Like many longtime residents of the Vineyard, I have a hard time remembering to call the westernmost point of the island Aquinnah, the Wampanoag name it returned to in 1998. It is the island’s smallest community, but it is undoubtedly the one with the longest history, for the Wampanoag were on the island when the European settlers arrived. I often find myself still calling it Gay Head, as the town was known in my youth, an homage to the multicolored cliffs that astonish with their vibrant colors and their views. In those days, the cliffs were open to the public, and I vividly remember descending them with my grandmother. I also recall annual visits to the souvenir shop at the edge of the cliffs, where Napoleon Madison held forth and kept traditions alive. The shop made a wicked clam chowder that my father adored, and a buttery toasted frankfurter on a New England roll that was my childhood delight.
The shop is still there, along with others that have sprung up on the way to the cliffs. The food is still memorable as well, with the traditional chowders and hot dogs vying with newer wraps and veggie burgers. Somehow the food of Aquinnah just seems to have an extra tasty je ne sais quoi. Perhaps it’s because it was the Wampanoag who first farmed and fished on the Vineyard. Their descendants still retain their respect for the land, as evidenced in the celebration of Cranberry Day in October and in their honoring of tradition in the annual Moshup Pageant in late summer, which celebrates the island’s benevolent patron giant.