Vincent House

Excerpt from Baker Narrative concerning Vincent House.

Copyright 1978, A.W. Baker Restorations. Download Anne Baker's full narrative account on Vincent House at https://docs.rwu.edu/baker_documentation/114/

It started with a telephone call... a description of a house 28' x 26'...my response, " the dimensions seem too large for such an early date, but of course, I'll take a look." As I was driven up the last stretch of road the steep gable end of a Cape-Cod house appeared. I drew in my breath; there was something about the look of this solid, deep pitch Gape sitting very alone, humble but dignified, surrounded by now dormant farmland. A chill rippled through me. There was an excitement in the structure that I could not define, perhaps a sense of heritage. The interior flooded me instantly with its charm and primitive simplicity. This was the beginning of a long friendship with a house and its family.

Before there can be a structure there must be people. William Vincent (Vinson}, one of the original proprietors, arrived at Martha's Vineyard in 1655 and it is recorded that in 1656 he purchased from Edward Andrews his house and twenty acres of land more1or less on the shores of Great Pond, Edgartown. It is not known when the present house was built but seven generations of Vincents were to live on this land, each one contributing to the continuing preservation of the building. It was not until 1943 that the Vincent House was sold out of the family to John MacKenty of New York. He, too, loved the house and respected its charm and antiquity, feelings he passed along to his children.

At the elder MacKenty's death, finding that they had no personal uses for the Vincent House, the MacKenty heirs, fearing further disrepair and vanda1ism and aware of its intrinsic historical value, gave it to the Preservation Society. The Martha's Vineyard Historical Society was organized in 1975 for the very purpose of protecting such properties. Subsequently, I was hired by the Society as an Architectural Conservator and restoration contractor.

The question often asked of me about any house is, "What is the date it was built?" The  following is an account to establish facts, not to establish a date. The facts will suggest their own date. I hope that a presentation of these facts and further research on other buildings on the Island will give us a better understanding of those first proprietors, their principles of structure which have brought us to our present building traditions not only on Martha's Vineyard but in America as well.

In June 1977, the Society accepted the MacKenty gift and made the decision to move the building into the town of Edgartown_to be an architectural museum. The Vincents had settled on the Great Plains in Edgartown, the area first developed on the Island by the early Anglo-Saxon settlers. As the house was still very much intact and an important part of this historic area, I felt that it was of prime importance not to move it away. After several conferences with those concerned it became obvious that it would have to be relocated. The MacKenty acreage was slated for residential development and the Vincent House was sited almost in the middle of the property, making subdivisions impractical for the owners. At the same time, the Society felt that the location of a museum three miles out of town would limit public availability and use, would be an imposition on the property owners, and might encourage vandalism.

While I feel strongly that any historic structure and its environment should be treated as a unit, I recognised that the saving of the Vincent House for historical and educational purposed could best be served only by moving it from the MacKenty property into the guaranteed protection of Edgartown.