The SMF Newsletter recently sat down with Hillary Noyes-Keene for an update on the Master Plan projects she’s been working on. Below are her remarks, edited for space and clarity.

The Master Plan committee was formed in 2017, after Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation held a Strategic Plan retreat, during which board members were asked to speak about different parts of Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation. Adam asked me to speak about stewardship. I was fairly new to the board at that point and was a little nervous about speaking, but after a lot of thinking I came to the conclusion that it would be really great if Sheriff’s Meadow could look at their properties within the greater context of the Vineyard, and within that umbrella view, also look at the properties individually, to try to create consistency through the properties while honoring each property’s individual sense of place on the Island.

Martha’s Vineyard has a landscape that’s unique, and when people who are sensitive to their environment and to the landscape come here, something about the Vineyard stays with them, and that’s a sense of place. It’s that feeling that a location has, whether it’s a woodland area, the outwash plain, or a meadow. It’s how the landscape impacts you individually; how it meets the sky, how it meets architecture, and what happens in between. Sheriff’s Meadow properties can honor that sense of place and the Master Plan committee is figuring out how to dovetail that honoring of a sense of place with making the spaces functional for people to visit them.

In part, we want to do this by making sure that signs are consistent at all of Sheriff’s Meadow properties by addressing trail heads and parking, kiosks and sheds, storage facilities, and the introduction of bathroom facilities and benches. Pretty much anything that you would find on every property.

The first project that we looked at was Cedar Tree Neck. The Taylor Gate parking lot was introduced, and that set the tone for what a trail head could look like. It’s beautiful. It’s an extension of the existing stone walls, and brings in more native vegetation to screen the cars. It’s very simple, but it’s a strong statement to the public that this is the entrance: This is Sheriff’s Meadow, this is how Sheriff’s Meadow wants to present itself.

Down at Cedar Tree Neck, we are in the process of restoring and renovating the existing Daggett parking lot, and that entails separating the caretakers house, which we’re trying to make a little bit more private from the public area. One of the ways we’re doing that is by building a shed/bathroom. The shed is for Sheriff’s Meadow maintenance use, and the bathroom is for people who are using the Cedar Tree Neck area. We’re also formalizing the parking area so that people actually know where to park, because in the past people have parked all over the place down there.

Kathleen Forsythe is helping us standardize the design of the larger kiosk, which will have historic and educational information, basic signage, maps, newsletters, and pamphlets. Also, the Irvin trail is going in and then a new small parking lot for that as well, so Cedar Tree Neck will actually have three parking lots, and then when Irvin trail is added, another one and a half mile of trails.

Caroline Tuthill Preserve is one of the next properties that we’re looking at. We’re working with landscape architect Kristen Reimann, who is helping us with the landscape designs. Right now the parking down there is not safe at all. Everyone just pulls off of Edgartown-Vineyard Haven Road, so the idea is to introduce a safe parking area, probably for six to eight cars, and create a very clear trail head with a similar kiosk to what we have down at Cedar Tree Neck, that incorporates the history of the land and an educational piece.

Quansoo Farm has been an ongoing project in the Master Plan with the renovation of the Hancock-Mitchell House and restoring the farm to as close to its original use. Grey Barn Farm is leasing land, so cows and sheep have been down there. Driveways have been rerouted. Part of the master plan involves moving the road so that it goes directly to the Mitchell house and not to the two other houses on that property, and to create more of an educational hub down there. Eventually there will be a kitchen garden and probably some fields planted, but that’s to be determined.