Good to Know
The beach is operated by the town of Chilmark and a parking pass is required to access the beach during the season.
Some of Chilmark's most exceptional beaches are private which means you cannot access them in the summer months without a town issued beach pass. If you are fortunate enough to be a town resident, or staying in a home with a beach pass, Lucy Vincent Beach is an iconic beach just past the Allen Farm on South Road. Lucy Vincent is known for the dramatic sand and gravel formations that pepper its landscape, which have shifted dramatically over the years due to coastal erosion. Lucy Vincent Beach is a photographer's paradise and you'll find plenty of tripods set up at sunrise eager to catch the magic of the sky here in the early morning.
Lucy Vincent Beach has been a town beach for almost fifty years, but prior to the establishment of a town beach access, this legendary beach was technically private property. For nearly thirty years prior access was only available by crossing through a woman's yard onto the beach. Though the story goes that some had asked for permission over the years, most visitors would simply run past her house to get down to the beach. Three years after her passing the town of Chilmark opened the beach to town residents and named the beach after the woman who watched over it for most of her life, Lucy Vincent.
There is a section of this beach that is famously clothing-optional. Legend has it that Ms. Vincent wanted certain standards maintained on her beach, and nudity was not up to her standards, some believe that the tradition of disrobing on this beach harkens back to the free wheeling attitude of those that visited the beach before it was public.
