Historic Nantucket
The Civil War Monument Monument Square in 1898 — 75 years ago
APRIL 1973
Published Quarterly by N ANTUCKET HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION NANTUCKET. MASSACHUSETTS
NANTUCKET HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION OFFICERS President, Henry B. Coleman Vice-Presidents, W. Ripley Nelson. George W. Jones. Alcon Chadwick. Albert F. Egan, Jr., Mrs. Edith C. Andrews, Walter Beinecke, Jr. Honorary Vice Presidents, Miss Grace Brown Gardner, Mrs. William L. Mather Secretary, Albert G. Brock Treasurer, John N. Welch Councillors, Henry B. Coleman, Chairman; Mrs. H- Crowell Freeman, Mrs. Charles Clark Coffin, terms expire 1972; Henry Mitchell Havemeyer, David Worth, terms expire 1973: Mrs. Richard Swain, Bernard Grossman, terms expire 1974; Robert Metters, George A. Snell, terms expire 1975. Administrator, Leroy H. True Curator, Miss Dorothy Gardner Historian, Edouard A. Stackpole Honorary Curator, Mrs. William L. Mather Editor, "Historic Nantucket'', Edouard A. Stackpole; Assistant Editor, Mrs. Merle Turner Orleans.
STAFF Oldest House: Chairman, Mrs. J. Clinton Andrews Receptionists. Mrs. Charles Barr, Miss Adeline Cravott Hadwen House-Satler Memorial: Chairman, Mrs. Charles Clark Coffin 0 House: Receptionist, Mrs. John Kittila Old Gaol: Chairman. Albert G. Brock; Receptionist, Hugh MacVicar Whaling Museum: Chairman, Hugh R. Chace, Manager, David Allan, Re ceptionists, Clarence H. Swift, Mrs. Reginald Hussey, Mrs. Harold Killen, Mrs. Joan Gallagher, Jesse Dunham. Peter Foulger Museum: Chairman and Director, Edouard A. Stackpole Receptionists, Mrs. Elizabeth B. Worth, Mrs. Clara Block, Everett Fihlay Christian House: Chairman, Mrs. John A. Baldwin Receptionists, Mrs. Noreen Shea, Miss Eleanor Phinney, Mrs. Sarah Morris Archaeology Dept.: Chairman, Paul C. Morris, Jr. Old Town Office: Chairman, Hugh R. Chace Old Mill: Chairman, Richard F. Swain Receptionist, Miss Helen MacDonald Folger-Franklin Seat & Memorial Boulder: Chairman, Francis Sylvia Friends Meeting House-Fair Street Museum: Chairman, Mrs. Harding U. Greene
HISTORIC NANTUCKET Published quarterly and devoted to the preservation of Nantucket's antiquity, its famed heritage and its illustrious past as a whaling port. VOLUME 20
NO. 4
Nantucket Historical Association Officers and Staff
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Editorial
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Administrator's Report
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Who Painted the Portrait of Mary Gardner Coffin? by Margaret Greene
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A Banquet of Perceptions by Renny A. Stackpole
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"Th Path Along the Bluff" by Edouard A. Stackpole
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Audubon's Letter from Nantucket
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Legacies and Bequests
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Historic Nantucket is published quarterly at Nantucket, Massachusetts, by the Nantucket Historical Association. It is sent to Association Members. Extra copies S.50 each. Membership dues are — Annual-Active $5.00 ; Sustaining $25.00 ; Life — one payment $100.00. Second-class postage paid at Nantucket, Massachusetts. Copyright 1973, Nantucket Historical Association. Communications pertaining to the Publication should be addressed to the Editor, Historic Nantucket, Nantucket Hstorical Association, Nantucket, Massachusetts 02554.
Admiral Sir Isaac Coffin This portrait of the American-born British Admiral has been loaned by Mr. L. Manlius Sargent, of Dedham, and now hangs in the Peter Foulger Museum. Admiral Coffin came to Nan tucket in 1826 and at this time arranged to endow a school on the island in memory of his ancestor Tristram Coffin, one of the first settlers on Nantucket, and the Coffin School came into existence the following year. In 1810, while Admiral Cof fin was in command of H. M. S. Alligator, he visited Boston. At this time his portrait was painted by Gilbert Stuart, the famous artist. It was owned by the Admiral's cousin in Boston, Thomas Amory, and later a copy was painted by an artist named Horace R. Burdick.
