Vineyard Haven (officially Tisbury) is the most workaday of the island's three down-island towns: the year-round ferry from Woods Hole arrives here, the supermarket is here, the hardware shops are here. It is where the islanders go when they need things, and the harbour is full of working boats as well as yachts.
Main Street has a few good independent bookshops (Bunch of Grapes is the best) and a clutch of small restaurants. The Black Dog Tavern by the harbour, whose silhouette logo became one of the most copied T-shirt designs of the 1990s, is worth a look. Vineyard Haven is also dry — a 1930s prohibition that still applies — so order your wine before crossing into Oak Bluffs.