Martha's Vineyard Museum — Attraction in Tisbury

Terrible management.

Walking down along Lagoon Pond Rd from the ferry, you’ll see these stairs and a sign that welcomes you to the museum. If you manage to climb up the stairs, the pavement stops right there. You’ll need to go across the grass and get your shoes dirty.

Then there are no signs or posts or anything. Look at this grand building, obviously the smaller building on the right is the visitor center you need to go through before entering the fancy house? Wrong, no entrance there, and you won’t know it until you get there.

They also administer the East Chop Lighthouse. Last year, it was open on Sunday evenings in summer but as of July 17, 2023, the website still says “Check back soon for 2023 hours”. Obviously, something is not right this year. Maybe they really struggle to find a volunteer to open it or maybe they are just horribly slow in updating the website. So we asked the front desk, who told us the lighthouse is open until 4PM. I urged him to double check, as it was open in the evening last year, and he then said “I THINK it’s open Sunday 7PM”. I don’t need you to THINK. I need you to look for the schedule or contact someone to make sure you give the correct info. Do they not understand how big a stake it is to wait until 7PM only to find that it’s closed? Not everyone can stay on the island until that late and rush back to the ferry or to stay overnight on the island.

Giving up on the lighthouse, I asked him if I could use the locker. One locker is wide open with someone else’s bag in it for no reason. And, yes, the front desk can see it clearly from that angle. Anyway, he just gave me the go ahead so I just put my bag in the locker and closed the door. Then we wanted to go to town to have some lunch and come back to continue, so we checked with someone else at the front desk to confirm that’s OK. She offered to keep the key to the locker for us so that we didn’t have to carry the bag and wouldn’t risk losing the key. So, I guess they got annoyed by me asking for the opening hours and decided to give me a hard time by not offering the key when I asked about the locker?

The website says there is a guided tour at 2 PM on Sundays, so when we arrive at 11 AM, we inquired about it. The docent arrived at 1.30 PM and offered to start going through the exhibits with just us right away. We offered to wait until 2 PM in case other people plan to arrive on time for the guided tour and see the exhibits afterwards. The docent offered again to start right away, so we obliged. Yes, we did get some special treatment, but on the other hand, what if we planned to arrive at 2 PM for the tour? Would we get a partial tour or no...

It was underwhelmingly small. The current program is comparable to a typical exhibition at the lobby in a town library.

The entire 1st floor is filled with baked pie smell from the entrance, down to the basement floor, with zero ventilation, and hysterical laughter for over an hour from people from the 2nd floor echoing down to the main floor, and none of the volunteers or staff stopped them but joined them instead to distract other visitors. And, this persistent volunteer lady was following the young WT couple from the entire 1st floor to the 2nd floor when they showed the signals many times to be left alone. It was a quirky operation.

Their inconsistent, random displays in each room also disappointed me. From one room to next, I could not see why this item is here, or, why that small Eskimo Whale ship story with little relevance takes up the whole room when the entire island story on the 1st floor was squeezed in one corridor.

And, The current program is not impressive or efficient to give enough knowledge for visitors to leave with. By the time I got in the car in the parking lot, I could not remember what I saw, and, I could not understand why someone's purses were displayed in the glass display simply because they were donated,. The larger items temporarily stored in the barn across the main building could be more significant in the long run. Their barn collection items (large scale) needs some detailed captions. But they seem to be thrown at random.

We wanted to access the library and touch the old books, but, we could not know whether we were allowed to grab the books or not, as there wasn't anyone or any guideline.

The museum should have put in a direction with comprehensive theme with a clear vision, before installing the program that we see. I feel like the current museum is not for the public but for the members who donated their money. I want to see the full, comprehensive island stories the Museum has collected, documented, and digested.

However, going to the museum foreground overlooking Lagoon pond and the open sea beyond Beach Road ...

Just a short 13-minute stroll from downtown Vineyard Haven, the Martha’s Vineyard Museum is an absolute gem—especially after a leisurely lunch on a warm summer day. Nestled in the beautifully restored 1895 Marine Hospital, the museum opened its Vineyard Haven campus in March 2019, transforming the historic site into a vibrant cultural hub. A magnet for any curious mind.

From the moment you arrive, it’s a feast for the senses. The museum’s rotating exhibits never fail to surprise—whether it’s the Jaws 50th Anniversary exhibit filled with memorabilia and island lore, or the stunning centerpiece: the first-order Fresnel lens from the Gay Head Lighthouse, gleaming like a beacon of the island’s maritime past.

Kids are kept happily engaged in the Discovery Room; a hands-on space designed just for them. Meanwhile, adults can wander through the rock garden, explore the historic barn filled with whaling artifacts, and admire the Wampanoag collection, which honors the island’s original inhabitants and their harmonious relationship with nature. If we could only be as good as those stewards of the island with nature.

Founded in 1922 as the Dukes County Historical Society and officially incorporated in 1923, the museum has grown from humble beginnings in libraries and private homes to housing over 15,000 objects, 65,000 photographs, and a rich oral history archive with more than 1,900 interviews.

Every visit feels fresh—thanks to ever-changing exhibits and the museum’s commitment to storytelling. Despite having explored museums around the world, this one stands out with its distinctive New England charm. It doesn’t just display history—it lives it.

A must-visit every year. And every time, it feels like coming home. I highly recommend an experience with the truly...