Located on Main Street, a short walk from the Vineyard Haven Commercial district, Owen Park slopes from Main Street down to the Vineyard Haven Harbor providing a spectacular view of the harbor. Owen Park offers a broad range of activities including boating, swimming, paddle board access, picnicking, swings, comfortable seating, and model boat sailing. This is the location of the Town Harbormaster’s office, the Town Pier with access to the harbor mooring field, and an event pavilion. The Beach is ADA accessible, there is a swimming float, a public restroom, and an open air beach shower for post swimming rinse off. The seating area at the top of the slope is a great place to take in the harbor activity over a cup of coffee or a midday lunch. The lower beach area is ideal for family picnics. There is free parking which can fill up but there is a drop off near the beach and generally there is available parking along Main Street.

Owen Park is one of the Town’s most active parks and is treasured by residents for its view and access to the harbor and its long tradition of public gatherings including concerts, the annual Tisbury School Mach to the Sea and most recently the First Friday celebrations from May – October each year.

History

Owen Park was named after William Barry Owen, the son of a whaling captain born in a home on Main Street in 1860. William grew up in Vineyard Haven and became an excellent salesman who enjoyed initiating new ventures. He started the Tisbury Waterworks, and a planned development in West Chop, before moving to London for a number of years to establish subsidiaries of the Gramophone company across Europe. When he returned from Europe in the early 1900’s he used his wealth to purchase three houses on the site of what is now Owen Park.

He relocated these houses to open a view of the harbor and make way for a proposed William Street Manor, which never materialized. Five years after William’s death in 1919, his widow gifted the property to be known as Owen Park, to the Town of Tisbury for the purpose of a public park and recreation center, with the agreement that the town pay off the remainder of the mortgage. A variety of memorials, donations and structures were installed at the park over time. The flagpole, a mast from a schooner that ran aground on south beach was installed in 1929. The plaque on the flagpole recognizes and honors the war veterans. A bronze drinking fountain in 1935 and a bandstand was constructed. Due to costly maintenance after the stormy hurricane season of 1954, the Playground and Recreation Committee started an initiative to build a new bandstand. A thoughtful design and plan were crafted, and yet when it came time to build there was not enough money to accomplish the goal. The following year, the current bandstand was hurriedly built before the summer season in 1962. A weathervane by Travis Tuck was installed in the early 80s.

The Harbormaster’s building, a small shed in the early 90’s, was replaced by the current building in the late 90s. The bathrooms were added in 2005, showers in 2011 and a dormer was added in 2014.

Click to read Owen Park - Vision Planning 2015 and Owen Park History and Project Background