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Editorial In recent months, through the initiative of Administrator True, the attic of the Whaling Museum has undergone a period of concentrated clearing, with much of its contents checked and considerable material transferred to other locations. Serving as volunteers during this process, Mrs. Mallery Boynton and Mrs. Alfred Amey contributed to the work of this enterprise, which involved paintings, prints, books, antiques and manuscripts, as well as old newspapers, ship models and framed photographs. There is an excellent reason for this accumulation of material in this location. Over two decades ago, it was decided that the Whaling Museum's cavernous attic would make the best storage place for articles that had not been on exhibit for several years, as well as materials that took up all the available storage space at Fair Street and were tucked away in other places. In the gatherings of these various items, large and small, during the years since that time, the Whaling Museum became literally jammed with a wide range of articles. In culling the segregated material a number of interesting items were selected for exhibit at Fair Street and the Peter Foulger Museum. Some valuable account books have been trans ferred, and a collection of old glass negatives are to be re claimed. A number of portraits and prints are to be restored, as well as sundry articles removed to another storage area. As was to be expected, there was also material that has little historic value, such as modern "tourist baskets," picture frames, and modern printings. Space, always valuable in museums, is especially cherished in the Whaling Museum, which for years has served as a reposi tory. The renovation of the basement, under the direction of W. Ripley Nelson, led to the salvaging of much needed space where a series of shops related to whaling were set up. Hugh Chace, the new Chairman of the Museum, has definite plans for refurbishing other areas in the building. All of which leads to the query: "Have you reviewed the collection in your attic recently?" Perhaps you have one or two articles of Nantucket historical value which should be transferred to the Whaling Museum or the Peter Foulger, to be recorded and classified. Spring is usually the time of year for house cleaning and the attic should not be forgotten. Who knows what treasures have lain half-forgotten in dusty corners over the years!
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Administrator's Report Miss Hanna Monaghan willed us her home "Greater Light" on Howard Street to be used as a museum. Plans for accepting and operating this are being considered. Two rather sizable gifts have been received to make possible some "digs" by both professional and amateur archaeologists and two such programs are being planned for the summer. One will be under the charge of the Committee Chairman, Mr. Paul C. Morris, and the other of Mr. John Gilbert and Rev. Edward B. Anderson. Plans are being considered for observing the National Con servation week of May 6th and for leading or actively participat ing in our country's Bicentennial Anniversary. Both are important to our organization but as of this writing, there is nothing more to report. Col. A. M. Murray and Wesley A. Fordyce have contributed to our volunteer program and have been tremendously helpful in repairing and restoring many valuable artifacts long put aside for need of attention. A wave of robberies in Historical Museums, especially in the Boston area, has caused us concern lest it spread to Nan tucket. Our alarm system and an alert police force give us con siderable security but all of us must be constantly vigilant. Mrs. Harding U. Greene, Chairman of the Fair Street Museum, is working on plans for this exhibit. It will not be regu lated to a specific era or type but we have a great many old and valuable items which do not fit into our other exhibits but should be displayed for public information and appreciation. Through the removal of two small partitions at the Whaling Museum, we have acquired extra space around the admission desk and expect to fill this area with an appropriate exhibit. Mr. Stackpole's Nantucket pictures and lectures at the Peter Foulger have proven very educational and entertaining and well attended. Also his aid to students and others doing research here and in answering no end of inquiries from away, even from foreign countries, is making a reality of the long-felt need of an expanding educational program. Leroy H. True
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Who Painted The Portrait Of Mary Gardner Coffin ? BY MARGARET GREENE
IN MARCH 1924 1 the Nantucket Historical Association acquired an unsigned portrait of a woman identified since time remem bered as Mary Gardner Coffin. She and her husband Jethro Coffin were the first occupants of the house now known as the Oldest House on island. Though keeping in mind the eccentricities of tradition, there has never been any reason to doubt the identity of the sitter. For many years at Fair Street, the'portrait is now at the Peter Foulger Museum. Over the years, however, the identity of the painter has been subjected to constant if casual scrutiny, and it is our purpose to track the available commentary from the earliest to the present. It is helpful to begin with a few recorded dates, relating them throughout to this discussion; a rather cavalier disregard for the passage of time having characterized the attributions of the past and not so far past. According to the Vital Records of Nan tucket: 2 Coffin, Jethro, h. Mary . . s. Peter . . and Abigail, born 16,"9 mo. 1663 3 Coffin, Mary w. Jethro . . d. John and Priscilla . . 27 . . 5 mo. 1670 (in Salem) 4 Mary and Jethro were married in 1686,5 making her a very young bride of 16. Starbuck 6 records that all eight of their children were born on Nantucket between 1689 and some years after 1704. And then in 1707 the Oldest House was sold to Nathaniel Paddack.7 Then the following entries come from the Annals of the Town of Mendon,8 in the Uxbridge-Whitinsville area of Massachusetts: p. 167 . . Boston the 27th. of May 1713. The petition of Jethro Coffin, of Mendon, Mumbly Sheweth, that whereas the Gen eral Court of the late Colony of the Massachusetts, in the year Nantucket Historical Association Files. No. 2685 March 1924. Vital Records of Nantucket to the Year 1850 N.E. Historic Genealogical Society, Boston. 3 V.R.N. 1925 BIRTHS Vol. 1 p. 286. 4 V.R.N. 1926 BIRTHS Vol. 2 p. 57. 5 Oldest House on Nantucket Island, Tristram Coffin, Ed. Poughkeepsie, N.Y. 1911 p. 28. 6 History of Nantucket, Alex. Starbuck, Tuttle-Rutland, Vt. 1969 p. 703. 7 Oldest House, p. 30. 1
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Mary Gardner Coffin Portrait at the Peter Foulger Museum, Nantucket, Mass. Courtesy Frick Art Reference Library."
