‘Jaws’ Exhibit Breaks Martha’s Vineyard Museum Visitation Records

It was a record-breaking summer for the Martha's Vineyard Museum. "Jaws at 50: A Deeper Dive," an exhibit commemorating the 50th anniversary of the film, attracted more than 20,000 visitors worldwide, confirmed Cathy Mayone, the museum's managing director. 

The exhibit, which opened May 24, will be on display through Sunday, Sept. 7. A reduced version of the exhibition will be on display for the remainder of the year. Titled "Jaws at 50: An Island Story," this exhibit will highlight the Martha's Vineyard residents who brought the film to life by creating sets, navigating boats, and starring in the blockbuster.

This reduced exhibit opens Wednesday, Sept. 17, and will feature many of the same artifacts from the larger exhibit. These artifacts include the original head of Ben Gardner, who appears in one of the movie's jump scares.

A replica of the “Amity Island Welcomes You” billboard will remain outside the museum, along with the life-size replica of Bruce the Shark's head, which will relocate to the barn outside the museum in December.

“It's been wonderful to see everyone really connecting with both the story of Jaws and the place it was filmed,” said co-curator Kate Logue in a statement shared with The Vineyard Gazette. Both she and fellow co-curator Anna Barber believed the exhibit would resonate with visitors, but they were overwhelmed by the response from the public.

One needs only to view the guest book, where pages upon pages bear names of visitors from Illinois, Minnesota, Oklahoma, and the Virgin Islands. Some entries feature cartoon sketches of shark fins, and others bear quotes with lines from the film. 

Barber noted to The Vineyard Gazette that her favorite element of the exhibit involved an opportunity where guests could write on slips of paper and post them to a wall in response to the question “When was the first time you saw Jaws?”

“That's a part of the exhibit where people can be a part of that story...and connect with each other,” she said.