Wesleyan Grove
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Wesleyan Grove
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Two ornate cottages on the campground site.
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| Location | 80 Trinity Park, Oak Bluffs, MA 02557 |
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| NRHP Reference # | 05000458 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | April 5, 2005 |
| Designated NHLD | April 5, 2005 |
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Martha's Vineyard Campground
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| Location | Roughly bounded by Cottage Park, Quequechan, Clinton, Dukes, County, Siloam, Lake, and Central Aves., Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts |
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| Coordinates | 41°27′19″N 70°33′41″W / 41.45528°N 70.56139°WCoordinates: 41°27′19″N 70°33′41″W / 41.45528°N 70.56139°W |
| Built | 1835 |
| Architect | Multiple |
| Architectural style | Late Gothic Revival, Gothic, Gothic Revival |
| NRHP Reference # | 78000439 |
| Added to NRHP | December 14, 1978 |
Wesleyan Grove is a 34-acre (14 ha) National Historic Landmark District in Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts on the island of Martha's Vineyard. Also known as the Martha's Vineyard Campmeeting Association (MVCMA) or the Campgrounds, it was the first summer religious camp established in the United States. It is famous for its many Carpenter Gothic cottages with Victorian-style, gingerbread trim.
Just after the American Civil War, the area developed as a large Methodist summer campground with open air Christian revivals. This meeting style became popular around the United States at the time, and many other similar camps were founded using similar models, such as Ocean Park, Maine and Ocean Grove, New Jersey. Colorful, ornate, gingerbread cottages were built in an oak grove around a central church tabernacle. The grove was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978 and was further declared a National Historic Landmark in 2005.
The first so-called campmeeting in what became known as Wesleyan Grove was held in 1835. In subsequent years the congregations grew enormously, and many of the thousands in attendance were housed in large tents known as "society tents." A congregation from a church on the mainland would maintain its own society tent. Conditions were cramped, with men and women sleeping dormitory-style on opposite sides of a central canvas divider. Society tents were arranged in a semicircle on Trinity Park. Over time, families began leasing small lots on which to pitch their own individual tents. Between 1855 and 1865 the campmeetings began to change in character. They continued to be religious in nature, but the participants also began to enjoy the benefit of the sea air and social interaction as they revived both mind and body.
In the 1860s and 1870s, the family tents were rapidly replaced with permanent wooden cottages. At one time there were about 500 cottages; today there are just 318 and are referred to as the gingerbread cottages.
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