Preservation Massachusetts celebrates its 40th anniversary by honoring four nominated individuals and 26 exemplary historic preservations across the commonwealth. The Martha’s Vineyard Camp Meeting Association (MVCMA) Tabernacle is a recipient of the 2025 Menino Legacy Award. The Mayor Thomas M. Menino Legacy Award celebrates projects that are transformative, are catalytic, embrace the community, create partnerships, and revitalize the best of the past to make something good for the future.
The Tabernacle at Oak Bluffs symbolizes community, continuity, and cultural identity for Martha’s Vineyard and beyond. Built in 1879 to replace a canvas tent used for Methodist revivals, the Tabernacle was designed by architect J.W. Hoyt of Springfield.
“This year’s award recipients demonstrate successful historic preservation contributions in communities across the commonwealth,” said Jessica Rudden-Dube, executive director of Preservation Massachusetts.
In 2001, DBVW Architects partnered with MVCMA to create a phased preservation master plan. The most recent and final phase, completed in 2024, included the removal of a deteriorating 1930s-era corrugated asbestos-cement roof, replaced with nonhazardous fiber-cement panels. An accessible lift to the stage and life-safety upgrades ensured the structure serves all members of the community equitably and safely.
“It is a distinct honor for the Tabernacle project to be awarded,” said MVCMA Board President Sherrie Saint-Amant. “We are grateful to a long list of generous donors who made this project successful, including tremendous support from the towns of Oak Bluffs, Tisbury, Aquinnah, Chilmark, Edgartown, and West Tisbury.”
For more information about the Preservation Massachusetts awards, visit preservationmass.org, and for more information about the MVCMA, including a list of summer events in and around the Tabernacle, visit mvcma.org.
