Menemsha Goes Into Winter With Its Store Back, and It Works Like a Fishing Port Again

A boat hangs over the door of the Menemsha Store. The sign is by Gary Demers and shows the Little Lady, a vessel the Martha's Vineyard Fishermen's Preservation Trust is restoring. Kevin Oliver told the Vineyard Gazette that the sign was meant to show "the unity and the synergy that we have" between the store and the Trust. He meant that literally. The store and the Trust are tied together by money and by the property they share, and this is the first winter that tie is in place.

The store opened at 7 a.m. on Wednesday, September 16, the first time in seven years that Menemsha had a grocer. Kevin and Liz Oliver ran the Menemsha Market for 17 years before a fire closed it in 2019. Their new store sits next door to the Fishermen's Preservation Trust building, across the street from the Iggy's Bread outpost. It carries the basics: fresh fruit and vegetables, milk, eggs, snacks and dry goods. It also serves breakfast and lunch until 2 p.m. along with baked goods. The Olivers plan to stay open year-round.

That makes it the most convenient new address up-island this November. It is also the latest piece of a longer effort to keep Menemsha a working harbor, and once you follow the money, that effort ties the store to the docks, the permits and the Community Center calendar this month.

Where the Store's Profits Go

Sarah Bernard and James Seppala bought the property in 2025 and leased the store and the lot next to it to the Fishermen's Preservation Trust. Under that deal, 30 percent of the Menemsha Store's profits go to the Trust.

The Trust is a nonprofit that works to preserve the Island's fishing fleet and the marine habitat it depends on. John Keene is its president. According to the Trust's own account of the deal, Bernard and Seppala paid $3.1 million for 10 Basin Road in 2025 and gave the Trust a 99-year lease on the former fish plant. The parcel also includes the former Menemsha Deli and a cottage. Keene was the one who contacted Kevin Oliver about bringing the market back.

Seen that way, a grocery run in Menemsha now helps pay for the fleet. Oliver told the Gazette:

"Menemsha is a fishing port first and foremost, so they really concentrate their efforts here."

He added that the store's provisions are "super important for boaters, but also for the residents as well." In the Gazette's September story, the Little Lady on the sign was still being restored. The MV Times reported in spring 2025 that the vessel had been moved to Gannon and Benjamin, with the project estimated at up to $2 million.

The $75,000 Permit That Came Back for a Dollar

The store's profits go to work that has a dollar figure on it. This August the Trust took ownership of the Island's federal groundfish permit, which the MV Times reported was appraised at about $75,000. The Nature Conservancy sold it to the Trust for one dollar.

The permit has been in limbo for more than a decade. In 2015, Greg Mayhew was about to retire his 75-foot dragger Unicorn, long a fixture on Dutcher Dock. Losing his boat would have meant losing the Island's last federal groundfish permit, and no one on the Island was in a position to buy it. Rather than sell to an off-Island buyer, he sold it to the Nature Conservancy, which partnered with the Trust, then a young organization, to hold the license until an Island fisherman could use it. He explained his reasoning to the MV Times at the time:

"I want to see fishing continue in Menemsha, so it's not just a place you go to see sailboats, but somewhere you can get fresh fish and not truck it in from somewhere else."

His nephew, Matt Mayhew, now fishes the permit from the Lady M out of Menemsha, where he targets squid and fluke. The Lady M carries an otter trawl, which makes it the only Island boat set up to use this permit. The Martha Rose, a 77-foot sea scalloper owned by Wes Brighton, already holds a federal groundfish permit of its own. The license lets the Lady M fish federal waters for cod, haddock and flounder.

The Trust keeps ownership of the permit and holds it in its permit bank, so it can stay on the Island and pass to future fishermen. Mayhew pays an annual fee to use it, and the Trust's executive director, Shelley Edmundson, told the MV Times that the fee supports the Trust's conservation and research work. The Trust describes its permit banks as an effort to secure permits in important Vineyard fisheries and keep fishermen's access.

So two sources of money now run through the Trust. One is a store selling eggs and lunch at the head of the harbor. The other is a fee paid by a fisherman working a license that almost left the Island. Both pay for the Trust's work to keep fishing permits and a working fleet in Menemsha.

Which Fish Counters Stay Open

On the waterfront this winter, the fish counters are what you will notice first. Larsen's Fish Market has closed for the season, and its website reads "Closed till May 2027."

Menemsha Fish Market lists these fall hours on its website:

• Monday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• Sunday, noon to 4 p.m.

With the Menemsha Store open until 2 p.m. and the fish market open until late afternoon, there is now a full day's worth of reasons to drive to the harbor in November. That has not been true since 2019. Breakfast and groceries in the morning and fish for dinner in the afternoon are now both available on the harbor.

November on the Chilmark Calendar

The fishing port shows up on the town calendar too. On Monday, November 16, at 8 a.m., the Chilmark Community Center will host a free, hands-on first aid and CPR course for commercial fishermen. The course listing opens with the line "Fishermen are first responders at sea" and says it teaches skills for handling emergencies offshore. Registration is through the Fishing Partnership.

The rest of the month runs out of the Chilmark Free Public Library, which keeps a weekly schedule through Thanksgiving week:

• Tuesdays: technology help and Mah Jongg
• Wednesdays: Coffee & Conversations, including November 25 from 10:30 a.m. to noon, the day before Thanksgiving
• Thursdays: knitting circle
• Fridays: toddler time

Two dated programs are worth booking now. On Saturday, November 14, from 1 to 3 p.m., Laurisa Rich will teach a fermentation class using island cranberries for relish. Registration is required, and the timing works well for anyone who wants it on the Thanksgiving table. Later that afternoon, at 4 p.m., the calendar lists a free virtual panel on Zoom, "Toward Ethical Scholarship: Stolen Land, Stories and Identities." On Saturday, November 28, Trish Ginter will lead a sound bath from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m., also with registration required.

Taken together, a November Saturday in Chilmark can include breakfast at the Menemsha Store, a relish class at the library and fish from Menemsha Fish Market before it closes at 5. The Monday that follows starts at 8 a.m. with fishermen learning CPR in the Community Center. Liz Oliver told the Gazette the store gives Menemsha "another gathering place."

For owners who spend part of the off-season up-island or keep a Chilmark property ready for the next visit, Match Point Properties keeps up with how Menemsha and Beetlebung Corner change from season to season, from which counters are open to what is new on the harbor. Request a Local Consultation and we will help you plan your time and your property around the Vineyard's quieter months.