Hey You Kids, Stay Off My Ancient Way

Rogers Path, one of many unpaved “ancient ways’’ that wind through the Vineyard’s woodsy interior, was used by generations of islanders to travel on foot or by cart between island settlements. A court decision last month, issued after a challenge by neighbors set off years of legal wrangling, ensures that the public may continue to use it.

Proponents said the ruling sets an important precedent, at a time of increased conflict between users of the old cart paths and residents who have built new homes beside them.

“Now that the Vineyard is more developed, and there are more houses along the edges of these paths, there are more objections,’’ said James Lengyel, executive director of the Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank Commission. “The principle at stake was, do the public rights endure, even if a contemporary neighbor doesn’t like it, and the answer is, the rights endure.’’

Before white settlers landed in the 1600s, Martha’s Vineyard was home to native Wampanoags, who may have first established some of the oldest pathways still in use on the island. The Vineyard remained sparsely populated for centuries, its paths untouched by development, but dramatic growth began in the 1970s. From 1975 to 2000, the population doubled to nearly 15,000 people, according to the Martha’s Vineyard Commission....(more)