The Cottagers at 70

The Martha’s Vineyard Museum was filled to capacity on Thursday, June 11, to hear a distinguished panel discuss the history, legacy, resiliency, and power of community among the Cottagers, who are, as moderator Linda Moffat said, “generations of black women who have shown up, spoken out, and lifted others along the way for 70 years.” She continued, “Let’s take that in. Seventy years of black women shaping the Vineyard in ways both seen and unseen. Now that doesn’t happen by accident, but through commitment, courage, and community.” 

The Cottagers, Inc., is a prestigious, philanthropic group of Black women homeowners on Martha’s Vineyard. The 100 women who make up the organization band together to promote cultural pride by fundraising for charitable, educational, and community service projects that improve the quality of life on their beloved Island. 

It all began in 1956, when summer resident Thelma Garland Smith spearheaded the founding of the Cottagers after overhearing a white woman make negative comments about the Black Oak Bluffs community. At the time, a little more than 30 Black families came to Oak Bluffs for summer vacations. The women often gathered for coffee and conversation, and at one of their coffee klatches, someone suggested that they each donate $10 as a token of appreciation to the hospital. Three hundred dollars was collected and given in the name of “the Cottagers” — and a tradition of philanthropy and camaraderie was born.

In her remarks, current President Patricia Bush emphasized, “Over the years, our mission has remained remarkably consistent with the vision of our founders … By anchoring membership in homeownership, [the founders] created a structure that encouraged families to maintain roots on the Island. Just as homes were passed from one generation to the next, so were traditions, values, and relationships. They created a sisterhood. Because of that vision, the Cottagers have maintained many of the customs and practices established by its founders while continuing to evolve and remain relevant in changing times.”

Jocelyn Coleman-Walton, who became summer treasurer in 2009, spoke about some of the events the Cottagers had organized over the years to raise funds, events she had become intimately familiar with early in her time with them. Among them were the fashion show, Trivia and Treasures, where members would sell preowned items, and the annual house tour, which still draws visitors from off-Island. Recent donations have gone to Island Grown Initiative and its Food Pantry, the Martha’s Vineyard Cancer Support Group, the Vineyard House, Harbor Homes, and scholarships for high school students.

“There has always been a sense of pride and delight in a job well done,” says Coleman-Walton. Since that first $300 donation, the Cottagers have given $340,000 to date. “We have made an impact on this Island through who we are and our commitment.”

Jennifer Smith Turner spoke about the sense of sisterhood that permeates the organization. “It goes way beyond what we do as Cottagers in supporting other organizations. It’s the friendships that form. They add depth to what you experience day to day, and to the commitment.” With everything that needs to get done, part of being a Cottager is serving on two committees. Smith Turner reflects on the collective expertise of the women: “We could build countries and make them run. It’s unbelievable how many skills everyone brings to a particular step in the process.” Many of the Cottagers have or currently run organizations, and are used to supervising others. “And then suddenly we find ourselves being very hands-on,” Smith Turner observes. “As a body politic, we know that we are better and stronger when we work together.”

Nowhere has working together been more important of late than in the renovation of the organization’s home. As the Black community grew, so did membership, and the tradition of meeting in each other’s homes was no longer adequate. There was also a pressing need for a gathering place for the community’s youth. In 1968, under the presidency of Maggie Alston, the Cottagers voted to buy the old town hall on Pequot Avenue, purchase three lots on Wamsutta Avenue, and apply for incorporation. They named their building Cottagers’ Corner, which by 2019 needed preservation and renovation.

Leah Brown, one of the five members of the Cottage Home Improvement Committee, shared the journey, which began with restoring the crumbling foundation, followed by redesigning and restoring the interior. “We have basically preserved the history with a modern flair,” says Brown. She gives an example, explaining that, in addition to having once been a town hall and firehouse, the building was also a jail. “So, the wallpaper in the bathrooms we used is striped. It’s basically a modern take on what the house used to be.”
Clearly, the organization lives up to the quote on its website from Maggie Alston: “The Cottagers, Inc., is the most hard-working ‘vacation’ group around.”