous places like the house from Jaws. 

But my favorite thing was how he talked about what it's like for people from different economic classes to live on the island, what the different towns are like, how it's changed over the years, and how it's stayed the same. It was such an informative and interesting tour and I really enjoyed it. I also enjoyed the beautiful views.The powers that be on the Vineyard have worked hard not to fall victim to over-development and commercialization and it shows across the island.

Most of the tour was a driving tour so I didn't take a lot of pictures, but we did get out for the famous Gay Head cliffs in Aquinnah. These cliffs are truly beautiful. They're a registered natural landmark and people aren't allowed down there anymore because of erosion. But we still get to look at them and drink in their beauty.  

 

Ready for their close-up:

 Any time is a good time to see the cliffs (unless it's foggy out, which happens more often than not), but I think the best time is at sunset when they turn different colors from the setting sun. It's on my bucket list to get pictures of that one day.

  

 

 A couple of pictures from around the island that I took from the bus:

This looked like Monet's flower-strewn pond.

This tour was one of my favorite things we did on the Vineyard!

Beautiful Edgartown

Peter and I travel a lot with our kids and we hadn't gone away just the two of us in years, so last July we went to Martha's Vineyard for two days while my mom took care of the kids. The Vineyard is a quick ferry ride away from where our house is on the Cape, so it was easy to get there. The last time I'd been there was in the summer of 2009 when I was pregnant with Sam, so it had been awhile. It's a beautiful island and it was so nice to be back there again.

We stayed in historic and lovely (and expensive) Edgartown at the Vineyard Square Hotel. I was really happy with it; our room and the view were great, the complimentary breakfast buffet was healthy and delicious, and it has a convenient location right near the shops, restaurants, and water. 

 

Our room was at the front corner on the top floor. Look, I drew arrows for you:

 

The interior of our room:

The bathroom matters too!

I love this Disney-level attention to detail.

I was gratified that such a classy place had the same design on their bed pillows that I have for a chair and couch pillow in my house. 🙌

This porch was two steps away from our room.

I loved the view! 

 

 This hotel is said to be haunted, which is one of the reasons I picked it. 👻

Big wrap-around porches are one of my favorite things.

We ate a delicious and rich seafood dinner at Atlantic. Speaking of rich, from our table we scoped out this super-swanky yacht named "Endeavour" that was parked outside.

I like places like the Vineyard because they help keep me humble. There are always people richer (way richer) and higher up the food-chain than us (way higher up!). Not that it matters and not that we don't already know that, but it's still good to be reminded in real life because it helps keep your ego from getting too big.

 After dinner we walked around the downtown area, which is full of great little shops and restaurants.

And lots of beautiful hydrangea bushes, of course.   

  

Edgartown Books was a wonderful little bookstore. 

Check out the owl in their logo! 

A Pinterest stairway come to life!

🎜 How much is that owl in the window? 🎝

😍😍😍

 It was July 5th, so there were many flags display. 💓

 

I was very impressed by Edgartown. The next day we went on a tour of the whole island. Stay tuned!