[3] After high school, he enrolled at Columbia University, where he received his B.Litt in journalism in 1918 and met his wife, Elizabeth Bowie Hough.
[5] As a wedding present, Hough received the Vineyard Gazette from his father in 1920 and ran the newspaper for 45 years with his wife.
[9] Hough was also the author of 23 books and wrote reviews and articles for The New York Times Magazine, The Saturday Evening Post, and Esquire.
[1][6] His reflections made him the most widely quoted country writer in the nation since William Allen White, while subscribers of the newspaper grew from 600 to 13,000 at his death.
[3] He was friends with many celebrities who summered on the island, including actress Katharine Cornell, writers William Styron and Thornton Wilder, artist Thomas Hart Benton, and activist Roger Nash Baldwin.