nitially part of Edgartown, Oak
Bluffs was once known as the Cottage City of America. Soon church folk from all
over the country gathered here for the Martha's Vineyard Camp Meeting. They came
to preach, pray, reflect and repent in a spirit of religious fervor. As stores,
hotels and larger homes sprang up around Cottage City, it developed into a
seaside resort. Oak Bluffs is a relatively young town, by Island standards, and
since its economy had more to do with recreation than with the time-honored
whaling or shipping trades of Edgartown and Vineyard Haven, it evolved with a
much more frivolous, light-hearted air. Instead of serviceable, weather-hardy
salt-boxes or dignified captains' houses, Oak Bluffs filled with frilly, even
gaudy, multicolored gingerbread cottages, unwinterized "wooden tents"
erected to replace the earlier Methodists' canvas ones. Oak Bluffs businesses
also leaned toward pure entertainment, there were theaters, a giant roller
skating rink, hotels, and a carousel (still in operation). Before the turn of
the century, townsfolk were feeling their own needs, separate from Edgartown so
community leaders began agitating for separation. In 1880, they broke away and
named the town Cottage City. In 1907 they renamed it as Oak Bluffs. As the
Vineyard's first summer resort, Oak Bluffs fostered a vacation economy that soon
spread throughout the Island to replace the disappearing whaling economy.
1.
CIRCUIT AVENUE.
Always the business center of town, it was named for the "circuit"
many of the Camp Ground's preachers rode. The Oak Bluffs Land & Wharf
Company laid out most of the town and named it. Their first commercial building,
the Arcade, is halfway up on the right side. {top
of page}
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2.
CAMP GROUND.
Late 1800s, summer residences.
Entrance to the famous Martha's Vineyard Camp Meeting Grounds. Original
owners modeled their cottages after the Victorian styles popular in Newport, but
added unique Revival elements, especially filigree trim. The result was the "Carpenter's
Gothic" style. {top of page}
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3.
TABERNACLE AT TRINITY PARK.
1879, open-air auditorium.
Originally designed to be built of wood, the Tabernacle, one hundred feet
high, 130 feet across, and seating more than 3,000, was built with wrought iron
and replaced a one-ton tent. On Illumination Night, each August, hundreds of
Japanese lanterns decorate the Tabernacle and the eaves of surrounding cottages.
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4.
THE LAWTON COTTAGE.
Number 70.
Said to be the first family cottage to replace a tent, it was
prefabricated, shipped from Rhode Island, and assembled on the site.
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5.
COTTAGE MUSEUM.
A chance to see the inside of one of the gingerbread cottages. The
public is invited to see exhibits that show how cottages were furnished for the
past 100 years -- with rocking chairs, Bibles, hooked rugs, quilts and
historical bric-a-brac. Located at 1 Trinity Park, open Monday-Saturday, 10:30
am to 3:30 pm. {top of page}
6.
THE ARK.
Owned by Governor William Sprague of Rhode Island during the Civil War,
this cottage was the most expensive one to build, costing $3,500. The name comes
from its large size and from the rain water which sometimes surrounds it.
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7.
TALL TIMBERS.
This gray three-story cottage has long, one-piece pine boards that run
the height of the house and form the principal support for the upper two
stories. {top of page}
8.
NUMBER 17.
Situated on Commonwealth Avenue, this cottage features a hunter and his
dog pursuing a rabbit in its gingerbread woodwork. The new steam-driven tools of
the late 1800s made detailed woodwork possible. {top
of page}
9.
WESLEY HOTEL.
1879, commercial.
Built by A.G. Wesley for the sum of $18,000, the hotel prospered until a
November 1894 fire. Three days later, A.G. confessed to arson. He wanted to
build "an even larger, more creditable hotel for the community." The
hotel rehired A.G. as a cook after he served three years in jail. This sole
survivor of the large hotels so prominent in Cottage City's heyday was remodeled
in 1986. {top of page}
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10.
OAK BLUFFS HARBOR.
Once a swampy, landlocked pond called Lake Anthony, this harbor was
opened up to the ocean at the turn of the century. Now it holds as many as 5,000
boats snug and safe during the entire summer. The boardwalk still hustles with
little shops as in bygone days. {top of page}
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11.
FLYING HORSES.
1876, operating museum.
The oldest operating platform carousel in the country is registered as a
National Historical Landmark. There are twenty-two wooden horses with real horse
hair. {top of page}
12.
CIVIL WAR MEMORIAL STATUE.
1892.
Gift of Charles Strahan, who served in the Confederate Army and was editor
of the now-defunct Martha's Vineyard Herald, which was printed in Oak Bluffs. In
1980, the town re-painted the statue. The statue clearly is of a Union soldier;
U.S. is stamped on his kit. But the re-painting in Confederate gray honors
Strahan's memory. {top of page}
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13.
OCEAN PARK GAZEBO.
Showplace seven-acre park. The annual fireworks and summer band concert
are held here. The houses reflect the more affluent families in their size and
style, Queen Anne and Gothic Revival. Mindful of public spaces, the densely
housed folk of Oak Bluffs set aside an abundance of little parks.
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14.
DR. TUCKER'S COTTAGE.
1872, summer residence.
Built by a patent medicine king known for his hospitality. His diaphoretic
compound Number 59 was sold across the country. President Grant once watched
fireworks in Ocean Park from his balcony. {top
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15.
HARTFORD PARK.
The Consecrated Tree, an old, gnarled, dried-up cedar set in cement and
dedicated with a plaque, has been a place of worship since 1849. The plaque on
this natural free sculpture tells the tree's story. Nathaniel Hawthorne mentions
a prayer service held here in My Kinsman Major Molineaux. {top of page}
16.
COTTAGER'S CORNER.
Once the town hall, this is now the office of Cottagers Inc., which
supports a number of Island charities. Many "friends of" organizations
such as this one channel the goodwill of civic-minded Vineyarders toward worthy
causes. {top of page}
17.
UNION CHAPEL.
1872, nondenominational church.
Designed by noted architect Samuel F. Pratt, this octagonal, acoustically
sound chapel with its three-tiered roof and four doors was the site of secession
meetings when the town debated breaking away from Edgartown. Concerts are held
here in summer. {top of page}
A Walking Tour of OAK BLUFFS
HE SEEDS OF
OAK BLUFFS SPROUTED
in August 1835 from a handful of tents pitched amid a grove of oak trees
for a week of spiritual rejuvenation. By 1880, this Methodist revival meeting in
the Camp Ground had grown into a summer city of a thousand wood frame tents and
cottages.
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