The readers of the Gazette will please bear with us this week for the lack of extended news of local affairs.
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.
The Oak Bluffs historical commission on Wednesday responded to allegations that a cottage in the federally protected Martha’s Vineyard Camp Meeting Association may have been torn down and partially expanded earlier this summer, possibly in violation of a town bylaw strictly regulating the demolition of historical structures.
After speculation and rumors bubbled through the Martha’s Vineyard Camp Meeting Association in Oak Bluffs all summer about renovation work on the historic cottage at 5 Pease avenue, the facts surrounding the construction project began to surface this week.
What began as minor renovations to the cottage in the Camp Ground grew this spring, and a large portion of the building was demolished while the footprint was partially expanded, possibly in violation of a town bylaw that strictly regulates demolition.
It's not exactly Bastille Day over in the Camp Ground, but make no mistake, there's a revolution brewing in this historically religious, gingerbread enclave in the center of Oak Bluffs - and it's all about democracy.
Nearly 100 Camp Ground residents banded together this summer and are clamoring for something they say is sorely lacking: the chance to choose at least some of their leaders.
The rain will stop. The clouds will clear. And the historic circle of gingerbread cottages in Oak Bluffs will become a fairyland of lights. The Night of the Grand Illumination is here.
The 132nd Illumination Night will be held tomorrow night.
