As there are now so many ways to communicate, we’re trying out various formats to develop conversations with those who are interested in TBH as well as those interested in ‘green building’ and regenerating old buildings in general. A bit of gardening may slip in occasionally although our plans for growing food for guests (other than some basic herbs and maybe a few tomatoes) every summer will have to wait a bit longer. So this is our first newsletter which will also be posted on the TBH Facebook site and the TBH website.

new

ss

sp

rin

g 2

01

0..

..

...the place to be yourself on Marthaʼs Vineyard

Remembering 2009The windows were flung open, beds were made, the water and electricity turned on and the first guests arrived for the 86th season at Tashmoo Boarding House. Continuing its long tradition of summer boarding residency, 324 Main Street once again saw a great mix of wonderful people. There were new friendships and many tales to be told about the Island as guests made it their home. For us, in our first season since taking over the house, our

guests made all our efforts to revitalise the boarding tradition even more worthwhile. As we were to learn, Tashmoo is made special by the rare combination of chance meetings and conversations in the shared kitchen or living rooms and the space for individual peace and relaxation.

New for this season

While total renovation is a few years off, we’re planning some significant improvements for 2010. These include:

· Installation of an outdoor shower· A live in cleaner to assist Jamie and Justin, who are returning as house

managers. This position has not yet been filled so please let us know if you know of anyone who might be interested

· Bedroom 3 (room with seven windows) will now have a king-size bed instead of a single. This means Bedrooms 2 and 3 can now become a family suite if needed

· Trialling compact refrigerators in two bedrooms

To simplify the charging structure we now have just two rates, $80/night for a single room and $100/night for double rooms. And, to make life simpler for all of us, we can now accept credit cards!

After working with the excellent people at South Mountain last year to stabilise the house and put in essential services like the new septic system, underground electric and telephone supply cables and a new electr ic panel, our f irst step in regenerating the house was to have architectural plans drawn up of the building as it is now. Local architects Sullivan & O’Connor have mapped out the entire building from roof to basement so we can begin to understand the historic structure – it dates from 1900 - and work out ways of keeping as much of the building’s original fabric while making it work as a high performance, 21st century ‘green’ building which can be enjoyed by many generations to come. Embracing the sustainable philosophy is something we are passionate about and we’d like to make the property a model which will inspire guests to see the possibilities for their own homes.

Next steps this year include renovating as many of the stone bedroom windows as possible. Most of these are the original sash windows, the ones in Bedrooms 4 and 5 on the north side of the house quite possibly date from 1900 and have the original glass.

Expert island woodworker Jerry Allen is taking them out one by one and cleaning, repairing where necessary and re-cording. He's using linseed oil and we will be painting them as soon as the weather allows with linseed oil paint, which should last far longer than modern paints and help keep

these fine windows working for another hundred years or so. The process is quite time-consuming but far more environmentally friendly than using modern paints. Jerry described the process to us and took the pictures: “The boiled linseed oil really soaked into the frames, in places as fast as I could put it on, so I put on several coats. It's on the outside of the frames that it soaked in to

Revised room rates and credit cards

Plans for the future

This year’s project

so readily, the top sash more than the bottom. By the end of the day it slowed and I left the shop with a glossy coat of wet linseed oil on the wood. I'm sure it will be dry by morning. “I built myself a boat last year and I followed the old boatbuilders’ method of raw linseed oil thinned 50% with mineral spirits applied at a coat an hour until it wouldn't soak in any more, then a coat a day until it

wouldn't soak in any more, and then a coat a week until it wouldn't soak in any more. It wasn't a hurried job as you can see. At that point I wiped off any excess and then applied a couple of coats of boiled linseed oil with a drop of Japan dried added. Raw linseed oil doesn't dry. And to the linseed oil I added pine tar as a natural mildewcide.”

Instead of having numbers for the seven guest bedrooms, we are trying to come up with names that are meaningful and help us more readily identify which rooms repeat guests would like but are not trite or twee – any suggestions would be most welcome.

Tashmoo Boarding House will be open from May 30th through October 3rd inclusive this year

We are delighted that we already have the entire house booked out for a long weekend in June and numerous other rooms booked out for various parts of the summer to repeat guests. We hope you will be among the guests this year – please do book as soon as you can to ensure there is a room for you. All very best wishes, Roger and Elizabeth Hunt

Your thoughts?

2010 bookings