Oak Bluffs Methodist Camp Meeting

I think that, in addition to weekly updates, I will occasionally post something about an interesting place or thing we encounter on our travels. First up, the Methodist summer "camp" on Martha's Vineyard.

Near downtown Oak Bluffs on Martha’s Vineyard, there is a twenty-some-acre site with an open-air “Tabernacle” in the center, surrounded by miniature Victorian cottages set on paths that spiral out from the middle, with one road around it known as Trinity Circle. Before the cottages, there were tents, but from the late 1850s through the end of the century, the permanent cottages were built. There were 500 cottages by 1880, and though some were used by vendors and services, and some were for visitors, most were family-owned summer homes that belonged to members of the Martha’s Vineyard Camp Meeting Association. Three-hundred and eighteen cottages remain in the summer community today.

The cast iron Tabernacle in the center of the enclave was built by a cottage owner named J. W. Hoyt, who offered to construct the cast iron structure in 1879. Construction began in late spring and opened for the first religious service in July. It was—and still is—an amazing example of innovative 19th century architecture and is one of only a few wrought iron structures from that era that still remain—and it is still in use.

Though the Camp Meeting is a busy place from June through August, with programs, preachers, classes, and concerts presented throughout the summer, the highlight of the season is Illumination Night, which is held in mid-August each year. Cottage owners decorate their small homes with paper lanterns and the Camp Meeting Association presents a musical program in the early evening, with community prayer and singing. Then, after dusk, all of the lanterns are lit at once for the Grand Illumination.

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