Island Architecture

Martha's Vineyard has a remarkable variety of architecture that reflects its long colonial history, its economic success in the whaling era, and its emergence as a popular summer resort. Most of the Island's historical buildings are still in use as homes and stores, creating a unique sense of identity far removed from the standardized "mall style" of business areas found in much of America.

The English settlers arrived on Vineyard shores only twenty-two years after the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth in 1642. They built simple homes that reflected both their religious beliefs and the challenges of Island living. The Puritan church frowned on any ostentatious display, so the wealthy usually chose to live as simply as their less successful neighbors. They built one-story houses out of wood, and covered them with long shingles. They kept their homes low to the ground so they would not be battered by the lashing winter winds. The Island offers visitors many examples of such Cape houses, some of which actually date from the late 17th century. The Vincent House Museum (1672), on Main Street in Edgartown, offers the visitor an opportunity to visit the interior of such a home and visualize life in its two front rooms and large back "keeping" room (a room where kitchen items were kept).

As time passed, people began to add a second story to the Cape style to create Colonial houses. The Thomas Cooke House (1765) at the Vineyard Museum on School Street in Edgartown is one of many remarkable examples of Colonial architecture on the Island. Ironically, the Vineyard has almost no Salt Boxes, another popular style in the colonial period, or at least did not until the late 20th century, when developers built them, assuming they represented the historical style of the island.

Possibly because few new settlers came to the Vineyard in the 18th century, the Island's architecture ignored most of the changes of the Georgian period (1720-1780). Instead, Island builders concentrated on expanding the Cape and Colonial style house to create a more comfortable lifestyle. The early central fireplace was often replaced with one at each end, a change that allows for warmer rooms, wider staircases, a middle hall, and increased privacy. Seventeenth century casement windows give way to double-hung ones. Small windows or lights were added over the paneled front door to provide illumination in the hall, and summer kitchens were added on at the back. The front of the houses were sometimes clapboarded, but it was still considered pretentious not to use shingles on the other sides. (You can still see this odd style on the Island, although today it represents a desire to use the expensive painted clapboards on only one side.)

The new wealth of the 19th century whaling era brought show-off architecture to the Vineyard for the first time. Whaling investors and captains vied with each other to demonstrate their success through the grandeur of their homes, which face the tempestuous winter winds with the same courage as the whalers did the ocean waves. Magnificent examples of their efforts can be found not only in Edgartown and Vineyard Haven, but all over the Island, since not all retired captains wanted to live near the sea. Many chose to return to the original farm communities—which explains the row of beautiful Classical Revival homes on Music Street in West Tisbury.

The underlying principle of the Classical Revival period is that a building should create a sense of balance and proportion. The Federated Church and the Old Whaling Church in Edgartown represent some of the finest examples of this style still in existence today. The Island also offers some silly examples of homes created by local carpenters who got their details from books such as Abner's Companion for Builders, but did not understand how to put them together.

It is typical of Martha's Vineyard's idiosyncratic vision of life that many Island writers refuse to accept the standard definitions of 19th century architecture, which creates a great deal of confusion for both residents and visitors. Off-Island scholars define Federalism (1776-1840) as a style that uses Romanesque detail, and Greek Revival (1840-1865), as the name suggests, as one that relies on Greek elements. Islanders, on the other hand, often define any building that developed out of the four-square Colonial style as "Federal," regardless of the date or style of detail. They reserve the term "Greek Revival" for a house in which the door has been pulled around to the end under the triangular peak of the roof.

Oak Bluffs, which began as a Methodist Camp Meeting site in 1834, has a very different style from the rest of the Island. Visitors to the early meetings lived in tents, but after the Civil War, the tents were replaced by permanent Gingerbread (think Hansel and Gretel) houses. John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, sought a more loving, personal approach to God than that offered by either the formal Anglican Church of England or the dour Puritan sect. The spontaneity of his approach is reflected in Oak Bluffs' cottages, which reject both the elegant balance of the Classical Revival period and the heavy Victorian style. Their combination of bright colors, stained glass, turrets, and all manner of Gothic detail is unforgettable. Trinity United Methodist Church (1878), in the center of the Campgrounds, is a miniature wooden Gothic cathedral. It stands next to the open-air Tabernacle (1879), the largest iron structure in existence, listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Cottage City Museum in the same area is housed in one of the original homes, and gives one a real sense of how tiny the cottages are.

The early 20th century saw the development of the Camp Houses, large shingled summer homes that can be seen in East and West Chop and on the waterfront around the Island. They were built by wealthy off-Islanders who wanted to experience a simple rustic existence when they came to the Vineyard.

Today, in addition to its many historic homes, Martha's Vineyard offers many distinguished examples of modern architecture; so be sure to keep your eyes open as you explore the Island!

The History Of Martha's Vineyard
The African Diaspora
The Wampanoag Indian Tribe