Anne Vanderhoop | Providence to Gay Head via Edgartown

Описание: Anne Vanderhoop (b. 1931), Aquinnah Shop co-owner, Baker, Scalloper, and Town of Gay Head Treasurer came to the Vineyard with her mother from Providence R.I. We would like to make a correction to this video, the photo at one minute is of Anne's mother, Gertrude Williams and her husband Albert Belaine.

In this clip from a 2013 interview, Anne describes the Open Door Club at the home of Edna and James Smith in Edgartown. For 30 years it provided a welcoming place for black domestic workers to spend days off together, cook meals, and rest. At the Open Door Club’s weekly Sunday beach picnics, Anne met her future husband, a member of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (now Aquinnah). Moving to Gay Head with her husband, she tells of how she was taken aback by the differences in lifestyle and amenities from those with which she had grown up in Providence. But she became an integral and much-loved member of the community, and the matriarch of a large family of accomplished children. Today, she continues to relish the beauty of the land and the sea around her.

This video was produced and created by Linsey Lee. Any reproduction, distribution, or public display of this work requires prior permission. For use and permission to reproduce, please contact: [email protected]

For more information about the oral history collection at the Martha's Vineyard Museum visit https://mvmuseum.org