Why does it seem like presidents visit Martha's Vineyard all the time?

[Cant trust em]

I hope its really fun/nice? It seems like it's the only place the first family every visits, other than their personal compounds.

[cwydro]

1. Deep pocket donors

live there.

[Xenotime]

2. It's very secure and there is already a secure line directly to the WH

I hope he and the family get lots of rest. They have a big fight ahead when they return.

[paulsby]

3. i have relatives there.

it's a great place. easy to find isolated places for them to stay ,so it's good from a SS perspective. lots of rich and famous to hang out with, lots of powerful politicals people, etc. good surf ,too.

[HopeHoops]

4. They sneak out at night and take the limo down the turnpike to Stockbridge.

Quick stop at Alice's for a Thanksgiving dinner that can't be beat. But Alice doesn't live at the restaurant, she lives in the bell tower with her Husband Ray and Fasha the dog.

[MarjorieG]

5. Hope he has a plan to stiffle the AHIPs, etc, that are playing both sides, get a solid P.O., tied

to Medicare. First off a rest. Hope he gets time to spend with Chicago friends.

[Davis_X_Machina]

6. Clinton and Obama don't have 'compounds'...

...Clinton pre-White House didn't even have a house -- and Obama's paying for this out of pocket to the tune of $35,000.

I think the security people probably like the idea of the President vacationing on an island. Easier to watch a few ferries and a small airport than a vast network of interstates.

Camp David has been universally unpopular with recent presidents for some reason -- they even sequester foreign leaders there for negotiations and fail to let them out till they have an agreement. On the other hand, I'll let myself be 'imprisoned' on the Vineyard any day.

[cali]

8. They both had/have Camp David.

[Davis_X_Machina]

9. Yeah, but nobody likes it.

Not even President Bartlett.

O-man's got a tough job, makes less than a bullpen catcher doint it, and deserves a nice vacay. I didn't begrudge Bush his -- well, not the first couple of weeks of it, anyways.

[cali]

10. really? nobody likes it? baloney.

and sorry, if you can't have a nice vacation at a beautiful forested retreat with every amenity, well, that's ridiculous. btw, Roosevelt loved it there.

[kestrel91316]

7. As an island it has better security, inherently. Plus great beaches and sailing.

And lots of big houses.

[Kalyke]

11. Because they do.

[bdamomma]

12. it's a nice place, went there to visit once.

[Hekate]

13. The Kennedy Family Compound of Hyannis Port was established by Joseph P. Kennedy in the 1920s...

It's pretty much unique to that one family and any friends they choose to invite. No other presidential families have a "personal compound" there, afaik. Bush the Lesser certainly didn't -- he disdained the whole East Coast culture and went out to the pig farm in Crawford as often as possible.

However, wherever a president travels these days he has such an entourage of Secret Service personnel and staff members that he really must rent an entire "compound" just to house them all. President Obama has handled this quite well in both Hawai'i and Martha's Vineyard by splitting personal vacation costs with family and friends as apparently they've always done, and letting Uncle Sam pick up the tab for Secret Service and the like.

Living in California, I only know what I read about Martha's Vineyard -- but I understand it's a very nice place to visit if you are an East Coast person, and that it has a year-round population of regular folks as well.

Hekate

[SoCalDem]

14. Quiet..secluded..small "local population"

People who are not "welcome" there, probably stick out like sore thumbs, and are easily identified.
Locals are quite used to having "special guests", and have become accustomed to leaving them alone.

[Romulox]

15. To be among their ultra-wealthy patrons. nt

[rox63]

16. Martha's Vineyard is a beautiful place

Gorgeous beaches, tons of chi-chi shops and restaurants. And for security purposes, it's pretty easy to keep track of people coming and going, because there's the ferries and a very small airport, and that's it for access.