Grand Illumination Night at the Camp Meeting Ground, Oak Bluffs, Martha’s Vineyard. c. 1990. By Paul Goldfinger, silver gelatin print. © Click to enlarge.
Deb Cuddhy, the manager of The Hub bookstore at Auditorium Square Park, found out about Illumination Nights last summer when some guests from Martha’s Vineyard visited the shop. She is initiating a revival of Illumination Night in Ocean Grove on August 7, 2014.
In Oak Bluffs on the island of Martha’s Vineyard, a camp meeting community was formed in 1835, complete with tents and an open Tabernacle. The Campground was founded by Methodists, and later the tents gave way to cottages of the “Carpenter’s Gothic” style, built on leased lots. Sound familiar?
Oak Bluffs cottages at the Campground. This photo is from their CMA website.
One of the customs that developed there was an event called Grand Illumination Night which occurred every August before the start of the Camp Meeting week. All the cottages were decorated with Chinese lanterns, and there were community sings in the Tabernacle along with concerts. That community still exists along with 300 of those small houses, and Grand Illumination Night still occurs and is very popular with tourists. Eileen and I stumbled on the event while spending a weekend in Oak Bluffs.
In Ocean Grove, around 1870, they had the first Lake Carnival which was a “grand illlumination.” Unlike the MV event which was land based, this was held along the banks of Wesley Lake. In 1885 The Ocean Grove Record* reported that every house and hotel was decorated, there were fireworks, lanterns, pageantry, and “immense crowds” estimated at 40,000 people. (Imagine finding a place to park your horse!) That custom disappeared from OG in the mid-20th century.
19th century Ocean Grove** Note the Japanese lanterns hanging from the porch. Bicycles also (Look Ma—-no locks) click to enlarge
For the Aug. 7 event, Deb wants to start a new tradition and is encouraging tenters and others in town to put out lanterns (the flameless kind) on their porches and shrubs. If you stop by the Hub, they will have live music starting at 7:30 pm and light refreshments for sale–there will be picnic tables provided. Come out and see the lights in the park, tents and elsewhere.
BLOSSOM DEARIE: From Oklahoma by Rodgers and Hammerstein.
* Holy Leisure by Troy Messenger, 1999, Univ of Minnesota Press
** Photo from Ted Bell’s book “Images of America: Ocean Grove” 2000: Arcadia Publishing.
The Hub is selling lanterns and will have a “paint your own lantern” event at the Hub on Tuesday, Aug 5, from 6-7 pm. OG artist Sue Gioulis will be present to assist. This event is free, and water paints are provided. Please RSVP to Deb if you want to attend.
“At the Hop” is the song sung by Danny and the Juniors, but I like Hilda10’s Hub version better.
Hilda: Good one! Danny and the Juniors were in the GA for the last Doo Wops and they sang your Hub song.
Correct Paul. Also, you noted the wrong Theme Song somewhere for The Hub. It’s actually “Let’s go to The Hub, oh baby, …” remember that one?
I think Deb chose August 7 because that was one of the few summer nights where not much was happening in the Grove.
Googling for August 7 lantern celebrations reveals that various groups across the country are lighting lanterns for peace on that date, taking note of August 6 as the anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima. Perhaps the correlation is accidental?
I suspect the connection between the Camp Meeting Association and Chinese decorations has to do with the missionaries in China during the 19th century. Also Americans were in China at that time with the military—remember the Sand Pebbles?
Grovers: Light em’ if you got em’