Bird's-Eye View of Cottage City, 1887

This February, in recognition of Black History Month, we are displaying “Cottage City, Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, 1887” in our Collection Spotlight case. This map is bird’s-eye view that depicts the town we now know of as Oak Bluffs. From the 1800s onward, Oak Bluffs has been a residential and vacation destination for Black men and women.

The displayed map dates to 1887, which is twenty years before Cottage City was renamed as Oak Bluffs. Cottage City was originally part of Edgartown, which is located to its south, but it was incorporated as its own town in 1880. The name of Cottage City originates from its identity as seasonal destination, as most inhabitants were only living there during the summer. The name changed to Oak Bluffs in 1907 because the town was developing into a more full-time residential area. Since the name Cottage City was only used for twenty-seven years, that makes the map in our collection even more special, as it captures the area during a brief period.

The original inhabitants of Noepe (now Martha’s Vineyard) were Wampanoag and the name meant “land amid the streams.” Colonial settlers first arrived in the 1640s, cultivating the land in the area now known as Edgartown. The first Black individuals on Martha’s Vineyard were enslaved, before the Commonwealth of Massachusetts abolished slavery in 1783. After the Civil War, more freed Black people moved to the island to work in the fishing and whaling trade, and this in turn drew more Black men and women to the area from mainland Massachusetts. In the late 1800s and into the 1900s, some Black men and women came to the island to work as service staff to wealthy white families who owned summer homes there, and eventually some of those individuals stayed on the island and bought property in the Oak Bluffs area. As the 1900s progressed, more and more middle-class Black families began to visit Oak Bluffs, either buying or renting properties, and thus creating an increased sense of community. The Martha’s Vineyard African-American Heritage Trail was formed in 1998 in an effort to raise awareness of the island’s Black history. They have currently dedicated thirty-one sites throughout the island that show the contributions of the African-American community. Of thirty-one sites, seven of them are located in the town of Oak Bluffs. You can read much more about the Heritage Trail here and specifically about the seven sites in Oak Bluffs here.

Starting in the 1800s, one of the draws to Oak Bluffs was the Camp Meeting Association, or Wesleyan Grove (number 13, 14, and 15 on the map). This was part of the camp meeting movement, which were multi-day open air Christian religious services that featured sermons, singing, and community. Participants in the summer camp meetings would arrive on the island days before the event, and stay for a time afterward. Originally, they resided in tents, but then built more permanent cottage structures – hence the name “Cottage City.” According to the Martha’s Vineyard Camp Meeting Association website, Frederick Douglass spoke at the Campground in 1876. Both Black and white individuals owned or leased cottages in the Campground area, though segregation did occur. You can read more about the racial history of the Camp Meeting Association on their website.

The stretch of beach shown on the map is now known as Inkwell Beach. This is the town beach, and it was frequented by Black individuals, especially given that beaches in other parts of the island were predominantly white and Black beachgoers may have felt unwelcome relaxing there. The exact original meaning behind this nickname is not known, but one theory is that it was used negatively by white people commenting on the skin color of those enjoying the beach. The Black community, though, has rejected this negative connotation and has claimed the name as its own, thus taking something that might have originally been negative and turning it positive, and taking pride in an area that has a history of being a safe and enjoyable enclave for Black men and women.

Stop by the library from February 2 through February 29 to see this map on display in our main reading room. And for those who can’t visit us in person, a high-resolution version of the map an be accessed through our digital repository. Last February, we displayed a bird’s-eye view map of Nantucket, and highlighted some Black History locations found on it. Check out that blog post here.



Elizabeth Roscio
Preservation Librarian