May 22, 2020
Good Day – “The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men,” often go awry, wrote the Scot Robert Burns, in 1785. This summer’s release of my new book is a perfect example. Here we are on the cusp of Memorial Day Weekend and we all recognize that this summer will be very different all across the country. On Martha’s Vineyard everyone dons a mask, our shops and stores are shuttered, curbside pick-up is de rigueur, fewer off-Island cars are on the road and tourists are sparse. The Vineyard Artisans Fair is cancelled this weekend. Edgartown’s July 4th parade is cancelled. The Tisbury Street Fair: cancelled. In August, the height of our season, both the fireworks in Oak Bluffs and the Agricultural Fair in West Tisbury are cancelled. Summer will be very different this year on Martha’s Vineyard. *** Yet life goes on. Ironically, my new book describes the growth of tourism on Martha’s Vineyard. Who would have guessed? *** The tourist trade on Martha’s Vineyard got its start 185 years ago when Jeremiah Pease hosted a Methodist retreat in what became Oak Bluffs. Nine families pitched tents, in 1835, to pray, sing and listen to preachers preach. The popularity of this Camp Meeting Association grew exponentially over the years: 100 tents by 1850; 6,000 mostly off-Island adherents attended the final Sunday service in 1855. In the post-Civil War era more than 500 gingerbread cottages replaced the tents as the Methodist campground flourished beyond belief. Wesleyan Grove was nationally recognized as a summer religious community. The tourist industry on Martha’s Vineyard was born. Big-time. *** On June 22, 2020 The Rise of Tourism on Martha’s Vineyard will be published by The History Press. For more information, visit Thomasdresser.com Next week: The Oak Bluffs Land & Wharf Company Thanks for reading, Tom Dresser |
May 29, 2020
Good Day – Today would be President John F. Kennedy’s 103rd birthday. Kennedy was a frequent Vineyard visitor. He and brother Joe washed ashore on the Vineyard in the summer of 1941 sailing from Hyannis. They were put up at the Ocean View Hotel, their sails mended, and sent on their way the next day. This summer we doubt many future presidents will venture across the Sound to visit Martha’s Vineyard. In the meantime, we plan to promote our tourism history. *** When Erastus Carpenter visited the Vineyard from off-Island in the 1860s he recognized the potential for selling house lots on land near the Methodist Camp Meeting Association. He formed the Oak Bluffs Land & Wharf Company in 1866, bought 75 acres of shore-front land, and hired a landscape architect to design a thousand house lots, a dozen parks and a street that encircled the community: Circuit Avenue. Oak Bluffs Land & Wharf Company developed the first planned residential community in the United States. Carpenter developed a grand hotel with indoor plumbing, a novelty in the 1870s. Houses mimicked the gingerbread style in the Methodist Camp Meeting Association, and are known as New England Carpenter Gothic, in honor of Erastus Carpenter. The two communities melded into a symbiotic relationship blending the religious and secular lives of their summer residents. Carpenter is credited with initiating Illumination Night, in 1869, a tradition that lives on, though cancelled in 2020. *** On June 22, 2020 The Rise of Tourism on Martha’s Vineyard was be published by The History Press. For more information, visit Thomasdresser.com. Thanks for reading, Tom Dresser |
June 5, 2020
Good Day – Tomorrow, the first Saturday in June, is National Trails Day. Traditionally, the Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank has organized a Cross-Island hike to explore various Vineyard sites. This year that walk is cancelled due to the coronavirus. I plan to take my own Cross-Island hike. My intent is to make this solemn, solo expedition in memory of the 100,000+ who have died from Covid-19. The financial pain wrought by the pandemic is real. Primarily, I want to walk to reflect on the untimely death of George Floyd which has brought such upheaval across our country. *** All of this national disruption impacts to my new book on Vineyard tourism. The popularity of the Methodist Camp Meeting Association and the Oak Bluffs Land & Wharf Company expanded dramatically by 1900. The two communities merged to form the town of Cottage City (1880), renamed Oak Bluffs (1907). The Sea View hotel welcomed tourists to the Vineyard. The Tivoli featured dancing to local tunes such as Tivoli Girl and the Oak Bluffs Galope. A Toboggan Slide entranced the populace. An Observation Tower loomed over Ocean Park; bathhouses lined the beach below. The Flying Horses, the oldest continuously operated carousel in the country, remain the only vestige of that halcyon era. (And it is not open this year, due to the coronavirus.) Ice cream parlors, bowling alleys, and curio shops flourished along Circuit Avenue, satiating crowds of tourists who savored the sights and sounds. The Martha’s Vineyard Railroad transported tourists between Oak Bluffs and Edgartown’s South Beach. Carriages carried tourists through pristine villages up-Island and out to the variegated clay cliffs of Gay Head. President Ulysses Grant visited the Vineyard. Martha’s Vineyard had arrived as a prime vacation destination, with an array of amusement park activities amid a spectacular Island landscape. This year will be different, but we’re sure the Vineyard will return to its prior popularity for tourism. *** On June 22, 2020 The Rise of Tourism on Martha’s Vineyard will be published by The History Press. For more information, visit Thomasdresser.com Upcoming virtual book talks: Edgartown Library: June 16 @ 7 pm West Tisbury Library: June 24 @ 5 pm Chilmark Library: July 3 @ 4 pm Aquinnah Library: July 9 Vineyard Haven Library: August 4 @ 4 pm Next week: African American Vacation Land Thanks for reading, Tom Dresser June 19, 2020
