Zinc & Bella's Point Cover Reveal

So we've reached the end of another A to Z Challenge! I couldn't find a picture to go along with my Z post so I'm so glad the Challenge blog makes these badges available for us.

It was hard to find anything for Z anyway, so I was thrilled when I discovered that a Civil War statue in the town of Oak Bluffs was made of zinc! I thought, bingo! :D

The statue has an interesting history, as it was commissioned by Charles Strahan, a veteran of the Confederacy who moved to Martha's Vineyard after the Civil War and became the publisher of the Martha's Vineyard Herald. In spite of the fact that he fought for the Confederacy, Strahan erected the statue as a memorial to Union soldiers. Strahan wanted the statue to serve as an icon of healing after the violence of the war.

In 2001 the statue was restored and rededicated, with descendants of Mr. Strahan attending the ceremony.

And that ends my A to Z of Martha's Vineyard! Thanks to everyone who has come by here and made this another fun April. And special thanks to all the co-hosts who do so much work to keep this event running year after year.

Well done, all!

In addition to finishing up the Challenge, I'm also happy to be sharing the cover for Elizabeth's Seckman's novel Bella's Point. Here is the scoop on what is sure to be a great book:

Did you know? Bella has survived the Civil War. Now she must survive the Reconstruction. During that time, white Republicans were called Scalawags in the south. 

Isabella Troy Stanley is a divorced, slave freeing pariah surviving in the shattered post Civil War south the only way a fallen debutante knows how. 

She heads to a Yankee prison and buys herself a husband. 

Jack Byron is the former Troy plantation stable boy and object of young Bella's affection. He rejected her then, and he's still not sold on the idea of marrying her now.  

 It’s complicated.

 Though to Bella, it’s simple: make Jack love her, marry her, and live happily ever after. The plan seems to work...at least until her secret is revealed.

Elizabeth is a wife, a mom, and a writer. She has four wonderful boys, one dusty house, and three published books to her credit. Feel free to check them out and buy them HERE! Erm, the books, not the kids or the house...though all things in life are negotiable ;)

You can find her here - Blog // Facebook // Twitter

Cover art by Sprinkles on Top Studios.

Congratulations to Elizabeth!!

My A-Z of Martha's Vineyard theme was inspired by my book, The Ghosts of Aquinnah, which is set on the island. Click here for all the info on the book.

Y is for Yummy

Source: Wikimedia Commons

I'm stretching here because I couldn't think of any place on Martha's Vineyard that started with a "y" except the YMCA. And there's not much I could write about that.

So I decided to write about two of the yummiest places on the island instead.

My favorite is Chilmark Chocolates, which has some of the best candy I've ever tasted, bar none. The chocolates are homemade and come in so many varieties that it's hard to decide what to get to fill your box when you visit the store. In addition to being amazing candy makers, the owners of Chilmark Chocolates run a special program to employ mentally disabled Islanders and they use specially modified machinery to meet their employees' needs. They also sponsor a different Island non-profit organization each month, with portions of their proceeds going to that organization.

It's nice to be able to support good people who also make an extraordinary product.

Another yummy business is Mad Martha's Ice Cream. Mad Martha's has three cute ice cream parlors on the island and their ice cream is homemade. I've been going there since I was a kid and I've never had any ice cream there that wasn't wonderful.

It's safe to say that it's difficult to stick to a diet while on the Vineyard.

My A-Z of Martha's Vineyard theme is inspired by my book, The Ghosts of Aquinnah, which is set on the island. Click here for all the info on the book.

X is for Extra Stout Beer

Source: Wikimedia Commons

Martha's Vineyard Extra Stout was a craft beer brewed on the island at Martha's Vineyard Breweries. Apparently it is now retired and the brewery itself is closed.

I don't even like stout beer and I know nothing about this brew, but we all know how hard it is to find a topic for the dreaded "X" post. So this is it for me. :D

Two more letters to go!

My A-Z of Martha's Vineyard theme is inspired by my book, The Ghosts of Aquinnah, which is set on the island. Click here for all the info on the book.

