Margo on the Go: Oak Bluffs (2015)

In Washington, DC in August, sometimes we like to dream about summer getaways. Past and future. I am thinking about my time in Oak Bluffs in Martha's Vineyard. Two summer ago.

Vineyard Sound-bedazzled by pastels

In the summer of 2015, I got to go to Martha’s Vineyard twice. Thanks to my son’s excellent summer “job” as a member of the a cappella group The Vineyard Sound, who sang for their shellfish suppers all over the island for three months.

The first time I went in June, I went with my friend Judy and stayed in Edgartown at the fabulous fancy Harbor View Inn.

They wear these proudly

But the second time, in August, my friend Kathleen and I stayed in Oak Bluff’s…or as the tour guide put it “oh you’re slumming, huh?” The good navy blue-blazered, lobster-clad people of Edgartown might think so, but let's just say OB has a very different vibe. Oak Bluffs has lots of “bahs.” If you don’t go to The Ritz and see Johnny Hoy and the Bluefish, you are making a terrible mistake.

Pepto door and chairs

In Oak Bluffs you move from pastels to technicolor. Oak Bluffs is essentially is fairyland full of bright gardens and Victorian gingerbread houses, a glorious center green called Ocean Park, fine dining, a sea walk and beaches to die for. It is also a landing for the island ferry. You can see the huddled masses arrive every day. They arrive huddled, they depart heroic, heroic with tan and rest and crustacean satiety. They also serve as constant fodder for the natives.

Ocean Park

Those natives are something else. It’s as if they think they own the island or something. Which they do, most of the year. They bitch about the Presidents tying up “traffic.” Coming from Washington DC, voted worst traffic area in the country, I say what traffic? Admittedly your ice cream could melt on your way into Edgartown from Oak Bluffs on a Friday night, but what is the rush anyway? If you’re in a rush, you are still in mainland mentality.

Hail Victoria

My stay was toward the end of “the season.” My cab driver fell into a sort of silent, smiling reverie when I asked him a question. He apologized and said he can “feel” the end of summer coming. He claimed the air feels different and the light is changing.

Iroquois Cottage

We had a great stay at the Narragansett House. After the Harbor View Inn, I was prepared for a letdown, but this place was utterly charming, rocking chairs on the porch, lush gardens, ocean breezes. We had a room in the Iroquois Cottage with our own balcony.

Margo on the Go says Go! Go once, go twice, go for the whole summer, go every summer. A little Fantasia awaits in Oak Bluffs.