Chloe Combra Congratulations to Chloe Combra, this year’s recipient of the Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation award at the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School science fair. Sheriff’s Meadow sponsors an award as a part of our education program to be given to a student project focused on the environment. This year, the science fair was [...]
By Kate Feiffer As an octogenarian struggling with osteoporosis Elinor Moore Irvin still enjoyed walking the quarter mile from her cabin to get water from the well. “She definitely had a strong personality,” explained her grandnephew Perry Vayo. Vayo, along with his sister, Marie Vayo Greenbaum, worked closely with Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation for over a [...]
By Adam R. Moore We sought garnets. With a hammer and a chisel, I clambered about on the rocky ledge, scanning for any glint of the dark red rock among the gneiss and schist. I was camping for the week at Camp Mattatuck, a Boy Scout camp in northwestern Connecticut. I had signed up for [...]
On November 11, 2020, Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation’s Land Trust accreditation was renewed by the Land Trust Accreditation Commission. In the letter of accreditation, the following commendation was included: “Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation has made an extraordinary commitment to excellence, trust, and permanence in land conservation. The commission especially recognized Sheriff’s Meadow for successfully negotiating the purchase [...]
The autumnal light on the Vineyard never disappoints, but some years the foliage does. In 2020, however, nature came through with a spectacular display of popping oranges, reds, and yellows. We don’t need an official census to verify that there are more of us living on the Island than any “off season” before. As we [...]
Land Trust Alliance Recertification On November 11, 2020, Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation’s Land Trust accreditation was renewed by the Land Trust Accreditation Commission. In the letter of accreditation, the following commendation was included: “Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation has made an extraordinary commitment to excellence, trust, and permanence in land conservation. The commission especially recognized Sheriff’s Meadow for [...]
By Bill Bridwell I was lucky to fall into this job right after hurricane Bob blew over the Island in late 1991. At that time SMF was a two person operation, that being Dick Johnson and Abbe Burt. Dick was a little overwhelmed by the amount of cleanup needed after the storm so he asked [...]
After almost thirty years at Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation, property manager Bill Bridwell will retire at the end of December. We are extremely grateful for his dedication, friendship, depth of knowledge, humor, and hard work. Early last summer we decided to ask a few people to reflect on their time working with Bill for a short [...]
The Wyss Foundation and its chairman, Hansjörg Wyss, generously offered one million dollars in matching funds to SMF’s fundraising effort to inspire others to give in an effort to help purchase, protect, and ensure permanent public access to 304 acres of beautiful land along Squibnocket Pond in Aquinnah. The land being protected is a portion [...]
Snow? Snow, indeed! My wife, Melissa, and I woke to a gray December dawn and the sight of the season’s first snow falling upon the Quansoo plain. Soon Ingrid and Huck, our youngest two children, awoke. They were delighted, as I knew they would be. In a few minutes, they had bundled up and stepped [...]
