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 colorful way the atmosphere and manners of the times; or supply in their own right some flavorsome item of history.
Camp Meeting History
August 20, 1869
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The readers of the Gazette will please bear with us this week for the lack of extended news of local affairs. We are publishing the Camp Meeting Herald, daily and it occupies so much of time and labor that we are unable to pay that degree of attention to the Gazette as is our custom. We reproduce a number of articles from the Herald, which are well worth reading.
June 16, 1865
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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.
February 25, 1859
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This religious encampment has become an Institution, there is nothing like it in this country, and it is greatly increasing from year to year. In accordance with the recommendation of the agent of the Grounds, in his annual report, important measures have been adopted at the business meetings. Among the things ordered were the digging of an additional well and the setting out of shade trees. The erection of a two and one half story house has just been completed, under the general supervision of the Agent. The building is in modern style, thoroughly finished and painted 24 feet by 40.
August 2, 2018
Another week has passed, and the readers of the Gazette will probably expect something from the Grove.
August 1, 2018
Steve Myrick
One hundred fifty years ago this year, by an act of the Massachusetts legislature, the Martha’s Vineyard Camp Meeting Association was incorporated to manage what had become one of the largest camp meetings in New England.
August 3, 2017
“Hear ye! Hear ye! Hear ye!,” shouted the town crier after ringing a large brass bell at the end of Pier 44, Vineyard Haven.
August 2, 2017
Vivian Ewing
On a recent Wednesday evening over 200 people followed the winding paths of the Camp Ground to the Trinity Park Tabernacle for the Community Sing, a tradition for more than 100 years.
June 25, 2016
Mike Kotsopoulos
After a long career in hospitality CJ Rivard is the new executive director of the Martha's Vineyard Camp Meeting Association.
April 18, 2016
Steve Myrick
For many Islanders, the chairs and benches at the Oak Bluffs Tabernacle are synonymous with the place itself. Now the iconic 19th century seating will be restored.
July 15, 2014
Mary Jane Carpenter
The famous Pink House on the grounds of the Martha’s Vineyard Camp Meeting Association is once again for sale. It is the most photographed of all the many photogenic houses in the Camp Ground.
July 29, 2013
Nicholas Bradley
On a summer day in Oak Bluffs, Circuit avenue can sometimes feel like a circus. If you’re looking for some relief from the hot pavement and bustling crowds, follow the road down to the end of the main shopping area and turn right. You’ll stumble into Wesleyan Grove, a shady oasis filled with colorful cottages pulled straight from the pages of a storybook. This is the Camp Ground of the Martha’s Vineyard Camp Meeting Association.
July 11, 2013
Peggy Sturdivant
Over the years I have wondered what form the end will take for our Camp Ground cottage. Since I began seeing the cottage through adult eyes, I’ve eyed it with the trepidation of watching a truck turn off Main street in Vineyard Haven. It’s not going to make it.
July 22, 2010
Phyllis Meras
It was 175 years ago next month that six devout Edgartown Methodists decided to establish a summer religious community of their very own and selected the largest oak grove in New England, near Eastville, to be its site. Camp meetings that provided prayer, preaching, hymn-singing and repentance had come into vogue in America at the turn of the 19th century. In 1827, one had been established at West Chop in the community of Holmes Hole — today’s Vineyard Haven.
December 20, 2007
Mark Alan Lovewell
The Tabernacle cupola is undergoing the most significant restoration in more than a century. The $635,000 project will not only preserve the cupola for the years ahead, but restore its key purposes of ventilation and visual distinction.
For Russell E. Dagnall, president of the Martha’s Vineyard Camp Meeting Association, the work, called Topping off the Tabernacle, is but part of a much larger $3 million restoration of the Tabernacle that began almost 10 years ago.
April 15, 2005
James Kinsella
U.S. Secretary of the Interior Gale A. Norton has recognized the Camp Ground in Oak Bluffs as a National Historic Landmark.
