The Edgartown Inn
A 1798 whaling captain's house where Hawthorne and Webster both stayed. Still operating. Still quiet.
The Edgartown Inn is the oldest continuously operating inn on Martha's Vineyard, which is the kind of fact that's either interesting to you or it isn't. Built in 1798 as a whaling captain's house, opened to lodgers not long after, and counting Hawthorne and Daniel Webster among its 19th-century guests — Hawthorne wrote part of "Twice-Told Tales" while staying.
It's still here, still doing the same thing, twenty rooms a block from Edgartown harbor. No spa, no pool, no restaurant. Just the building, the breakfast, and the location.
The setting
Edgartown is the Vineyard's old whaling capital — a grid of narrow streets lined with white-clapboard captains' houses, all extremely well preserved because the town never had a fire or a redevelopment cycle that touched its core. The inn sits on North Water Street, two blocks from the harbor and a block from Main. The Chappy Ferry — a tiny three-car barge — is a five-minute walk and runs every fifteen minutes to Chappaquiddick.
The town is walking-paced. South Beach is a fifteen-minute drive or shuttle; State Beach (the Jaws bridge) is along the way. The ferry to Woods Hole runs from Vineyard Haven, about fifteen minutes north.
The building
A 1798 Federal-style captain's house in the standard Edgartown vocabulary — clapboard exterior, center chimney, six-over-six windows. The interiors have been updated incrementally over two centuries, which gives the public rooms a layered quality you can't fake with a 2018 renovation. Wide-plank floors, low doorways in the older wings, working fireplaces. The garden patio behind the main house is one of those quiet town spaces that feels private even though you can hear Main Street.
The inn is part of a small group of three Edgartown properties under common ownership; this is the original and oldest of them.
The rooms
Twenty rooms across the main house, a Garden House, and a Carriage House. Categories range from compact main-house rooms with shared baths (a few remain — uncommon now and priced accordingly) up through Garden House rooms with private baths and harbor glimpses. Beds are good, linens are good, the rooms preserve the proportions of an 18th-century house, which means some are small. From-rates around $345.
A handful of rooms in the Garden House are slightly more contemporary in finish if a fully period room isn't your preference.
Food & drink
A continental breakfast is included — pastries, fruit, coffee — served in the garden in season. There's no in-house restaurant, dinner program, or bar. The town handles all of that, and the front desk will book you a table at the Atlantic, l'Etoile, the Wharf, or any of the other walking-distance kitchens.
On the property
A small inn that defers to its town.
- Continental breakfast included
- Garden patio
- Walking access to all of Edgartown
- Chappy Ferry within five minutes' walk
- Open seasonally (typically April through October)
Who it's for
- History-minded travelers who want the oldest inn on the island
- Couples doing a quiet, walking-paced Vineyard weekend
- Repeat visitors who've already done the resort hotels
- Anyone who wants Edgartown specifically, not Oak Bluffs or Vineyard Haven
Who it's not for
- Travelers needing a pool, gym, or spa
- Families with young children
- Anyone who needs an in-house restaurant or bar
Nearby
The Chappy Ferry takes you to Chappaquiddick in three minutes for the East Beach drive and Mytoi Garden. South Beach is a short shuttle ride and has the surf-side swimming. State Beach, on the road back to Oak Bluffs, is the Jaws bridge if that's your thing. Aquinnah Cliffs at the western end of the island is an hour's drive but worth the day. For dinner, the Atlantic and l'Etoile are within a few blocks; the Wharf for casual seafood; the Port Hunter for a late-night bar. The Vineyard Haven ferry terminal is about fifteen minutes north for the trip back.
