What to know about a judge's decision in battle over a piece of land on Martha's Vineyard

Asad Jung, Cape Cod Times
·2 min read

Dukes County Superior Court Judge Janet Sanders denied a motion to reconsider her decision that a 5.7-acre parcel of land in Aquinnah on Martha’s Vineyard belongs to the Vineyard Conservation Society, not members of the Devine family whose ancestors once owned the land.

The family plans to file an appeal regarding the denial of the motion, said Tanisha Gomes, one of the 19 individuals seeking the judge's change of mind, in an email to the Times.

On. Oct 24, Sanders decided the land belongs to the Vineyard Conservation Society. The decision goes back to a complaint filed by the society in 2017.

Troy Small, who has been studying the Aquinnah land case, is a member of the Devine family whose ancestors once owned the land.
Troy Small, who has been studying the Aquinnah land case, is a member of the Devine family whose ancestors once owned the land.

The parcel of land, known as Lot 240, was once owned by a Louisa Pocknett, a member of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah), who died in 1874. The society claimed ownership of the parcel through two chains of title, though one of them was considered invalid, Jonathon Polloni, an attorney for the Devine family, told the Times earlier in November.

More:5.7 acres in Aquinnah, a Kennedy donation, a Wampanoag ancestor all part of court case

The chain of title Sanders accepted was a 1945 deed that transferred the land from Louisa Pocknett’s grandson, Horace Devine, to real estate mogul Henry Cronig. The deed contained broad language that transferred all of Horace Devine’s land in Aquinnah to Cronig, but did not specify Lot 240. Since 1945, the deed to the land has changed hands many times, eventually being held by the Kennedy family. Caroline Kennedy and her husband Edwin Schlossberg donated the land to the Vineyard Conservation Society in 2013.

The Devine family claimed ownership through an 1870 deed to the land that was held by Pocknett.

Tanisha Gomes told the Times earlier in November that the land was never legally sold and is listed on the town of Aquinnah’s Board of Assessor’s website under her family’s name. They also argue that the broad language in the 1945 deed that transferred land from Horace Devine is up for interpretation.

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Vineyard Conservation Society vs Devine family: What a judge decided