Luxurious Captain's Mansion - Waterfront, Town, & Beaches - 5 stars

About Platt Johnson

The Captain Morse House has been in our family since my father purchased it in 1955. I spent my summers at the house until I graduated from Tufts University. In 1973 I started Island Sports, a boat rigging and windsurfing shop. I expanded it to Newport RI in 1979 and ran it there until 2007 when we sold it. In 2008 I entered the vacation business and converted the Captain Morse House into a successful vacation rental. Since 2008 we have rented the home to over 200 families and groups. Our most recent project is Vacation Rental MV. This is a full-service vacation management business designed to assist busy homeowners with listing and managing their on-island rental properties. 2021 will be our second season in business. In the winter my wife and I live in Florida. Each spring we drive up to the island where we open up the house and prepare it for the season. We spend about a month doing this and then travel to Oregon where we spend the summer windsurfing, kitesurfing, and enjoying all that the Northwest has to offer. In the fall we return to the island and help close the house and prepare it for the winter. There are always jobs to do on a house this large and so this allows us more hands-on time. In the late fall, we travel back down to Florida with the geese. I have built several homes and enjoy the challenge of maintaining this old house and of creating wonderful living spaces suitable for large or small numbers of guests. Due to my long time on the island. I can help to plan your vacation. I can provide you the best possible service if we communicate via telephone or email. Our guests aren't clients so much as they are friends assisting us in maintaining the property and keeping it in our family for future generations. The vacation rental business has allowed our family to continue to own the house and to share it with other people that love the island and the unique architecture and heritage of this wonderful building.

Platt Johnson purchased this House in 1955

Why Platt Johnson chose Edgartown

My father often visited Edgartown on his father's sailboat, the Gertrude. In 1955 my parents purchased the Captain Morse House in order to have a summer home to raise their growing family. Back in 1955 Edgartown was still a failed whaling town without the top reputation it now enjoys. Shortly after the purchase they added a separate kitchen and changed the house so that they could divide it into wings. This allowed them to rent them out separately. We have kept this configuration and you can still rent out the home Complete or as an East Wing or as a West Wing. and I then spent every summer there until I moved to Newport Rhode Island in 1979. I continued to visit my parents each summer until 2007. I now spend as much time as I can on the island attending to the house and maintaining it. When it was built in 1840 it was perhaps the best home in Edgartown. Now movie stars and celebrities have built larger homes but non with the style and class of the Captain Morse House.

What makes this House unique

There are lots of modern and redone houses around but there are very few of these homes. Built in 1840 and filled with charm and character you will be enthralled by the beauty and simplicity of the home and it's surroundings. Our guests say this is the perfect location. You are close to town and right up from the harbor. Park the car for the week or leave it on the mainland. Our location allows for freedom from car pooling and shuttles. Everything is literally a walk away. We love walking down Morse Street to the boatyard to see what's happening on the waterfront and to talk to the boaters and fisherman. The large open home offers privacy and retreat no matter how many people fill the house. The large backyard can serve as a base for quiet afternoons as well as an evening party. The restaurants and shops are all an easy walk away but it is the waterfront that is the best part of living at the Captain Morse House. After all - it is a whaling Captain's home