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Community Corner

Oak Bluffs: One of the First Layouts of a Residential Community

A look back at landscape architect Robert Morris Copeland's plan for Oak Bluffs.

Like so many others before and probably after me, I was totally charmed by the Oak Bluffs campground and surrounding area when I first stepped foot in Martha's Vineyard in 1975. I have always been a lover of all things Victorian. In fact, my house on the mainland is an 1890s Queen Ann Victorian. My house on-Island is not a Gothic Revival cottage, however—sometimes one old house (at a time) is enough!

So, when I was given an assignment to report on an American park for a class I was taking at the Arnold Arboretum, I jumped at the chance to study Ocean Park and the surrounding lesser parks designed by landscape architect Robert Morris Copeland.

The history of Cottage City, the name for Oak Bluffs prior to 1907, and the development of it as a vacation resort, began with the establishment of the Wesleyan Grove Methodist camp meetings in 1835 by a leading Edgartown resident, Jeremiah Pease. The site, a grove of large oaks close to Nantucket Sound, served as the central gathering place for the preacher's tent, which was encircled by the individual tents of the congregation. By 1867, this camp meeting had grown into a village of its own, boasting wood-framed Gothic Revival cottages surrounding the "big top" main tabernacle. It was called "Trinity Circle".

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Simultaneously, some of the illustrious merchants living in Edgartown (Oak Bluffs separated from Edgartown in 1880) set up the Oak Bluffs Land and Wharf Company. Their goal was to develop the land on the South face of the hill (Wesleyan Grove was on the Northern slope) into a fashionable seaside resort.

Through a fluke in judgement, the Camp Meeting Association, the governing body of Wesleyan Grove, declined the original offering of this land for sale. The Oak Bluffs Land and Wharf Company purchased it and quickly began subdivision of the 75 acres into 1,000 saleable lots.

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Thanks to the forward-thinking members of the Oak Bluffs Land and Wharf Company, particularly Erastus Carpenter, the actual development of the land as a residential community was to be done by a landscape gardener.

Carpenter, who owned the steam-powered Union Straw Hat Company, had read some of the current literature on design trends. In particular, he had read an essay by Robert Morris Copeland and H.W.S. Cleveland entitled "A Few Words On The Central Park." This pamphlet came out around the time of the big design competition for the plan that would become New York City's Central Park. Indeed, the team of Copeland and Cleveland had submitted their own ideas. They were beaten out by the now famous team of Calvert Vaux and Frederick Law Olmstead, the latter being the landscape designer of Boston's "Emerald Necklace."

R.M. Copeland had made a name for himself designing cemeteries in Gloucester, Waltham, and Concord at a time when cemeteries subbed-in for public parks. It was Carpenter who was responsible for hiring Copeland as Oak Bluff's main architect.

Copeland's first plan for Oak Bluff's was produced in 1866–1867. It was a configuration of sinuously curving streets interwoven with randomly shaped small parks. It has been suggested the Copeland borrowed heavily from his design plan of Oak Grove Cemetery, in Gloucester. The largest park, known as Ocean Park, was put in as a direct request by the developers. Some of the historical literature suggests that it was developers' concession to the Camp Meeting Association--a large showplace spot on the opposite side of the bluffs, meant to keep tourists away from the Wesleyan Grove area. Others suggest that land had a drainage problem and it was prudent for the Company not to put in house lots to this potentially troublesome area.

In addition to the large Ocean Park, the meandering, nearly mazelike streets of Oak Bluffs also rewarded 19th century visitors with glimpses of 10 smaller parks, including: Waban, Hartford, Naushon, Penacook, Niantic, Naushawena, Pettaluma and Hiawatha. These smaller parks offered green space for picnicking, croquet, tea parties and concerts.

Ocean Park was, and still is, a highly desirable area for vacationers. A semi-circle of fine Gothic Revival cottages surrounded the park, which was a large, open, almost tree-less space. Originally, two back-to-back parabolic streets were to cut through the park, but were made into walking paths in order to create a child-safe playground environment. At its inception the park had a rail fence bordering it, which was modeled on the fence on the Lexington Common. R.M. Copeland was a resident of Lexington for a time.

Ocean Park was the site of the first Illumination Night, which takes place to this day on the Vineyard (but not in Ocean park anymore). Again, it was the developer's idea, used to tout the success of their development.

Should one crave a more secluded park environment, then a ramble along Oak Bluff's curvilinear streets will lead you to the surprise of the smaller mini-parks of Copeland's design. The second most notable park in the Victorian era was Hartford Park, which still remains, but is no longer a picnic or croquet spot. It is still oblong, as in the original plan, and contains the remnants of the "consecrated juniper tree," a remnant "pulpit" of Wesleyan Grove days. Its attractive flower beds are reminiscent of the "bedding out" craze that took place in that same time period.

The other parks of Copeland serve as air space to the cramped houses, but are not well utilized as public parks. One exception is the recreational Niantic Park, which includes a baseball diamond, a children's playground, tennis courts and a soda/candy stand. In serving its surrounding neighbors this park is a success.

Waban Park, which is part of the 1871 addition of forty-five more acres to the residential plan, is in contrast to the picturesque style of the original plan. Here, Copeland's long rectilinear park, bordered by elongated blocks of houses is more formal, and reminiscent of Boston's Back Bay or Commonwealth Mall. Waban Park also fronts out to the ocean, and could be like a second Ocean Park, but  has not had such attention lavished on it.

A little over a year ago, the Copeland District of Critical Planning Concern (CDCPC), an organization which serves to protect this district's architectural and landscape history, came up against the Cottage City Historical District.

The Historic District felt the CDCPC should be abolished ,because it was duplicative and unnecessary. Thankfully, town selectmen in February of 2010 voted to withdraw this request. Separate control of the two districts has remained intact. This is so appropriate, as the above history clearly indicates two very distinct and interesting histories: one religious, the other pertinent to a design movement in American history.

It would be nice if all of these pocket parks were restored to their former glory, but alas, that takes money and organization and much public interest. For now, we can be content to go to these parks with old postcard books to catch a glimpse of what was once a design model of the first planned residential community—right here, in own own Oak Bluffs!

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