The sandy shores and clear waters of Sunset Lake in Oak Bluffs once made it an attraction in its own right. Now the Friends and Neighbors of Sunset Lake want to bring it back.
Photographer J. A. French (died ca. 1899) took many historic pictures of the Island during the years 1861-1898. Mr. French called his cottage Westmoreland, named for his New Hampshire birthplace. It was located on Wendell avenue in front of Twin Cottage in the Oak Bluffs Highlands, and just behind our family’s cottage. When his house burned down some years ago, my uncle rescued some of his old photos from the ruins and others I have found at the Cheshire County Historical Society in Keene, N.H., where Mr. French’s photographic studio was located.
