The Seal of the Martha’s Vineyard Garden Club
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The Martha’s Vineyard Garden Club seal is the historic seal of Dukes County, adopted only a few years after the Island’s early settlement. Edgartown records from 1655 note: “the common seale of this place shall be a bunch of grapes.”
The earliest surviving image of the seal appears in manuscripts housed at the Library of Congress, known as the “Athern Mss.” These original legal drafts, prepared by James and Jabez Athern in their roles as Justices of the Peace and Clerk of the Courts on Martha’s Vineyard, date to 1722. Remarkably, the seal shown in these documents is identical to our former club logo.
We are proud to carry forward this emblem with such deep Island roots. Though the seal might have been claimed by others, we are fortunate to have preserved it as a symbol of the Martha’s Vineyard Garden Club.
The earliest surviving image of the seal appears in manuscripts housed at the Library of Congress, known as the “Athern Mss.” These original legal drafts, prepared by James and Jabez Athern in their roles as Justices of the Peace and Clerk of the Courts on Martha’s Vineyard, date to 1722. Remarkably, the seal shown in these documents is identical to our former club logo.
We are proud to carry forward this emblem with such deep Island roots. Though the seal might have been claimed by others, we are fortunate to have preserved it as a symbol of the Martha’s Vineyard Garden Club.