Villages: Campgrounds, Hart Haven, Eastville
Major Roads: New York Avenue, Seaview Avenue, Barnes Road, Circuit Avenue.Directions:
From Vineyard Haven, New York
Avenue starts at the drawbridge and runs past the Martha's Vineyard Hospital and the state police barracks, and on past the harbor, ending at Seaview Avenue and the Steamship Authority's Oak Bluffs terminal.
It is the main route into town and Seaview Avenue runs to Edgartown.History
In 1880, Cottage City was created, a split from the rest of Edgartown and in 1907, Cottage City became Oak Bluffs.
Eastville was the Barbary Coast of Vineyard Haven in the early days, the place where sailors would go to find women and carousing. This is the area just beyond the drawbridge, including East Chop,  where the East Chop lighthouse used to receive signals (on
Telegraph Hill) from incoming ships. The town grew from Eastville into the most glamorous resort town on the East Coast. In 1835, Jeremiah Pease scouted about for
a Methodist meeting place and and built a preacher's stand to hold prayer meetings. The meetings grew enormously. The classic Campground Cottages were patterned after tents, with double front doors like tent
flaps, and roofs at the angle of tent tops. The Oak Bluffs Land and Wharf Company was founded around 1866, our first developers. They built large houses outside the
Campgrounds and Oak Bluffs became a fabulous ocean resort. Oak Bluffs became the first nationally known summer resort for black vacationers, with a dozen black
families on the Highlands in the early 1900's. There is still a sizeable, wealthy and influential black summer population in Oak Bluffs. It is the only town on the Island
created for the summer tourists, with wide streets and a magnificent boardwalk along the Sound. The harbor is crammed hull-to-hull with yachts and boats in the
summertime, much like the hundreds of little cottages lining the labyrinth of streets in the Campgrounds. The town has over 100 parks, some as small as parking
spaces, but all are leafy, green retreats owned and maintained by the town. There is the magnificent Ocean Park across from the boatline terminal. Beaches
Bathing is prime activity in this busy little tourist resort town. Away from the action, there is the Eastville Point Beach, just over the drawbridge on the way into town
from Tisbury. It has a fine view of the Vineyard Haven harbor and the beach has calm waves and a magnificent sunset. The Oak Bluffs town beach is a narrow strip
running along Seaview Avenue, from the parking lot, past the Authority terminal down to the edge of town at the beginning of the bike path to Edgartown. This was
once the most populated beach in town and is still well used. The main beach, though, is the great Joseph Sylvia beach between Oak Bluffs and Edgartown. Just
across the road, another beachline runs along Sengekontacket Pond for clam-diggers and those who like quiet waters. Fishing: The steamboat terminal is a
prime spot for boatfishermen who juggle the arrival of the ferryboats with their casting for schools of slashing bonito feeding on the abundant bait in early July. On
shore, the jetties at the little bridge and big bridge are wonderful for fishing on the Joseph Silvia Beach when the last few hours of a falling tide coincides with sunrise.
The best fishing information is always in the tackle shops. |