Good Day – As noted at the start of this series of emails, last month, we are in the throes of a pandemic and an economic calamity. Add the protests against police brutality and the history of racism in this country, and we find ourselves in a perfect storm of isolation, poverty and anguish. Trying to promote a book on the sunny history of tourism on Martha’s Vineyard is a challenge, but we’re making a go of it. The book should be in bookstores next week, and you can pre-order an autographed copy. If you want a preview of The Rise of Tourism on Martha’s Vineyard, sign up for a virtual book talk. We held the first one earlier this week through Edgartown Library with viewers from as far away as Ohio, and even England, where the talk began at midnight! Talk about stalwart fans. *** This final segment of weekly highlights brings tourism to the end of the 20th century and beyond. We discuss curiosity-seekers searching for Dike Bridge on Chappaquiddick and Memorial Bridge (aka Jaws Bridge) on State Beach. We review the two presidents who vacationed on the Vineyard, encouraging legions of fans to follow in their footsteps. And I conclude each talk with an update on the status of tourism on the Vineyard this summer, which is evolving to meet the challenges of the coronavirus, economic disparity and the virtues of Black lives matter. Feel free to request an invitation from any (or all) of the programs listed below. The Rise of Tourism on Martha’s Vineyard, published by The History Press, has arrived on the Vineyard. Autographed copies will be available at Bunch of Grapes, Edgartown Books and Phillips Hardware. For more information, visit Thomasdresser.com Thanks for reading, Tom Dresser |
June 12, 2020
Good Day – The death of George Floyd continues to resonate across the country and around the world. America finds itself at a crossroads of racial awareness. Protests in more than 650 communities, from Martha’s Vineyard to Boston, from New York to New Orleans, from Minneapolis to Los Angeles, have awakened the American spirit to acknowledge that Black lives matter, that police brutality is evident and we must correct the harmful inequities caused by years of racial injustice. *** In the antebellum era, Martha’s Vineyard played a role in the Underground Railroad. By the end of the 19th century Black tourists viewed the Vineyard as a refuge from the strictures of Jim Crow. A Black community emerged on the Vineyard. Former slave and hotelier Charles Shearer opened Shearer Cottage in 1912, catering to vacationing Blacks. [Due to the coronavirus, Shearer Cottage will not open this year.] Reverend Oscar Denniston, from Jamaica, ran the Bradley Mission in Oak Bluffs for forty years. His mission was to serve the Black community as well as work with immigrants learning American customs. By the late 1940s, Ebony magazine defined Oak Bluffs as the premier vacation destination for African Americans on the east coast. From Dorothy West mentoring aspiring writers at Inkwell Beach to the current Oak Bluffs police chief Erik Blake who is the head of the local chapter of the NAACP, the spirit of Martha’s Vineyard reflects the African American community. Black lives matter. *** In 2010, I published African Americans of Martha’s Vineyard; it has proven the best selling book in my Vineyard history series. On June 22, 2020 The Rise of Tourism on Martha’s Vineyard will be published by The History Press. Autographed copies of the book should be available at Bunch of Grapes, Edgartown Books and Phillips Hardware. For more information, visit Thomasdresser.com Next week: Two Bridges and Two Presidents Thanks for reading, Tom Dresser July 24, 2020 Good Day - What are the chances my new book would be about tourism and published in the midst of a devastating pandemic which has severely curtailed the tourism industry? This year vacations are few. Travel is a challenge or not permitted. Social distancing is de rigueur. Masks are mandatory. Who wants to be a tourist in this atmosphere? Is the alternative to stay home and avoid new adventures? No. I offer options to virtually tour Martha’s Vineyard through the events listed below. It’s not too late to temporarily escape the traumatic trifecta of the pandemic, the economic recession and the response to systemic racism imposed by decades of white supremacy. Take a deep breathe and step into the pages of history to savor what life was like for tourists of Martha’s Vineyard through the years. And what it will be again. Make the summer of 2020 work for you. And Stay Safe, Thanks for your support, Tom Dresser Enjoy these upcoming events:
Reviews to review:
For more information, visit thomasdresser.com |