Martha's Vineyard -
The Whitney Family Vacation spot for over 100 years!
Jaws Filming on Marthas Vineyard -
Summer 1974
In July of 1974, Mom, Dad and I ventured to Martha's Vineyard for a
week of vacation. Earlier that summer,
I had read the book Jaws and was fascinated by the story. I had not
realized, however,
that filming had begun and my first surprise was to see the sign at
Antias Bridge between Oak Bluffs and Edgartown.
The sign that had read Oak Bluffs had been changed to Amity.
My first reaction was that they must have changed the name of Oak Bluffs
again (as it once was called Cottage City).
Only after I took this picture did it dawn on me thatwe had stumbled
upon the filming of Jaws,
for I saw a boat in the water and a huge shark by its side! I am still
looking for those photos, and will post when located.
For the next week, we monitored the progress of filming.
The next year, Jaws
was my first date with Peg;
we had both seen it the weekend before (but did not admit). I saw it
with my parents, Peg with another date!
Since I see that Jaws opened on Sunday, June 20, 1975, I suspect our
first date was Sunday, June 27, 1975
A few blocks from Edgartown Commons (where we were staying) was the
central office for the production of Jaws.
This also served as Chief Brody's office in the movie. Each day they
would post the schedule of shooting locations (for the extras I assume),
and
we were checking this out when I took this photo of Mom and Dad by
the front door postings.
Marthas Vineyard Family photos thru the years
Oak Bluffs Bandstand and Ocean Park
Any comments? E-mail to r.b.whitney@verizon.net