When they filmed Jaws, on Martha’s Vineyard

Posted on June 20, 2025 by Sandra Hutchinson | Leave a comment

by Sandra Hutchinson

The blockbuster film Jaws, was released on June 20, 1975, fifty years ago today. I’m reposting here the article I wrote in 2023 about the filming of the movie on Martha’s Vineyard in 1974.

In the spring of 1974, a young 27-year-old director named Steven Spielberg began filming Jaws on the Massachusetts island of Martha’s Vineyard. Universal Studios had recently bought film rights to Peter Benchley’s not-yet-released thriller about a killer great white shark that terrorizes the fictional New England Amity Island.

The Martha’s Vineyard Museum, in Vineyard Haven, is currently hosting a “mini-exhibit” on the filming of Jaws, on display until March 24, 2024. I had a chance to visit in August, 2023. Here are some highlights.

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When they filmed Jaws, on Martha’s Vineyard

Posted on September 5, 2023 by Sandra Hutchinson | 12 Comments

by Sandra Hutchinson

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Missing Martha’s Vineyard

Posted on July 30, 2020 by Sandra Hutchinson | 8 Comments

by Sandra Hutchinson

For nearly 35 years my closest friend from childhood, who now lives in New York State’s Dutchess County, has rented a place on the Massachusetts island of Martha’s Vineyard for an August getaway. She has been generous in her invitations to me to stay with her, and I’ve been blessed to spend time there. This summer, 2020, because of the Covid-19 pandemic, all of her plans, and mine, were cancelled because of concerns of being in crowded spaces in a place that attracts visitors from across the world.