W is for West Tisbury

My family's cottage, The Rookery, is located in the town of West Tisbury near the center of Martha's Vineyard. West Tisbury, like Chilmark and Aquinnah, is considered "up island."

It's a rural community that embodies the charm of an old New England Village. The town hall, shown below and surrounded by red maples and a white picket fence, epitomizes this charm.

Swans are regular residents of the town's Old Mill Pond, shown in the top photo. While they look pretty, their personalities are anything but. They have been known to chase bystanders, including my mother and me when I was a child. A swan at full height with his wings outstretched is not a friendly sight, trust me.

The pond gets its name from the textile mill that was built next to it in the 1850s. Workers at the mill manufactured a variety of materials from island wool and, while the mill itself is no longer in operation, sheep farms are still prominent in the Vineyard's up island communities today.

My A-Z of Martha's Vineyard theme is inspired by my book, The Ghosts of Aquinnah, which is set on the island. Click here for all the info on the book.

V is for Vineyard Haven

Photo by Melanie Speight

Vineyard Haven is one of the primary harbors on Martha's Vineyard in addition to being one of its six towns. It was originally called Holmes Hole, as "hole" was maritime slang for a nick, or harbor, in the coastline. The name was changed to Vineyard Haven in 1871, reportedly due to the fact that many of its inhabitants did not like to say they were from a "hole" when traveling off island.

The ferry which runs to the island often arrives in and departs from Vineyard Haven, so it is usually the first and last thing I see of the Vineyard when visiting there. The town is home to the famous Black Dog tavern and general store, which can be easily spotted from the deck of ferry.

Photo by Melanie Speight

Because it is a very long drive back to Ohio, we always get the earliest possible ferry to leave the island when heading home. A few years ago my niece took these photos while the sun was coming up over the harbor as we waited for our boat. To me they perfectly capture the peaceful beauty that is Vineyard Haven and are a reminder of why I always hate to get on the ferry to leave the island.

Photos by Melanie Speight

I'm also over at Untethered Realms today for my last post in our A-Z of Fantastical Creatures. Visit me there to learn more about Aleksei Nechayev, my fanged antagonist in Polar Night. I think you can probably guess what my "V" creature is. :D

Happy weekend, all!

My A-Z of Martha's Vineyard theme is inspired by my book, The Ghosts of Aquinnah, which is set on the island. Click here for all the info on the book.

U is for Up Island

My favorite places on Martha's Vineyard, including Aquinnah, shown above, are all "up island," which is somewhat odd because they are actually in the southwestern part of the island. I never knew why the area was called "up island" but chalked it up to typical Vineyard eccentricity.

But while researching posts for the A-Z Challenge I learned that the name comes from the fact that as you travel west on the island you move up the scale of longitude. The longitude of Aquinnah is -70.800786399999990000 while the longitude of Edgartown on the eastern edge of the island is -70.51335990000001. 

Apparently the phrase "up island" is a holdover from the island's seafaring history. So I learned something new this year thanks to the A-Z! 

My A-Z of Martha's Vineyard theme is inspired by my book, The Ghosts of Aquinnah, which is set on the island. Click here for all the info on the book.

T is for Tea Lane

As I mentioned in my "H is for Hammett" post, my great-great grandfather Franklin Hammett worked on a whaling ship and sailed around the world when he was a teenager. After he returned to Martha's Vineyard, he and his wife Nancy lived on a farm on a street called Tea Lane in the town of Chilmark.

The Hammetts had a horse named Grover, who is front and center along with Franklin in the above photo taken in the 1890s. My grandfather spent many summers on Tea Lane as a child and his grandchildren all loved his stories about Grover and the other goings-on on the farm. By all accounts, Grover was a fine horse and it seems clear from this picture that Franklin thought very highly of him.

Stella, the main character in my novel The Ghosts of Aquinnah, whose maiden name is Hammett, lives on a farm in the same area where Franklin and Nancy lived so many years ago. While writing the novel, I couldn't resist naming her horse Grover.

My A-Z of Martha's Vineyard theme is inspired by my book, The Ghosts of Aquinnah, which is set on the island. Click here for all the info on the book.