Camp Meeting History

February 25, 1859

Martha’s Vineyard Wesleyan Grove Camp Ground

Vineyard Gazette
This religious encampment has become an Institution, there is nothing like it in this country, and it is greatly increasing from year to year.
Camp Meeting History
Camp Ground
June 16, 1865

Purchase of the Camp Ground

Vineyard Gazette
The camp ground upon Martha’s Vineyard, heretofore leased by the Vineyard Camp Meeting Association, has been purchased by that body for the sum of $1200.
Camp Meeting History
August 20, 1869

The Illumination

The Vineyard Gazette
The readers of the Gazette will please bear with us this week for the lack of extended news of local affairs.
Camp Meeting History
Illumination Night
Martha's Vineyard Camp Meeting Association
August 23, 1935

Hundred Years of the Camp Meeting History Filled with Countless Episodes

Vineyard Gazette
The hundred years of the Martha’s Vineyard Camp Meeting are filled with countless episodes which link the Island with the great figures or great events of other periods; or reflect in some colorf
Camp Meeting History
Oak Bluffs history

1982

March 19, 1982

Parishioners Seek Donations So Hezekiah May Toll Again

Mark Lovewell
Camp Meeting History
There was a time at the Oak Bluffs Camp Ground when a bell atop Trinity Church rang the beginning of summer’s festive events, just as it would each Sunday’s call to worship. Its sound was crisp and sweet and its music sounded out over the Oak Bluffs rooftops and beyond.
 
Each summer, “Hezekiah,” as the bell is called, rang before Illumination Night’s first lantern was lit and prior to each religious event across the street at the Tabernacle. There are those who can remember. And there are those who would like to hear it again.
 

1979

August 3, 1979

The Singing 1920's

Miriam Huss Williamson
Camp Meeting History
Community Sing
The singing 1920’s are happy years I recall as the years of a community-serving Tabernacle.
 
Singing could be heard almost anywhere, almost anytime in Oak Bluffs because half the members of the choir of the Tabernacle lived together, played together and loved to sing together wherever they were. Mr. and Mrs. Adams, Dad and Mother to everyone who knew them, were the leaders of this group of vocal students on vacation.
 
February 9, 1979

Oak Bluffs Camp Ground Makes Register

Vineyard Gazette
Camp Meeting History
Camp Ground
Oak Bluffs history
The Camp Ground at Oak Bluffs is now on the National Register of Historic Places. Michael J. Connolly, secretary of state for the Commonwealth and the new chairman of the Massachusetts Historical Commission, made the news public.
 
The Camp Ground, Mr. Connolly said, is an area “unique in the nation for its architecture, remarkable state of preservation and as the best example of a nineteenth century religious retreat.
 

1974

August 16, 1974

Again An Old-Fashioned Oak Bluffs Illumination

Vineyard Gazette
Illumination Night
Martha's Vineyard Camp Meeting Association
Camp Meeting History
Stars sparkled, pink and gold and orange lanterns bobbed, and a soft wind played among the chimes in the Camp Ground Wednesday night for the 104th annual Illumination Night.
 

1965

June 25, 1965

Editorial: Centennial of a Purchase

Vineyard Gazette
Camp Meeting History
A hundred years ago the Martha’s Vineyard Camp Meet­ing Association, having decided that the time had come to assure a settled state, acquired by purchase its extensive acre­age at what is now Oak Bluffs. “The cost of the grove, rights of way etc.,” Hebron Vincent recorded, “was thirteen hundred dollars.”
 

1960

May 6, 1960

It Was a Paradise or a Wilderness That Camping Site

Vineyard Gazette
Camp Meeting History
Camp Ground
The modern town of Oak Bluffs traces its origin to a camp meeting held at the site, then a paradise or a wilderness — most people thought the former — in 1835. Hebron Vin­cent of Edgartown made this record of the first camp meeting, in his history, published long ago:
 
The first camp meeting held in this beautiful grove was in the year 1835, and commenced on Monday, the 24th day of August. A meeting has been held here every year since, excepting that of 1845, when it was removed to Westport Point.
 

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