Photo Credits: Ellen M. DuBois, 2016
During my stay on Martha's Vineyard at the Island Inn, I knew I had to see the Gingerbread Houses. While I'm certainly no stranger to visiting these historic, colorful, somewhat magical small homes, I had to see them again.
There's something about the Gingerbread houses, located in Oak Bluffs, that draws millions of people each year. They are unique, each standing apart from the other yet forming a small community rich in diversity. The splashes of color and interesting fairy-tale-like architecture makes me feel I've stepped into a different world. In some ways, I have.
Indeed, it's a place like no other.
If you haven't visited the Gingerbread houses, located in Oak Bluffs, (just minutes from the Island Inn), I think you'll find it's well worth the time. Make sure you take your camera, (or at the least have the battery charged on your phone.) I think you'll want to take a few pictures to add to your scrap book and show your friends.
There are many places on this great planet that merit having a camera ready, and this is one of them.
A Bit of History (Source, Wikipedia)
"Some of the earliest visitors to the area that became Cottage City and later Oak Bluffs were Methodists, who gathered in the oak grove each summer for multi-day religious "camp meetings" held under large tents and in the open air. As families returned to the grove year after year, tents pitched on the ground gave way to tents pitched on wooden platforms and eventually to small wooden cottages. Small in scale and closely packed, the cottages grew more elaborate over time. Porches, balconies, elaborate door and window frames became common, as did complex wooden scrollwork affixed to the roof edges as decorative trim. The unique "Carpenter's Gothic" architectural style of the cottages was often accented by the owner's use of bright, multi-hue paint schemes, and gave the summer cottages a quaint, almost storybook look. Dubbed "gingerbread cottages," they became a tourist attraction in their own right in the late nineteenth century. So, too, did the Tabernacle: a circular, open-sided pavilion covered by a metal roof supported by tall wrought iron columns, erected in the late 1880s, which became a venue for services and community events. The campground's gingerbread cottages are cherished historic landmarks as well as very expensive real estate. Many are still family owned and passed on generation to generation. On April 5, 2005, the grounds and buildings in the Campground were designated a National Historic Landmark by the Secretary of the Interior."
"The "Grand Illumination" is a yearly event, usually held in August, the date of which is not always publicly disclosed. For the 2012 summer events, there was an open Cottage Tour, of the National Historical Registered homes, on Wednesday, August 8, and Grand Illumination Night on Wednesday, August 15.[5] Martha's Vineyard, Oak Bluffs and the Campground events attract many tourists. For one special night, residents of the Campground place ornate Chinese lanterns (some electric, some still lit with just a candle), around each Gingerbread Cottage. The lanterns remain dark until after dusk. At an appointed hour, people gather in the Tabernacle for a sing-along and community gathering. At the end all the lights go out and thousands of Chinese lanterns spring to life in a brilliant cascade of light throughout the campground. The celebration ends after visitors walk through the Campground enjoying the sights and sounds of an event taken straight from the start of the 20th century."
How I'd love to see the Grand Illumation. What an experience it must be. My father knows someone who lives in one of these charming, historial homes. Maybe...just maybe I'll be there one day. Wouldn't that be something?
For now, I will cherish both the memories and the pictures I've taken of the Gingerbread houses. I know there will me more to come.
Ellen DuBois: I'm the author of I Never Held You: Miscarriage, Grief, Healing and Recovery
I love it!