Bung (Howard Young ... but not Bill or Geoff Young), Phronsie, Ed and Bill Abbe, Dorsey Coholan, Pete, Mary Jane and Dave Hart, Martha Patty and Mike Pease, Bruz and George Hart (Merv’s boys) and, when they were there, Bourne and Haywood Upham.

Jim applied some hard and fast rules for rowboat safety. First we had to swim the channel near the Youngs, about 20 to 25 yards wide. Once we could do that we would be allowed to go out in the harbor in a life jacket. To be able to go out in the harbor without a life jacket we had to swim across the wide part of the harbor. This also enabled us to go out of the harbor with a life jacket. The ultimate was to be able to go out of the harbor without a life jacket. The test for this was to swim across the jetties, some 150 yards. When there were nor’easters we would row five or six rowboats out the harbor entrance and ride the breakers back into the entrance. We never had an accident.

My grandfather Jim was wonderful to us kids. He'd take the entire summers off from his duties as President of Hart and Cooley Manufacturing Co. and spend them at the Vineyard. He had at first built a simple boathouse between the E.A. Moores and Walter Harts, complete with miniature railway to launch and haul his boats. He had three boats that I remember. First was the "Chappaquoit" a sloop of approximately 42 feet built in the 1890s. This was also known as "The Bathtub" and had a three cylinder Lathrop engine. Next was the "Fairy Quohog", also known as "The Dory". It was about 26 feet long and had a "one lunger'' Lathrop engine. Finally was the "Wildcat," a 36 foot speedboat with two cockpits. This beauty could do all of 20 knots! Jim would take off in front of the Youngs at full throttle and out the entrance, creating quite a wake. He shouldn't have done this, but that was Jim. Great Uncles Max and George Hart had big power boats, too. Max's was the "Wanango" and George's was called "Merdon" after his two sons, Mervin and Donald.

In the winter of 1928-29, Jim had Manual Schwartz build the "Beetlebung" just for me in the Edgartown shipyard where the Sculpin Gallery is now. This was a 16 foot catboat with a small engine, a two cylinder Falcon which had no neutral or reverse. It also had a self-bailing cockpit. I was only 10!

Jim built what is known as the "Fleabag" behind his Harthaven house for his chauffeur Carl. Carl also fixed boats and kept engines running. Jim hired a Jim Vincent as well for woodworking jobs in the boathouse.

Our summers were filled with activities: tennis, golf, horseback riding lessons, swimming, movies and learning seamanship. (Jim was very firm about loosening halyards when we finished sailing, because they were made of hemp and would shrink, causing all sorts of rigging problems.) We often swam at Buoy Beach by Barb and Maurice Pease's cottage. Actually it was originally past the first inlet and we called it "Buoy Beach" because there was a raft anchored there. When the raft wasn't there, there was only a buoy marking the mooring block.

Then there were the magnificent foghorns of East and West Chop and Hedge Fence out in Nantucket Sound. We would often wake up in the morning to their mournful, steady calls.

After the 1926 hurricane, Jim took a gang of us over to Vineyard Haven to see the damage. I recall some ten schooners with their broken masts and spars scattered all over.

 

Other outings with Jim were to his "Watcha Club," something he was trying to establish on approximately 1,000 acres he had purchased. And then there were forays to Priscilla Hancock's candy shop for caramels.

One of our favorite pranks was to strap young Stan Hart (known in those days as "Buster") to a platform we had installed on a pram when he was about a year old. We would run him around and about with great glee. One day -- I can't remember if it was me, Bung, George or Norm, --one of us pushed the pram (this time without Stan aboard) like mad where Aunt Lucy Hart, Stan's mother, could see. Whoever it was then proceeded to push it right off the end of the dock. This greatly upset Lucy!

There were numerous boats owned by Harthaven residents. Bill Hart's Mahomey at 28 feet, followed some years later by the 42 foot Stormy Petrel (an Alden sloop Bill had built and which Burl Ives subsequently owned ... and wrecked), Jerry Hart's Noepe and Stan Hart's Watcha, each at 25 or 26 feet. Walter Hart had a large catboat, the Sea Hound which was followed by the Sea Pup. Jack Vibberts owned the Sea Sled and Bill Abbe had the catboat H. B. Gull Rose. (Note: "H.B." stood for Houseboat.) Stan Hart, Sr. owned this after Bill's untimely death and now Al Pease owns it. Stan Hart also had a series of power boats: the motor sailor Kittywake then the 32 foot Wasque Mollyhawk followed by his last boat, the 36 or 37 foot Whimbrel, built by the Martha's Vineyard Shipyard. Jim's last boat was the Quampache, a 42 or 44 foot power boat which he gave to the Coast Guard as his contribution to the war effort.

In 1939, Jim bought land on Abel's Hill way out in Chilmark. He was pretty much retired then (at age 72). One day he expressed the fact he was bored so Henry Cronig said, "Come on, get in the car." Henry brought him to see Abel's Hill and he was hooked. He purchased a large piece of land running from Middle to South Road from Mary Guerin for $20,000 to $25,000. He subsequently bought additional adjacent acreage in bits and pieces, e.g., the Fentons sold him some land for $50,000, which was considered a bargain. Jim gave land to his three adult children, Alice (Al), Bill and Stan. Peggy and I purchased our lot from the Chilmark Real Estate Trust, which consisted of the residue from Jim's estate.

From John Moore - Harthaven - A Brief History

EDDYs - please send in your photographs and memories... samfilm@aol.com