Located on Trinity Park in Wesleyan Grove (aka the Martha’s Vineyard Camp Meeting Association), this 1878 church served the year round Methodist community in Oak Bluffs. The Trinity Methodist Church is a towered, Victorian Gothic structure of some distinction. Edward M. Hyde, a Methodist minister who had trained in architecture and art, designed it. The property that the church and Parish House sit on belongs to the Association, but the buildings are maintained by the congregation. Interestingly, should the congregation disband, the buildings would return to the Association.
One of the most unique buildings I have ever seen is the Union Chapel in Oak Bluffs on Martha’s Vineyard. The chapel, built in 1870 in the American Stick Style, is in the form of an Octagon, very unique for churches. Built as an inter-denominational house of worship, it is significant as the first non-sectarian religious building to be erected in a community that until 1870, was noted primarily for its strong association with the Methodist Church and its summer camp meeting (Wesleyan Grove) assemblies. The Chapel offered islanders and seasonal visitors regardless of religious affiliation not only an opportunity to worship but a gathering place for cultural activities. According to historic images, the chapel once had more elaborate stick work and finials, since removed, likely due to storms and general maintenance concerns. The chapel was designed by island resident Samuel Freeman Pratt (1824-1920) who had no known architectural training besides working as a wood carver in Boston, yet his work is characterized as having a dynamic and festive style. Pratt’s other major contribution to Oak Bluffs’ architecture, the Sea View Hotel, was erected at the head of the wharf in 1872, but burned down in 1892.
This quaint little summer cottage in Wesleyan Grove was built in 1875 for Hanson Arnold, a merchant and methodist from Woonsocket, R.I. The home is typical of many other summer cottages in Oak Bluffs on Martha’s Vineyard, with its delicate stick work, turned posts, full-length porch, and second story balcony with pierced bargeboards. The home was at one point named “Seas the Day”, a trend of naming the cottages occurred sometime in the 20th century by families who summered on the island, many incorporating the family’s name somehow. The home was restored recently with all new detailing and a reversion back to the original porch configuration.
Located at the center of the Wesleyan Grove, – the Martha’s Vineyard Camp Meeting Association – this Italianate building has long served as a hub of the active summer community. The building was constructed in 1859, before any cottages were built in the newly formed summer colony. The office building was not only the headquarters for the Camp Meeting Association, it also served as a storage space for the baggage of the many who stayed in tents, many who didn’t have the means to purchase or rent a cottage. The building even was home to the associations’ post office. It now houses the Association director’s offices and contains the lease holders records back to 1864, a great way to learn about the diverse groups of people who visited and worshiped in this camp.
This cottage on Ocean Ave in Oak Bluffs was built before 1880 for J.F. Riday, a manager at the American Mail and Export Journal at the Wesleyan Building on Bromfield Street in Boston. The quaint cottage was photographed shortly after it was built with Riday and two women (one likely being his wife) posing on the front porch overlooking the ocean. By the early 20th century, the home was owned by George and Corielle Evans, a couple from Mexico. They likely modified the home with the shingled siding and front porch with sheltered balcony above, while the original lancet windows and doors remained.
This charming little cottage in Oak Bluffs was built in 1876 for Charles N. Jones, a resident of Medford, MA who had a home built there in 1872. His family’s summer cottage on Martha’s Vineyard was designed by the Ripley Brothers, Alonzo and Walter, carpenters who lived in town and designed and built many of the charming little summer homes there. The home features a wrap-around porch, a covered balcony at the second floor, and pierced board balustrade and cornerboards. Oh, and the paint scheme is perfect!
Tall Timbers is one of the more unique cottages in the Wesleyan Grove development, a religiously oriented summer community in Oak Bluffs on Martha’s Vineyard. The cottage was actually built in two phases. The small two story cottage was built first before 1870 and features gothic bargeboard, lancet windows, and paired doors. It was purchased around 1870 by William Newell, of Rhode Island, who had a three-story wing added to serve as a summer cottage. The addition is notable for the full-length vertical boards that rise through the entire three stories without a break like trees after harvesting, likely the inspiration for the name of the cottage. William Newell was a manufacturer of brass fixtures and ran a foundry in Central Falls in Rhode Island. Mr. Newell was active in politics and early in his career joined the cause of the anti-slavery party, which was likely solidified in his experiences in the ethnically diverse Martha’s Vineyard.
This stunning Victorian home in Oak Bluffs on Martha’s Vineyard was built in 1878 as a summer home for Oliver Ames (1831-1895), a businessman, investor and Governor of Massachusetts. Oliver Ames was the son of Oakes Ames, who is credited by many historians as being the single most important influence in the building of the Union Pacific portion of the transcontinental railroad. After his father’s death in 1873, Oliver Ames became the executor of his father’s vast estate and business dealings, and spent vast sums of money on properties in the places he lived including North Easton, MA, Boston and Martha’s Vineyard. He summered at this large home fronting the ocean in Cottage City, then a part of Edgartown. He decided to run for state senate in 1879, after he was unsuccessful in securing passage for the separation of the Martha’s Vineyard community of Cottage City, where he owned a summer house, from Edgartown. Winning election, he saw through the incorporation of the town (now known as Oak Bluffs). Ames served as the Governor of Massachusetts between 1887 and 1890, and continued to summer in his beachfront home during that time. The eclectic Victorian home blends many popular styles at the time from the Shingle style with the continuous shingle siding, the Stick style with the delicate stick-work at the veranda, to Queen Anne with its asymmetric massing and square tower.
Buildings of New England 