Plans are in motion to replace a plaque reported stolen from the Martha’s Vineyard African-American Heritage Trail earlier this month, thanks to an anonymous Chilmark resident who covered the $1,000 cost.
The missing plaque at Great Rock Bight Preserve honored Rebecca Amos, a formerly enslaved woman who died there on land that she owned.
The Chilmark donor preferred to remain anonymous, but said that they are concerned about the importance of recognizing African-American history and its impact on Martha’s Vineyard.
Elaine Weintraub, executive director of the Heritage Trail, says they have received many messages expressing shock over the plaque’s disappearance as well as an outpouring of support. And she’s thankful for the support from the anonymous donor.
“Sometimes it seems that the way the community has rallied around us to make sure that we not only get our plaque back — but we also get our statue for Rebecca — has been such an honor to Rebecca,” she said.
The Heritage Trail expects to receive the new plaque in six weeks and before holding a ceremony sometime in June. Aside from a black background behind the new plaque’s text, it will be just the same as the one before.
Weintraub says they also plan to honor Amos with a statue by sculptor Barney Zeitz, to be unveiled at Native Earth Teaching Farm in Chilmark by the end of the year. Plans for this statue were in the works before the plaque disappeared.
This statue’s GoFundMe page, with its goal of $12,000, currently stands at $2,335 donated. Weintraub says that this funding, along with a $3,500 pledge from the Martha’s Vineyard cultural council and the multiple private donations, would total about $9,500.
She said that the heritage trail received 26 donations toward replacing the plaque after it was reported stolen. With the latest anonymous donation funding the plaque, Weintraub plans to confirm whether the others would like their donations to support the statue instead.
Weintraub also hopes to enlist students from the Martha’s Vineyard Public Charter School for landscaping around the plaque. “It needs something growing around it,” she says.
And they are looking into insuring all of their sites going forward, an idea that she first considered following the plaque’s disappearance. Weintraub adds that a heritage trail board member suggested putting solar-powered lights near the site to deter any future vandals.
