Here All Year: Dave Vaughan of Shiretown Meats

Dave Vaughan has owned and operated in Edgartown for over 30 years. Their motto is: Always Pleased to Meet You, Always Meat to Please You. Shiretown is an old fashioned butcher shop with everything from Prime Rib to Osso Bucco to homemade venison sausage. And Vaughan is always ready to find you exactly what you're looking for, be it hog casings or a whole hog.

Shiretown offers a special they call "Meat for a Week." For $60 you can get such offerings as: three pounds of pork roast, two chickens (one whole, one quartered), one pound of stewing beef, six ounces of beef patties, one Shiretown meatloaf and one pound of breakfast sausage. And there is a new combination every week. Not a bad deal considering all of Shiretown’s meats have no hormones, no antibiotics, are fed100% vegetarian diet, and were humanely raised and handled.

Vaughan gladly agreed to take some time out from handling turkey orders for Thanksgiving to talk about living on Martha’s Vineyard.

Martha’s Vineyard Patch: How long have you lived on Martha’s Vineyard?

Vaughan: Since 1966, as a matter of fact, I was the first meat cutter at the A&P when they moved over here from Main Strret. Back then, I worked both stores because there was never that much business in either store, that’s how much we have evolved…wait, did I just give away my age?

Martha’s Vineyard Patch: What’s favorite thing to do in the off-season?

Vaughan: I go skiing every winter, my wife and I - my bride of 40 years, and then we go down South somewhere.

Martha's Vineyard Patch: What is your favorite thing to do in the summer?

Vaughan: Well, I pretty much just cut meat all summer. I do take care of my lawn, we are closed on Sundays, and so that’s when I mow my lawn. I don’t think I’ve gone to beach since 1955 without a fishing pole. I do make it a point to drive the beach road to work instead of the back road, but that’s about as close as I get.

Martha's Vineyard Patch: What is the hardest thing about living here year round?

Vaughan: I don’t know if there is a hard thing for me. I think I’m in paradise and so does my wife. Nothing bothers me about living here year round. I love what I do and I love it here. You know, there’s this big uprising with this roundabout, and people saying we need it because of the traffic - for cripes sakes we’re talking two months of the year. If you can’t grin and bear traffic two months of the year, go somewhere else – you’ll get traffic 12 months of the year. I guess there’s nobody left with common sense. Thomas Paine was the last one.

Martha's Vineyard Patch: What is the best thing about living here year round?

Vaughan: I just love being here. I like the peacefulness and the community. It’s a lot tougher in a lot of other places. One thing, anyone who comes here from off island should disconnect the horns in their cars. You’re here; you’ve only got 22 some miles that you can go, what’s the rush? Maybe the Steamship should start disconnecting horns when they get off ferry or something.

“Here All Year” is a series where we catch up with a living, breathing, working Islander and talk about what year-round living is like. If you know someone you'd like to see profiled, send us an email.