Nearly 70 years after it was founded by Thelma Garland Smith in 1956, the Cottagers, Inc. – a prestigious, philanthropic group of Black female Island homeowners – is thriving more than ever.

Today, the group boasts a strong and tightly knit community, a growing number of multigenerational members and a continued – if evolving – focus on giving back to the community the Cottagers feel has blessed them so much.

In addition to fundraising for scholarships and for organizations such as Harbor Homes, Inc., the Cottagers took on a new financial challenge two years ago: restoring the 152-year-old building that’s not only been home to the Cottagers since 1968, but is also an iconic fixture in Oak Bluffs.

In the early days, members gathered at each other’s homes. But by the late 1960s, the Cottagers’ membership ranks had increased so much that the women needed a bigger space to meet. They voted to buy the old town hall on Pequot avenue along with three lots on Wamsutta avenue. The building was named Cottagers’ Corner and the group incorporated on May 28, 1969. Cottagers’ Corner became the 18th stop on the African-American Heritage Trail of Martha’s Vineyard in 2006.

Patricia Bush, Cottagers ’ current president, says she’s focusing her two-year term on the long sought restoration of the historic Cottagers building, as well as refining old fundraising traditions and instituting new ones on a post-pandemic Island.

“The pause of typical routines during COVID gave us a moment to reflect on what was working and what wasn’t,” Patricia, of Oak Bluffs and Washington, D.C., said.

Just before the pandemic hit, Patricia said the Cottagers discovered that the foundation of their historic building was crumbling.

After raising funds within the organization first, the group began a capital campaign in 2022 for the multi-part project.

Patricia said the current, initial phase involves restoring the building’s foundation, which she hopes will be completed by the beginning of August. Phase two includes renovating the two-story structure to make sure it’s ADA compliant.

“Right now, the building’s quite unsafe,” Patricia remarked in early July. “We’ve had it taken down to the studs. They have dug holes in the building to pour in the cement to shore up the foundation.”

On July 1, the Cottagers held their first meeting of the season with the group’s officers’ report taking center stage along with planning for summer events, including two fundraisers. Also present at the meeting, Patricia said, were six lifetime members. “They’re our wisdom,” she added. While the group is formally capped at 100 members, Patricia said there are also legacy members – daughters of current members – who don’t count against the stated cap, as well as lifetime members, each of whom has been a Cottager for 20 years or more.

To induct new members into the organization, Patricia explained, a nominating committee votes on submitted nominations. Those new members who are approved are assigned sponsors to help shepherd them through the organization. “It’s a joyful process,” Patricia said.

To support the capital campaign for Cottagers’ Corner, the group will hold its second annual Sundown Soiree on August 7 at Featherstone Center for the Arts in Oak Bluffs.

“Our goal for this event is to bring everyone in the community together for a fun casino night fundraiser,” said Kharma Finley-Wallace, Sundown Soiree chair. “We expect Cottager members, local residents, summer visitors, business owners and all to come and support the organization that has supported the Island since 1956. We work hard, and this year, we are playing hard!”

The soiree is the second event of the summer. The first was the Cottagers’ 37th annual house tour, which took place on July 18. This year, there were six houses on the tour, ranging from a small cottage in the Camp Ground to two grand houses off County road. “The tour is a chance to get insight into homes you wouldn’t otherwise see,” Patricia said.

Proceeds from the house tour go towards scholarships and support for charitable organizations, while those from the Sundown Soiree will be earmarked for building renovation, Patricia said. In its history, she noted, the Cottagers have given out over 100 different scholarships.

The days are long gone since the Cottagers consisted of Island women who could spend three straight months on the Island. These days, off-Island duties – from the courtroom to the boardroom to life-changing surgeries – compel many members to shuttle back and forth much more than their predecessors did.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing, Bettye Foster Baker, a past president of the Cottagers noted. Having so many professional women in the organization brings strength.

“That has been the joy of my life, seeing the younger women come in where the older ones take off,” she said. “The amount of money they’re raising, the vision they have for the organization, they – the young women – are making such a difference,” she said.

“We’ve got more to do,” her daughter Janet Baker, a D.C.-based attorney, added. “And we will.”

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Kerry Lester Kasper, of Chicago and Edgartown, is a freelance writer and author.

 

From Town Hall to Fire Station

"According to A. Bowdoin Van Riper of the Martha’s Vineyard Museum, from 1882 until April 1966, the building facing Pequot Avenue’s Hartford Park that is now Cottagers Corner was our [Oak Bluffs’] town hall. Fitting nicely into the Copeland-designed neighborhood, it was renovated in 1951 with a second story for town affairs and a new police station below. There were vaults on both floors for records and other town valuables and a strongly built cell with a steel-barred door. Over time, it became a fire station – in fact, Oak Bluffs’ old 1929 Mack Fire Engine No. 2 called the structure home until Cottagers Inc. acquired it."

From Historic Tales of Oak Bluffs, by Skip Finley