Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts Official seal of Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts Name Change from Cottage City to Oak Bluffs 1907 Oak Bluffs is a town positioned on the island of Martha's Vineyard in Dukes County, Massachusetts, United States.
The first inhabitants of Oak Bluffs were the Wampanoag citizens , who have lived on Martha's Vineyard (Wampanoag name: Noepe) for approximately 10,000 years. The region that is now Oak Bluffs was called "Ogkeshkuppe," which means "damp/wet thicket or woods." The town re-incorporated in 1907 as Oak Bluffs, titled because the town was the site of an oak grove along the bluffs overlooking Nantucket Sound.
Oak Bluffs was the only one of the six suburbs on the island to be consciously planned, and the only one advanced specifically with tourism in mind.
Drawn to the harbors of Oak Bluffs in the late 1800s, freed slaves and workers began settling there.
Seeking to take favor of the camp's cyclic popularity (and overflowing population), the developers established Oak Bluffs Land and Wharf Company, gaining immediate success: Five hundred lots were sold between 1868 and 1871.
Oak Bluffs is the one of the earliest prepared residentiary communities and largely informed later suburban evolution in the United States. Some of the earliest visitors to the region that became Cottage City and later Oak Bluffs were Methodists, who gathered in the oak grove each summer for multi-day theological "camp meetings" held under large tents and in the open air.
For a time, a narrow-gauge stockyards carried curious travelers from the steamship wharf in Oak Bluffs to Edgartown, running along tracks laid on what is now Joseph Sylvia State Beach.
In 1884, the Flying Horses Carousel was brought to Oak Bluffs from Coney Island and installed a several blocks inland from the ocean, where it remains in operation today.
Hart when he purchased a lot from the Oak Bluffs Land and Wharf Company.
The improve later moved in 1911 to its present locale between Oak Bluffs town and Edgartown.
According to the United States Enumeration Bureau, the town has a total region of 26.0 square miles (67 km2), of which, 7.4 square miles (19 km2) of it is territory and 18.6 square miles (48 km2) of it (71.61%) is water.
In terms of territory area, the town is 323rd out of 351 communities in the Commonwealth, and the third smallest improve (behind Aquinnah and Tisbury) in Dukes County.
Oak Bluffs is bordered by Nantucket Sound to the north and east, Edgartown to the south, and Vineyard Haven Harbor, Lagoon Pond and Tisbury to the west.
The town shares Sengekontacket Pond with Edgartown, with the town's territory ending at Sarson's Island, but wrapping around the waters around Felix Neck into Major's Cove.
Oak Bluffs Fishing Pier There are four enhance beaches in the town: Eastville Beach, facing Vineyard Haven Harbor and adjoining to the entrance to Lagoon Pond; Oak Bluffs Town Beach or The" Inkwell" is the name of the prominent beach incessanted by African Americans beginning in the late nineteenth century.
To transform this odious nickname into an emblem of pride, bordering Nantucket Sound just south of the Steamship Authority Pier; Hart Haven Beach, further to the south; and Joseph Sylvia State Beach, a barrier beach (shared by Oak Bluffs and Edgartown) that separates Sengekontacket Pond from Nantucket Sound.
The lesser of the two is spanned by the Veterans of Foreign Wars Bridge, which lies wholly inside Oak Bluffs, and the larger by the American Legion Bridge, the midpoint of which is the boundary between Oak Bluffs and Edgartown.
Oak Bluffs has a small, tightly enclosed harbor that draws large numbers of recreational boaters, and serves as a year-round home port to a small number of fishing boats.
Oak Bluffs is also the site of Trade Winds Airport, a private grass landing strip positioned just north of Sengekontacket Pond.
Like other suburbs in Southeastern Massachusetts, Oak Bluffs has had a large Portuguese-American populace since the late 19th century.
In the town, the populace was spread out with 22.6% under the age of 18, 6.0% from 18 to 24, 31.9% from 25 to 44, 24.8% from 45 to 64, and 14.8% who were 65 years of age or older.
Oak Bluffs rates 263rd in populace in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and third in Dukes County (behind Edgartown and Tisbury).
It is 173rd in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in terms of populace density, and second behind Tisbury in Dukes County.
On the nationwide level, Oak Bluffs is a part of Massachusetts's 9th congressional district, and is presently represented by Bill Keating.
On the state level, Oak Bluffs is represented in the Massachusetts House of Representatives as a part of the Barnstable, Dukes and Nantucket district, which includes all of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket, as well as a portion of Falmouth.
The town is represented in the Massachusetts Senate as a portion of the Cape and Islands district, which includes all of Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket and most of Barnstable County (with the exception of Bourne, Sandwich, Falmouth and a portion of Barnstable). The town is home to the Fifth Barracks of Troop D of the Massachusetts State Police, which serves all of Dukes County. Oak Bluffs is governed on the small-town level by the open town meeting form of government, and is led by a board of selectmen.
The town has its own police and fire departments, with the police being positioned near Oak Bluffs Harbor and the fire department being more centrally positioned in the town.
The postal service is positioned just east of the Vineyard Camp Meeting Association lands, as is Oak Bluffs Public Library, which is a member of the Cape Libraries Automated Materials Sharing library network.
Oak Bluffs is also home to Martha's Vineyard Hospital, just northeast of the Lagoon, which serves all of the island.
Notable inhabitants and former inhabitants of Oak Bluffs: Ocean Park gazebo, Oak Bluffs.
"City-Data: Oak Bluffs, MA".
"TOTAL POPULATION (P1), 2010 Enumeration Summary File 1, All County Subdivisions inside Massachusetts".
"1990 Enumeration of Population, General Population Characteristics: Massachusetts" (PDF).
"1980 Enumeration of the Population, Number of Inhabitants: Massachusetts" (PDF).
Station D-5, SP Oak Bluffs Wikimedia Commons has media related to Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts.
Oak Bluffs travel guide from Wikivoyage Town of Oak Bluffs Municipalities and communities of Dukes County, Massachusetts, United States Aquinnah Chilmark Edgartown Gosnold Oak Bluffs Tisbury West Tisbury
Categories:
Martha's Vineyard - Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts - Populated coastal places in Massachusetts - Populated places established in 1642 - Towns in Dukes County, Massachusetts - Towns in Massachusetts - 1642 establishments in Massachusetts
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