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It began from behind the counter at The Black Dog Tavern over which the chefs served their hearty meals to the hungry patrons. Behind that counter the chefs would stow a cache of Black Dog tee-shirts.
The shirt was a simple white cotton tee, with a fairly accurate profile of "Black Dog" – the Captain’s pooch. The cooks were required to wear these. In fact, they loved wearing them. Naturally, it wasn’t long before the cooks heard “how can I get one of those?” from their favorite clientele.
Understanding the attraction for the simple, down-to-earth tee shirt, and being generous of heart, the cooks would slip one to the lucky customer who promised to treasure it and further promised to never tell how he or she had gotten it. Soon there were quite a few Black Dog’s being spotted on the waterfront. If you had one, you were one of the chosen. Nobody wanted to be left out.
Soon those folks who came from the mainland were desperate to become part of this fellowship. They needed a reminder of a simpler way of life as they returned to what the locals refer to as “America”. A few extra tee shirts were screen printed, nothing fancy or pretentious. History was being written. It was only natural it evolves to a General Store.
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| Black Dog General Store Locations | Vineyard Haven General Store
5 Water Street
Vineyard Haven, MA 02568
Tel: 508-696-8182 | The Water Street Bakery
3 Water Street
Vineyard Haven, MA 02568
Tel: 508-693-4786 | BD Gear
11 B Water Street
Vineyard Haven, MA 02568
Tel: 508-693-7381 | Whitefoot for Kids
Whitefoot Black Dog General Store
20A Beach Street
Vineyard Haven, MA 02568
Tel: 508-693-3825 | The Bakery Cafe General Store
509 State Rd.
Vineyard Haven, Ma. 02568
Tel: 508-696-8190 | Edgartown General Store
11 South Summer Street
Edgartown, MA 02539
Tel: 508-627-3360 | Dockside General Store
Dockside Marketplace
Oak Bluffs, MA 02557
Tel: 508-696-3299 | Circuit Ave Black Dog General Store
37 Circuit Avenue
Oak Bluffs, MA 02557
Tel: 508-696-9826
Fax: 508-696-9824 | Falmouth Black Dog General Store
214 Main Street
Falmouth, MA 02540
Tel: 508-495-6000
Fax: 508.495.6467 | Provincetown Black Dog General Store
229 Commercial St
Provincetown, MA 02657
Tel: 508-487-8776
Fax: 508-487-3859 | | New Locations! | Newport Rhode Island
Newport Black Dog General Store
33 Bannister's Wharf
Newport, RI 02840
Tel: 401-842-0339
Fax: 401-842-0338 | Chatham MA
Chatham General Store
628 Main St.
Chatham, MA 02633
Tel: 508 945-3026
Fax: 508 945-2597 | Would you like us to send you a Catalog? | The Black Dog Catalog
c/o Pro Source
154 Campanelli Drive
Middleboro, MA 02346
800-626-1991 |
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The Black Dog campus is located on the island of Martha’s Vineyard, in the town of Vineyard Haven. If you are arriving by foot, bicycle or car, we are located off Five Corners. Our stores abut the Steamship Authority’s parking lot. If you come by ferry, disembark and walk due southeast (left for you landlubbers) about 100 yards.
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The Black Dog Water Street Bakery is the first building southeast of the parking lot on Water Street. There are benches in front and a green and white awning over them.
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Our new BD Gear store, which carries adult nautically-inspired clothing, is one door further down on Water Street. It is located in the Five Corners Shipyard Building (the old cement garage). You can view part of Captain Bob’s wooden boat collection in that same building through the large open garage doors. It was the shipyard where Alabama, McNab, Shenandoah had many of their wooden parts handcrafted. A flag, a bench and wooden barrels filled with daisies and petunias mark the entrance.
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To enter the main campus once you leave the Steamship Authority parking lot, turn left between the wooden stockade fence and the ivy-covered red Bakery building. The macadam stops there and white and grey crushed quahog shells now line the lane which leads you to the General Store. It was our first retail site, established in 1993. Its front doors are opened wide to welcome you. The General Store has set the style and standard for our newer locations. It is open year-round.
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The next stop on your stroll is the grey-shingled building which we call Whitefoot – our kid’s store. The space between it and the General Store houses a rowing skiff and oars, safely docked alongside the store, and two parrots, Charlie-bird, and Cuckoo the Captain’s parrots. The idea is to give kids something interesting and fun to entertain them while you browse inside. Whitefoot is our most colorful store. The tee shirts, sweatshirts, dresses, hats and jackets are all designed to be mixed and matched. Rosa rugosa (beach roses) and hollyhocks add summer color, as do the riotous window boxes.
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The garden signposts point you to the red brick path which takes you east to the beach. Go around our country garden and the Tavern is on your left. If it is a weekend, the Black Dog tall ships can be seen from the wharf. They are the large majestic ships that are flying the American flag and the Douglas house flag at their masthead. Their name flags and the Black Dog flag fly from the rigging.
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If you’re bound up-Island, you will find our Bakery Café location one mile west of Vineyard Haven center. A dark green train, of 1914 vintage sits on its tracks in front of the Café. This is where all of our delicious and tantalizing bakery products are made. The coffee pot is always on, and the donuts are always fresh, and you can always get that Black Dog clothing item you forgot to pick up downtown.
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Our Edgartown Store is on South Summer Street. Main Street runs through the center of town. Go down Main, which is a one-way street until you see the Town Hall, a white clapboard building on your right. Take your next right and the General Store is two buildings down on your left. It is a cozy store, filled to the brim with enticing Black Dog items. There is a bench outside from which to watch the passing parade of shoppers. It is de rigueur to make shopping here part of your Edgartown experience. More people pass through this store than any of our others.
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Oak Bluffs (not Oaks Bluff) is the location of two Black Dog enterprises. Dockside General Store is on the docks on Oak Bluffs harbor. Coming from the Steamship Authority, disembark, put the ocean on your back and walk straight ahead. It is a short walk to the Strand movie theatre, where you will turn right. Dockside Marketplace, about 200 yards ahead, is the fourth building down on your left. There is a Black Dog sign at the entrance. Go in, walk past the ice cream store, if you can, and we are on your left. From Hy-Line, Island Queen or Fast Ferry, disembark, walk down the boardwalk about 50 feet, past the fresh air bars, and there we are. The main shopping area is Circuit Avenue. Halfway up that road, easy walking – about five minutes – is our Circuit Avenue General Store. It is across the street from Reliable Market.
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Perhaps a nor’easter or thick fog has forced the Steamship Authority to cancel a trip and you can’t get to the Vineyard. Take a whiff on your pipe and relax. For the first time in thirty years, you can buy our quality line of products on the “mainland”. Falmouth, our largest store, area-wise, is located at 214 Main Street. The famous Black Dog herself was born in Falmouth in 1967, so it was no surprise that we should choose that town for our first off-island site. Provincetown, a classic New England fishing village, has been a summer destination for as long as folks can remember. It is located at the very tip of Cape Cod, to get there cross the canal, get on Route 6A and go past the towns familiar to those who love this salty, windswept area: Eastham and Sandwich, Wellfleet and Orleans, and the tiny sand-dune town of Truro. Finally you come to the town where the Pilgrims made their first landfall - Provincetown. The Black Dog General Store at 229 Commercial Street is a short walking distance from the wharves, and smack-dab in the middle of the parade of fabulous, free-spirited and funky folks who call this home or who come to visit.
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General Stores