Aquinnah Cliffs is a mile long expanse of brightly colored cliffs on the edge of the small town of Aquinnah, at the western tip of Martha's Vineyard Island.

The cliffs are composed of complex layers of gravel, sands and clays of all colors and hues that are the result of a hundred-million year-old work of nature.

The glaciers, sea and land have twisted layers of soil into colorful, waving bands that are perched above the sea.

Erosion keeps exposing layers underneath, coloring the sea red, and often revealing secrets of the past such as -fossils of great sharks, clams and crabs of the ancient sea, camels, wild horses and whales.

The Cliffs are protected today and, because of severe erosion, climbing and removing of clay is forbidden.

Aquinnah Cliffs have a bad reputation of posing great peril to seafarers and have been witness to many a shipwreck.

One of the first American revolving lighthouses was built in 1799 atop the Cliffs.

State Rd, Aquinnah, Massachusetts 02535

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