OAK BLUFFS MA

OAK BLUFFS MA

The Oak Bluffs Bandstand

Ocean Park

Built - 1887

Oak Bluffs is an island resort town on the popular vacation spot of Martha's Vineyard off Cape Cod. A large pre-Colonial Indian population inhabited the island due to its great fishing and shellfishing with Gosnold, the first European explorer, setting up a temporary camp as early as 1602. Subsistence farming and fishing supported these early settlers then in 1835, Jeremiah Pease set up a meetingplace of Island Methodists which grew in popularity in the mid-1800s. The population then expanded which included a large immigrant population of Portugese and soon summer visitors who bought up many of the small and colorful Gothic cottages built by revivalists.

Oak Bluffs's many Victorian houses attract visitors from nearby Cape Cod as well as from all over the world. Originally called "Cottage City," Oak Bluffs is only a short boat ride VIA the ferry from Falmouth. Once you reach the island, you seem to be in another world with tiny Victorian cottages in bright colors and ornate trim which have been the subject of countless pictures and paintings.

The Oak Bluffs Bandstand has been a landmark on the island and the center of Ocean Park since its beginnings in 1887. It has been rebuilt and moved a few times since its origin and is also the subject of a million photos and paintings.