Chapeda History

By Madeleine Erdman

Had the water in Lake Champlain not been so frigid, Chapeda Hill might never have come to exist.   In the late 1920’s, CRE JR and Lucy B Erdman, the founders, wanted to have a summer getaway for the growing brood of Erdman boys.  The family had rented a cottage in upstate New York, on Lake Champlain, but the temperature of the water seriously curtailed the family’s enjoyment of water sports.

CRE JR had a friend in Princeton who summered on MV, so he and Lucy rented for several summers before purchasing in 1930, the beautiful lot which sits high on a bluff overlooking Edgartown Harbor.

In those days, the entire area was devoid of the dense vegetation that now surrounds the houses.  So recently had the fields been populated by sheep that the scrub oak and beach plums had yet to take hold. One could still see all the way to Katama road and beyond. It was in these fields that all of the older boys learned to drive and roll cars.

The house was completed in the summer of 1930. One of the carpenters working on the house was Percy West, grandfather of Joyce Erdman. CRE JR made a special concoction of tobacco and alcohol that was used to stain the wood in the living and dining rooms.

CRE JR might just as well have been referred to as the Commodore, by virtue of his veritable armada of boats, all of which were made available to the Erdman sons:
The little runabout, Chapeda, the larger Swallow and of course, the aptly named Quinta.

The small bungalow which sits on the beach opposite the boathouse was the childhood playhouse of  CRE JR  and his sister, Alice Erdman.  It was dismantled in Princeton and transported to Chapeda in the late 1930’s.

Chapeda’s unique waterfront is one of the only sand  beaches in the harbor. Originally a mosquito infested swamp, a stroke of ingenuity changed the face of Chapeda forever. How this came to be is legendary Erdman family history. In the late 1930’s  the Army Corps of Engineers was dredging Edgartown Harbor. The sand which they were moving was being pumped toward Chappaquidick.  It cost CRE JR $180 to have the sand re-directed toward Chapeda. Today’s beach value – priceless!

In the post war era, Chapeda became the hot spot for parties and feats of bravado.  Naturally, the Erdman boys led the charge, while  matriarch LBE  clung to her sanity.  Today some of the “rat pack” of Chapeda’s past can be found as pillars of the Edgartown community or haunting the Reading Room.

Chapeda approaches its eighth decade, having nurtured four generations of Erdmans.  The careful renovations over the years, from dock pillars to wireless internet, have allowed the property to retain its original look and feel without succumbing to the mansionization of the Vineyard.

Chapeda has  provided the cornerstone for four generations of the Erdman family in a unity which would make the founders smile.