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Cedar Tree Neck Sanctuary
The Vineyard Sound waves beat against the rocky shoreline, beach grasses bend before salt-laden breezes, stunted American beeches bear wooden witness to a constant, sculpting wind, fresh water tumbles down a rocky stream bed to meet the sea. One finds these scenes at Cedar Tree Neck Sanctuary, along with excellent examples of the habitats and vistas that make Martha’s Vineyard such a special place. A one-time visitor here can get a sense of the varied natural endowment of the Vineyard; a seasoned naturalist could spend a lifetime pursuing the secrets of the Sanctuary’s diverse flora and fauna.
Cedar Tree Neck Sanctuary exists due to the generosity and persistence of many. In the mid 1960’s, Henry Beetle Hough, cofounder of Sheriff’s Meadow Foundation, and Allen H. Morgan, then the Executive Vice-President of the Massachusetts Audubon Society, orchestrated a fund-raising campaign to buy 100 acres of land from the Daggett family. Only the second family to own the property since 1700, the Daggetts assisted by selling their land at a price well below market value. At the same time, the Hough family donated 70 acres of abutting family land known as “Fishhook,” including over a quarter mile of shoreline. This fundraising campaign was successful, and other gifts followed. Forty acres were given in memory of Alexander S. Reed, and this gift is now known as the Alexander S. Reed bird sanctuary. Other gifts of land and of conservation restrictions have brought the size of the Sanctuary to its current 312 acres, and conservation of land at Cedar Tree Neck continues still.
From its intersection with the State Road, follow Indian Hill Road for 1.3 miles. Turn right onto the Obed Daggett Road (near the hilltop). Following the “Sanctuary” signs, take Obed Daggett Road one mile to its terminus at the Cedar Tree Neck trailhead and parking area.
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