Tabernacle's Birthday Celebrated with History, Song and Applause

More than 2,000 people gathered in the Tabernacle Saturday night to celebrate the structure's 125th birthday.

Grandparents, grandchildren, and everyone in between filled the rows, sitting on some of the same benches used in the 1800s, when the religious campers gathered under the oak trees and the canvas tent that predated the Tabernacle's construction in 1879.

"It had begun to look its age - and so have I," said the evening's host, newsman and Vineyard Haven summer resident Mike Wallace, complimenting achievements of the Tabernacle's current restoration project.