New Faces at Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation
Peter Rodegast
Director of Project Management
“We are very happy to welcome Peter Rodegast as our new Director of Project Management. His decades of design and building experience will be very helpful to Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation as we care for our facilities, maintain our buildings, and care for some of the historic properties we are entrusted with, such as the Hancock-Mitchell House.” -Adam Moore
Peter Rodegast was drafted onto the Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation Board of Directors by Chris Alley, and, after learning some the intricacies of SMF, he recognized a need for the role he now fills. As a hiker nearly all his life, some ten years ago during a welcome lull in the economy, Peter had the opportunity to hike the Appalachian Trail. “During the long hike on that incredible trail, I started to think that it would be good to give back and do some volunteer trail work,” he recalled. Although it’s fair to say that Peter had already been “giving back,” as a longtime member of the West Tisbury Conservation Commission, a member of the West Tisbury Land Bank advisory board, and a Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation board member.
The year before Peter was born, his parents bought a house on Old County Road in West Tisbury, where he spent part of every summer during his childhood. Other parts of his childhood were spent in Connecticut and Massachusetts. After graduating high school he moved to the Island and helped build Dick Newick ocean racing trimarans with Ovid Ward, then commuted to Boston to take architectural engineering classes. Then, after a bike trip with two friends across the United States, he returned to the Vineyard and had a number of jobs, which included drawing and building projects for George Wey and Rick Anderson.
His roots on the Island deepened when he married Nancy Cole in 1984. Nancy is currently the library director at the Edgartown School, and they have two grown children, Emily and Stuart. For 27 years he worked designing houses and at South Mountain Company before going out on his own. Now he says he’s ready for a new opportunity. “I’ve been open to something slightly different from what I’ve been doing,” Peter said, about joining Sheriff’s Meadow. “I recognized the need and also recognized that it would be a great group to work for.”
The first project Peter will be working on will be at the original Cedar Tree Neck parking area, where the portable toilet will be replaced with an attractive and welcoming cedar-walled restroom and storage shed, a part of the master plan for this flagship property.
Joe Rogers
Land Steward
“We are delighted to welcome Joe Rogers as our new Land Steward. Joe brings to Sheriff’s Meadow great experience in operating outdoor equipment, and his background will prove very valuable as we undertake our all-island trail initiative and as we enhance the stewardship of our properties.” -Adam Moore
It was the spring of 2005, and nineteen-year-old Joe Rogers returned to the Vineyard after taking a course on mobile audio and video installation. “My father, who was very adamant about working hard, saw me not working hard and got upset,” recalled Joe. “He called Dale McClure, and said, ‘Hey, you got any work for my son?’ and Dale said, ‘Sure, send him down.’ And my father called me at 7am and said, ‘Go down to Watercourse, you’re starting today.” Watercourse Construction was a Vineyard-based excavation company that provided channel dredging, septic system installation and repair, and foundation preparation, among other services. Joe stayed at Watercourse for a year, then moved onto Brickstone Construction, and then for the past five and a half years, John Keene Excavation, where he was a foreman.
This October, Joe joined Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation as a Land Steward. “Someone who knows me well told me that Sheriff’s Meadow had a position that was right up my alley,” explained Joe, who says that at the time he wasn’t looking for a career change. “My eyes were open, but I was not fleeing.”
“There were so many pieces to my previous job. This is a much simpler job. It’s just a mission to maintain beautiful properties and trails and even create new ones,” he mused. “There were so many things I would do on a daily basis in excavation. One day I’m putting a septic in, the next day I’m crushing a house. And then maybe I’m driving a dump truck and delivering materials, or I’m clearing land, – anything.”
Joe’s family moved to the Vineyard when he was an infant. He attended the Oak Bluffs school and graduated from Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School in 2004. His mother, Andrea Rogers, founded and runs the Artisan Festival; his father, Jim Rogers, was an aviator and builder who passed away in December 2005. In 2017, Joe married Phoenix Russell, who is a wampum jewelry artist, heals horses, and is one of the few female hunters on the Island.
An avid outdoorsman, and lifelong Vineyarder, Joe is dedicated to preserving the unique nature of Martha’s Vineyard.