Oak Bluffs is the part of the Vineyard that I call home and perhaps its liveliest town. In the summer, it’s the place where day-trippers who arrive on a Hy-Line ferry or on the Island Queen get their first glimpse of the island, as they walk a gauntlet of restaurants along the edge of the harbor on their way to Circuit Avenue.
I have always felt that this spot owes its special summer bustle to its long history as a resort. In 1835, as Wesleyan Grove, the area was the site of the annual Methodist camp meetings. By the 1870s, the revival movement had grown, and Wesleyan Grove, then named Cottage City, had become popular enough that crowds of thirty thousand attended the Grand Illumination that marked—and still marks—summer’s end. The pious, though, were subjected to an increasing number of distractions, including sea bathing, croquet, and, after 1876, rides on the Flying Horses Carousel, the country’s oldest continuously operated merry-go-round. The revival tents gradually were transformed into carpenter gothic Victorian cottages with lacy gingerbread trim, and the community moved from sacred to secular.
The Methodist Campground at the center of town recalls the past and is a photographer’s delight. Other visitors enjoy more contemporary pleasures: the beaches, including the Inkwell; the shops on Circuit Avenue; and the numerous restaurants, plain and fancy.
Oak Bluffs is also home to one of the country’s few summer communities of African Americans, who have been coming to the Vineyard for more than a century. We bring our own style and exuberance to the island, as we sit on our porches and commune with friends. Like generations of visitors and residents alike, we have come to stay and have made Martha’s Vineyard our own.
