Martha's Vineyard - Tisbury and Oak Bluffs

Once again, we boarded the bus in Edgartown and headed north to Tisbury and Oak Bluffs. Vineyard Haven in Tisbury is where we spent our first night at Martha's Vineyard and where most of the commercial ferries serving  Martha's Vineyard dock. We did not go ashore to explore Tisbury the day we arrived as it was late and we didn't feel like launching the dinghy. We decided it would be more convenient to tour Martha's Vineyard by bus while leaving Foreign Affair moored at Edgartown.



The bus ride to Tisbury was interesting as the road wound through the island's interior and made a stop at the airport. There was not much of great interest to us in Tisbury. It was not as engaged in catering to the tourists as Oak Bluffs or Edgartown. It appeared as though the town benefited more from the year-round resident customers than the seasonal. We didn't spend much time in Tisbury.

Oak Bluffs was quite interesting. Carla really enjoyed wandering among the colorful cottages constructed during the later decades of the 19th Century. Thousands of Methodists and Baptists came to Oak Bluff each summer for camp meetings. Initially, those coming for the religious gatherings stayed in tents which overtime were replaced by small wooden cottages arranged around open areas surrounding the Tabernacle. Families would arrive by steamboat to spend a week renewing their faith and enjoying the various summertime activities available on Martha's Vineyard.

Methodist Tabernacle

We took a tour of one of the cottages. We learned much about the camp meetings and the history of the cottages from the museum's docent who lives in one of the cottages and is a life-long resident of Martha's Vineyard. He advised us that the Methodist Church still owns most of the "Cottage City" land and leases the plots the cottages stand on to the owners of the cottages. The entire "Cottage City" area is a National Historic District which preserves the exterior appearance of the cottages. Most of the cottages are still used seasonally and are still pretty spartan with no insulation or air conditioning.

"Cottage City" Cottages

We finished our tour of Oak Bluffs by walking along Seaview Avenue which parallels the beach until we reached the section known as the "Inkwell" which is that stretch of beach used predominantly by the Black residents and visitors to Oak Bluffs. This section of Oak Bluffs has become one of the wealthiest African American communities and popular vacation spot among affluent Blacks. Among the more recent notable visitors was the Obama family.

Foreign Affair in Edgartown Harbor