About Oak Bluffs 

With something for everyone, the unique town of Oak Bluffs features whimsical Victorian "gingerbread" cottages built in the 1800s, which vie with one another for charm and originality. In the 1800's, before it was known as Oak Bluffs, the area was a center of revivalism among members of the Methodist and other religious faiths. Hundreds flocked to the Island to enjoy sermons and sunshine, pitching tents for temporary shelter. Over time, these tents were replaced by permanent cottages, most of which circle the open-air and recently renovated Tabernacle.

Oak Bluffs has a wonderful harbor and along Sea View Ave offers some of the Island's most incredible ocean vistas. In addition to relishing the many restaurants and shops, visitors enjoy concerts in Ocean Park and rides on the Flying Horses, the oldest continuously operating carousel in the country, its horses hand-carved in New York City in 1876.  

As the Methodists expanded their summer visits, they first built wooden platforms for their tents, and then began building a community of colorful cottages around their open-air meeting center. Thus was born the island’s only truly original architectural style, known today as Campground Gothic Revival. Some 300 cottages with “gingerbread” scrollwork details and gaily-colored paint schemes still stand at the heart of Oak Bluffs, around the central Tabernacle with its graceful arches of wrought iron. 

The historic path of this burgeoning summer resort so departed from Edgartown that in 1880 its residents split away, forming the town of Cottage City. The town took on the new name of Oak Bluffs in 1907. 

From its revivalist beginnings, Oak Bluffs has grown to become the island’s liveliest center for after-hours entertainment, with a downtown district, called Circuit Avenue, bustling well into the wee hours on summer weekends. Oak Bluffs is also home to such landmarks as the Flying Horses, the nation’s oldest operating carousel, and Union Chapel, a remarkable octagonal structure that dates to 1870. 

The Oak Bluffs harbor is known as the island’s favorite center for power boaters, with its long concrete dock and electrical hookup services. Oak Bluffs is also home to the island’s most impressive collection of public parks. The jewel of them all is Ocean Park, with a bandstand at the center from which concerts are given on alternating Sunday nights throughout the summer. Ocean Park is also the center for the August fireworks display which traditionally draws the biggest crowds of any single island event, and which marks the conclusion of the high summer season.
 

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