June 5, 2020 Good Day – Tomorrow, the first Saturday in June, is National Trails Day. Traditionally, the Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank has organized a Cross-Island hike to explore various Vineyard sites. This year that walk is cancelled due to the coronavirus. I plan to take my own Cross-Island hike. My intent is to make this solemn, solo expedition in memory of the 100,000+ who have died from Covid-19. The financial pain wrought by the pandemic is real. Primarily, I want to walk to reflect on the untimely death of George Floyd which has brought such upheaval across our country. ***All of this national disruption impacts to my new book on Vineyard tourism. The popularity of the Methodist Camp Meeting Association and the Oak Bluffs Land & Wharf Company expanded dramatically by 1900. The two communities merged to form the town of Cottage City (1880), renamed Oak Bluffs (1907). The Sea View hotel welcomed tourists to the Vineyard. The Tivoli featured dancing to local tunes such as Tivoli Girl and the Oak Bluffs Galope. A Toboggan Slide entranced the populace. An Observation Tower loomed over Ocean Park; bathhouses lined the beach below. The Flying Horses, the oldest continuously operated carousel in the country, remain the only vestige of that halcyon era. (And it is not open this year, due to the coronavirus.) Ice cream parlors, bowling alleys, and curio shops flourished along Circuit Avenue, satiating crowds of tourists who savored the sights and sounds. The Martha’s Vineyard Railroad transported tourists between Oak Bluffs and Edgartown’s South Beach. Carriages carried tourists through pristine villages up-Island and out to the variegated clay cliffs of Gay Head. President Ulysses Grant visited the Vineyard. Martha’s Vineyard had arrived as a prime vacation destination, with an array of amusement park activities amid a spectacular Island landscape. This year will be different, but we’re sure the Vineyard will return to its prior popularity for tourism. ***On June 22, 2020 The Rise of Tourism on Martha’s Vineyard will be published by The History Press. For more information, visit Thomasdresser.com Upcoming virtual book talks:Edgartown Library: June 16 @ 7 pmWest Tisbury Library: June 24 @ 5 pmChilmark Library: July 3 @ 4 pmAquinnah Library: July 9Vineyard Haven Library: August 4 @ 4 pm Next week: African American Vacation Land Thanks for reading, Tom Dresser, Most people don’t expect to meet Indigenous people in a place like Martha’s Vineyard, which is primarily known for being a fancy vacation destination., They’re pretending that the asylum seekers were planning on having a nice vacation before the evil, racist, rich people of Martha’s Vineyard kicked them out..