About the Sanctuary Located off of Plantingfield Way in Edgartown, Sheriff’s Meadow Sanctuary is the namesake property of Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation and was indeed a meadow belonging to a sheriff. In the 1850’s, the property belonged to Sheriff Isaiah Pease, and became known as the Sheriff’s Meadow. A hundred years later, Sheriff’s Meadow had the [...]
Great-uncle Henry By John Hough, Jr. Photo of Henry Beetle Hough and his collie Graham by Edith Blake His walking gait was steady, dogged, tireless, and it brought to mind the lope of a good distance runner. That looseness. That open stride. In his seventies, a slight limp set in, but it did [...]
So, Who Was the Sheriff? By A. Bowdoin Van Riper Isaiah Dunham Pease was Sheriff for the County of Dukes County from 1822 to until his death in 1862. Pease was born in Edgartown on May 5, 1786, the son of master mariner Noah Pease and Hannah Dunham Pease, and was himself a mariner for [...]
Restoring the Sanctuary - Putting the Meadow Back in Sheriff’s Meadow A section of the Sanctuary was inundated with porcelain berry. The Norway spruce and eastern white pine had grown thick and dense, and since little pruning had been done over the years, most of their lower branches and nearly all of the red cedars [...]
eDNA of Sheriff's Pond By Jesse Ausubel Environmental DNA (eDNA) is DNA shed by animals into the environment. Sources include cells sloughed from body surfaces, body wastes, and tissue remnants following predation, death, or injury. eDNA is a bit like dandruff. DNA consists of long strands of four chemical compounds: cytosine (C), adenine (A), guanine [...]
Henry's Sanctuary By Peter Brooks Young Peter Brooks, Photo courtesy of Peter Brooks Henry Beetle Hough’s 1958 gift of land to the nascent Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation created a refuge, the Sheriff’s Meadow Sanctuary, that stands today as a testament to his remarkable vision, and generosity. It also created a perfect playground for this [...]
Life of a Tree: The Sheriff’s Meadow Sanctuary Red Maple By Adam R. Moore Photo by Sam Moore Like other successful Islanders, the Sheriff’s Meadow Sanctuary red maple is very good at more than one thing. Some Islanders catch conch and also saw lumber. Some build docks and also write poetry. As for [...]
A Birder's Story By Robert Culbert Prothonotary warbler, Photo by Lanny McDowell When I am in downtown Edgartown and have an extra half hour, a visit to Sheriff’s Meadow Sanctuary relaxes me. The peace and quiet reset my mind, and there are ducks, herons, terns, hummingbirds, owls, thrushes, warblers, and sparrows to find. [...]
Flora and Fauna of Sheriff's Meadow Sanctuary By Kristen Geagan Butterfly milkweed, Asclepias tuberosa For a relatively small property that is nestled in downtown Edgartown, Sheriff’s Meadow Sanctuary provides an oasis for plants and wildlife. One feature that allows the property such diversity in flora and fauna is the wide variety of habitats. [...]
A Brief History of Conservation By Adam R. Moore Winterberry, Photo by Stephen Chapman “So Betty and I thought for a while and talked for a while, and then established the Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation, presenting to it the pond, the knoll, and every natural prospect.” So wrote Henry Beetle Hough in describing the [...]
