Amity Island: One fan's pilgrimage to 'Jaws' shooting location Martha's Vineyard

My memory of seeing Jaws for the first time is ‘sketchy’ at best. From what I can remember, I couldn’t have been older than four years old. I was with my folks visiting their friend’s house, and Jaws happened to be on in the background. It was coming up to the bit where Quint gets eaten, and when it happened, I remember being both horrified and awestruck at the same time! 

At that precise moment, Great White Sharks instantly became my favourite animal. It was the “coolest” looking creature I’d ever seen, and the fact it was capable of that level of destruction (even though I would come to learn later in life the truth about Great Whites in various documentaries) just made it even more appealing! As far as the film was concerned, even at that young age, I knew I had found my favourite flick! Although later in life I would come to appreciate the finer details that make it (in my humble opinion) the perfect film (acting, music, the way it was shot etc).

Fast forward thirty odd-years, I finally achieved something I had always wanted to do, visit ‘Amity Island,’ A.K.A Martha’s Vineyard.

After the flight from London to Boston Logan Airport, I had to drive from downtown Boston over to a place called Falmouth (about and hour and a half drive) which is located in Cape Cod (where Hooper had his boat destroyed by a four-and-a-half-foot baby Thresher shark when he was fishing!) and had to get the ferry from a place called Woods Hole (yes I did drive by the Oceanographic Institute, but didn’t stop to check to see if Mr. Hooper was working that day!).

The ferry journey was only around 40-45 minutes, unfortunately the heavens opened up and it started pouring with rain, but even that wasn’t about to dampen my spirits! I was proudly wearing my Jaws ‘Three Barrels’ t-shirt (courtesy of lastexittonowhere.com) and my shark socks to get in the spirit of the occasion! 

We anchored up at a place called Vineyard Haven (which being a fan of rock music, I nicknamed Van Halen!) when I stepped off the ferry (thankfully) the rain had stopped and instantly, John Williams’ immortal soundtrack started playing in my head and I was officially in ‘Amity Island.’ 

I had typed up a ‘check list’ with every filming location I could think of, and the specific address (if I knew it) and proceeded to start my trek around the island (which is a lot bigger than I thought it was) ‘ticking off’ the locations as I visited them. 

Martha’s Vineyard has a very good bus service, it only costs 10 dollars to hop on and off the buses all day until midnight! So, no need for a car. The bus drivers are also very cool in the fact that if you need to be dropped off at a specific location (providing it’s not too far out of the way) they’ll happily drop you off. So as you probably know, I think I drove the bus drivers nuts asking them to drop me off at Jaws shooting locations!

First stop was Edgartown, where a fair chunk of locations were used for shooting, these included the Edgartown City Hall (Amity Town Hall) where I of course went into and took pictures of the corridor where the characters walk through whilst discussing what’s going to happen about the Alex Kitner attack. As well as the desk (yes, it’s still the original desk) where Chief Brody is asked if the $3000 bounty on the shark is in cash or cheque! I actually got a little emotional when I walked in there, I sat myself in one of the chairs and imagined myself to be one of the citizens of Amity. I could not believe I was sitting in this historical place! 

Whilst in Edgartown, I also visited the buildings that were used for the Amity Police Department, the coroners office, and one of the buildings that Mayor Vaughn steps out of. Also in Edgartown was the Edgartown National Bank, which was of course Amity Bank in the movie, the sign used for the bank in the film is proudly on display inside. The kind staff in there were only too happy to let me come in and take a picture of it.

I also got to visit the main road where the Amity parade takes place, but I didn’t see any boy scouts in April Bay doing their mile swim for their merit badges, so it was a bit calmer that day! I also got to see the Brody Household, (265 East Chop Drive) even though the house has changed significantly. 

One of the highlights of the trip was visiting the infamous ‘Jaws Bridge,’ which is the bridge that is right in the middle of Edgartown and Oaks Bluff (or ‘O.B” as the bus drivers know it). Stepping out onto this bridge was truly overwhelming. I stood on the rocks at the side, and imagined Roy Scheider running full pelt across them, trying to warn the guy in the estuary that he was about to become fish food! I also had my picture taken on those very rocks with the bridge fully visible in the background. Even though it was extremely windy, I removed my hoodie to show off my t-shirt for the photo!

I then took a few minutes to stand and stare at the bridge and the water flowing beneath it, imagining Bruce’s fin disappearing into the shadows after his recent meal. I then proceeded to stand on the bridge and look over it, imagining Chief Brody lifting his leg up over that same bridge (whilst amazingly not ripping his trousers in the process!) whilst Ellen ran along it crying for Michael.

The only part of the trip that topped that, was meeting Jeffrey Vorhees (Alex Kintner) in The Wharf Pub in Edgartown, where he is the manager. He came out to me whilst I was tucking in to my rather lovely steak Caesar salad warp (which was receiving massive tissue loss!) and couldn’t have been nicer. He told me he still gets a cheque every time Jaws is played on the Tele, like royalties for musicians. He also told me about how Robert Shaw was nearly always drunk on set! As well as all the Jaws/shark conventions he gets invited to, and how a girl asked him to sign her collarbone so she could get it tattooed! Thankfully my request for a signed napkin wasn’t as strange, and he kindly obliged. He also had a picture taken with me and was quite impressed by my Jaws tattoo on my back! 

There is also a cool shop in Oaks Bluff that sells replica shirts of the ones the crew wore during filming, as well as having an original promo poster from the film’s premiere at the Vineyard. The lady who ran the store was a huge Jaws fan and shared a few stories with me about how Joe Alves still comes back to visit Martha’s Vineyard fairly often.

All in all, a truly wonderful trip, and Martha’s Vineyard is as lovely as the people in it. It’s easy to believe that there’s never been a shooting or a murder in this town!   

Article contributed by Dane Palmer exclusively for The Daily Jaws

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