Dr. and Mrs. John O’Connor are newcomers at the inn this week. Also staying at the inn are Mr. and Mrs. Cole Blasier, Mr. and Mrs. John Reese, Mrs. Benjamin, and Mrs. Francis Dewitt Pratt and her family. The Cedars also welcomes Mrs. Stevenson, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Montaque and their family, Mrs. Eugene Carusi, and Mr. and Mrs. Sullivan.

Staying with the Conways are Mr. and Mrs. John Estes and their four children. Staying with the Chiltons is Barbara Merlin from Lake Forest, Ill. She works for Mr. and Mrs. Bobby Stinson, taking care of their two children.

Dr. and Mrs. Hugo Schwandt from Pennsylvania are staying with the Allens. Mr. Allen recently had a cocktail party with from 40 to 50 people. Lewis Hathaway, The Clam Man, was there to serve clams to the guests.

As of Tuesday, July 26, the William Cox family moved back to their West Chop home from Vineyard Haven after the Morse family moved out. Thomas Cox is now working in Edgartown at Mad MArtha’s.

Last Wednesday a Junior’s Dinner was held at the inn. The chefs prepared an Italian dinner which was enjoyed by West Chop’s younger generation.

For more than a week now, David Reese has been taking people around the Island in his sailboat.

Lately you’ve probably seen Mike Amaral and Jon Perry, our new West Chop maintenance men, either out in the hot afternoon sun painting the Casino, or up at seven o’clock in the morning doing the courts.

Staying with Mrs. Cookie Nelson, from Holy Cross College in Worcester, on Sabbatical, is the director of the Division of Theatre Art at the college, Dr. Donald W. Ilko.

Last Thursday, Friday, and Sunday the Children’s Theatre performed the play, The Haunted Attic. Among the cast were two West Chop residents. Maude Chilton had many parts, but her largest role was that of the Sorcerer. Eve Chilton was also in the play, having won a scholarship to the program through her singing.

Last week the juniors of West Chop were beaten in a tennis match against Vineyard Haven. West Chop’s score was three matches, while Vineyard Haven’s score was either truthfully forgotten or too embarrassingly high to remember.

On Monday, Dana Stinson had her ninth birthday party. Because of the wind and rain, the 20 or more guests moved inside. They all played games and ate dinner, and for dessert, there was an incredibly large cake prepared by the Cedars’ pastry chef.

On Saturday, July 23, before the dance, David Doran held his tenth birthday party. About 20 young guests attended the party and enjoyed the turkey dinner. Meanwhile, all the parents were at Mr. and Mrs. Tommy Urmstons’ for cocktails. Afterwards, parents and children went to the Casino and danced to the music of Ralph Stuart (as usual) until 11:30.

The next morning, the Sunday Service was presented by John Nelson. After the service, while the men ran as fast as they could toward the courts, all the children 15 and under were photographed for the annual West Chop picture.

During the picture there was a lot of commotion at the flagpole. It seemed that the day before Stokley Towles Jr., who works as a bellboy at the inn with Peter Conway, started to raise the flag when he noticed that the very old pulley had fallen out of the top of the flagpole. The telephone company was called and a truck with a lift came. The first time it tried, the lift couldn’t reach the flagpole, so the fence was removed, the truck backed up, they inserted the pulley, and Peter then raised the flag.

Sunday night at 7:15, the teenagers of West Chop assembled at J.J. McElroy’s house. J.J. and Steve Morse had asked everyone there for a treasure hunt. The people were split into four teams, and were given beginning clues, such as:

Vestiges of empires of hopes and joys,

Left in the square by now sleeping boys.

Your castle now crumbling into sand,

Cloven is mine by your vengeful hand.

This led the searchers to the sandbox in the playground. The four teams went from one clue to the next until Bobby Conway’s team found the buried treasure at Big Pier. It was Coca Cola and other beverages. The hunt finished at 9 p.m., and everyone then went to the Casino to see Mr. and Mrs. Froelichers’ slide show, The History of West Chop ‘75-’76, in which there were slides of people and scenes around the Chop. Everyone watched the slides while Bobby Conway and his team drank their new-found treasure.