Christiantown

Hunting blackberries on Saturday, I went to the little visited Christiantown reservation. It’s a lovely spot down a private dirt road that’s way off the tourist track. Christiantown was also known as Manitouwatootan to the native Wampanoag Indians it means “God’s Town”. It was established in 1659 and it is here that many of the converted Wampanoags lived and worshipped through the 18th and 19th centuries. In 1849, it held 390 acres. But, it died out slowly as people moved away to find work and the remaining population was wiped out by a smallpox epidemic in 1888. What’s left today is a small wooded reservation owned and protected by the Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank with 8.6 acres and a small chapel that was built in 1829 after the original burnt to the ground. It is a great place for quiet reflection and a stroll through the woods with a berry basket. Especially, on a busy August morning on Martha’s Vineyard.