Location, location, location! one of the last examples of a traditional beach cottage in the best location possible.
Our house is a beach cottage at the southern end of Harthaven, a special community located south of the town of Oak Bluffs on the island of Martha's Vineyard. Our own private beach, located on protected Nantucket Sound, is ideal for a before-breakfast swim. The terrace overlooks the beach and offers views of Cape Pogue to the East, Cape Cod to the Northeast and Edgartown and Chappaquiddick to the South.
Additional recreational facilities include private tennis courts and a private beach owned by the Harthaven Association. These facilities are for use only by members of the Association and their guests and renters. The Association also has a private harbor, and with sufficient prior notice, I may be able to arrange slip space for a small boat, but this is not guaranteed.
Golfers can play at Farm Neck Golf Club, a private/public course that is close-by, and Mink Meadow in Vineyard Haven, a public course. The 14th green of Farm Neck is directly across the road, but completely screened from view or sound from our cottage by distance and native plantings.
The cottage itself offers the views over the water described in the above paragraph from the living room and three bedrooms. The kitchen, dining room and two additional bedrooms look out at the water garden and protected patio and cook-out area and cutting garden.
The south wing of the cottage has a large master bedroom, with a double and a single bed, and with full bath en suite and windows facing East over the beach and windows south and west to capture summer breezes. On the ground floor in this wing are two bedrooms, one with a full bed, one with two twins, and a bath with large walk-in shower.
This wing is connected to the main part of the house by a breezeway with an outside shower on the ocean side. The breezeway door on the garden side provides the primary entrance to the house. Even before entering, one sees the ocean and beach beyond the house.
The Main house has a large living room overlooking the beach and the door opening onto the terrace where we usually breakfast and enjoy participating in or just watching beach activities during the day. On the interior wall is a beautiful, large brick fireplace. The dining room and completely equipped kitchen are entered from doors at either end of the living room and are on the west side of the house. This section of the house may be heated (almost surely not necessary in August) by an oil furnace located in a small cellar beneath the living room that is accessed by an outside bulkhead.
The entire second floor of the Main house comprises another master bedroom with a double and a single bed and with a small sitting area housing the television for satellite streaming services. This bedroom also has a full bath en suite with an updated tile shower. This area has dormers on the ocean and garden sides of the room. Each dormer has half a dozen awning type windows and the North wall has two standard windows so this room has terrific cross ventilation.
The kitchen and dining room overlook the water garden and the landscaped area with a patio where we have an outside grill. There is seating where we often have cocktails if we don't have them on the ocean terrace. A circle of scrub oak and additional plantings screens this area from the road. Should the wind be from the East or Northeast, this area is nicely protected.
The North Wing of the house, accessed by a hall from the kitchen, is a working area with the washer and dryer and a stall shower, a separate half-bath and a comfortable bedroom with a double bed. This was originally built for a maid. It is ideal for an au pair or teenager seeking privacy as it may be entered directly from the outside without going into the Main part of the house.
The house has a modern kitchen, gas stove, dishwasher, butcher block counters, automatic coffee maker, coffee grinder and also a French press, full range of pans and cookware, lobster pot, and heavy gauge chowder pots. Small electric appliances include a blender, food processor, toaster oven and microwave.
There is a laundry area with washer and dryer in the north wing as well as an outdoor clothesline in a fenced in area off of the attached garage.
There are the normal complement of miscellaneous small items such as clocks, radios, an iron, ironing board, a vacuum, etc.
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