WHO PAINTED THE PORTRAIT OF MARY GARDNER COFFIN?
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1672, did Grant unto your Petitioner's Father, Peter Coffin, Esq. two hundred Acres of upland and about Thirty or Forty Acres of Meadow, which Grant your Petitioner's said Father was pleased by deed, to give and make over to your Petitioner, who herewith presents a Piatt of the Taking up and laying out of the same on the west side of the Township of Mendon . . . p. 179 . . (1718) . . June 23, Jethro Coffin was chosen "granjuriman," being the first notice of such an election . . . p. 181 . . 1719. Feb. 16 . . An account of ye Lots as Drawn for ye Seventh Devision. . . no. 39. Jethro Coffin . . . p. 187 . . 1720. March 7. Being the annual Town Meeting . . For Selectmen . . . Jethro Coffin . . . In the Nantucket Vital Records Jethro is listed as having died in 1726.9 In the Nantucket Probate Records there is no evidence that he made a will; nor is there record of probate when, many years later, Mary died in 1767, aged 97.'0 Over a century later, in 1887, Mrs. Eunice C. G. Brooks, a great, great, great, great grand-daughter of Mary Gardner Coffin, who had inherited the portrait, wrote: Nantucket, Feb. 17th, 1887. Captain Brooks took the por trait to the photographer yesterday and had it photographed. I send you the proof. The face looks just like that of the portrait, but the hair does not show in the painting very well, and it makes the proof look badly. If it were touched up with crayon it might improve it. The late Alan Burroughs of the Fogg Museum at Harvard, who was one of the first in the 1930s to take a professional interest in the very early New England portraits, once remarked that all unsigned portraits thought to have been painted in Boston were hopefully assigned to John Smibert or even more hopefully to John Singleton Copley; and such was the case here. The Boston Sunday Globe, Aug. 8, 1897, carried an article on Nantucket's Oldest House. The writer says: "Jethro Coffin and his wife were doubtless wealthy people, as is evidenced by the portrait of the latter, which still hangs in the house of Capt. Brooks on the Cliff. It was done by Copley, and Mrs. Coffin made three journeys to Boston for sittings to the famous artist." The editor of The Oldest House, who quoted this article, made short work of the Copley attribution by pointing out that at the time of Copley's birth (1738) Mary Gardner Coffin was approaching 70 years of age. Annals of the Town of Mendon, John G. Metcalf, Freeman Providence, R.I. 1880. 9 V.R.N. Vol. V DEATHS p. 162. V.R.N. Vol. V DEATHS p. 170. " 0. H. underneath photograph of portrait, p. 84. 8
Nhv
Ann Pollard Courtesy of the Massachusetts Historical Association
WHO PAINTED THE PORTRAIT OF MARY GARDNER COFFIN? 11
The accessions card (No. 2685) in the files of the Nantucket Historical Association has only the following entries under the date March 1924: "From Mrs. Eunice Gardner Brooks," and, "painted 1717." There is no mention of the three legendary trips to Boston cited by the Globe. Mrs. Brooks died without having made a will in 1924 and there is no mention of the portrait in the inventory of her estate. At this point we take up the comments of art "experts" and of students working in the field of primitive painting. They describe this portrait as in the European tradition, oval back ground, right arm crossed in front holding a flower in attenuated fingers, triangular neckline.12 In the files of the N.H.A. there is a letter to Dr. Will Gardner, then Vice-President, dated 1955 from Nathaniel Pousette-Dart whose letterhead reads "Art Con sultant, New York City." The gentleman states that he has ex amined the portrait carefully and considers it to have been undoubtedly done by John Smibert. 12
There seems no reason to dispute the date 1717 at which time Mary Gardner Coffin would have been 47. Miss Louisa Dresser to whom we will refer later, mentions that early artists fre quently derived costumes from prints and so Mary's can't be used as a basis for dating the painting.
Mr. Pousette-Dart either considered the portrait to be at least 12 years later than 1717 — but he doesn't say so; or he strangely ignored the dates of Smibert's years in this country. The latter's arrival in the entourage of Bishop Berkeley, Jan. 1729 at Newport, R. I., and his removal to Boston in May of that year are a matter of record. In any case, the discovery in 1958 of Smi bert's notebook, which is now preserved in the Public Record Office, London, and has been published by the Massachusetts Historical Society confirms the date:13 In September the 4th. 1728 I set out for Rhod Island from London in company with the Revd. Bean Berkeley &c in the Lucy . . . From May 1729 Smibert lists the portraits he painted in Boston and there is no mention of Mary Gardner Coffin. First Flowers of Our Wilderness, by James Thomas Flexner, first published in 1947, has this to day:14 "I tentatively attribute to the Pollard Limner the following portraits: (1) Mrs. Jethro Coffin (Mary Gardner) . . (3) Mrs. John Dolbeare . Flexner illustrates both Ann Pollard and Mrs. Dolbeare. The latter was no beauty but a relationship between the three portraits would
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seem to require investigation. While a technical analysis of the paintings is out of place here, Flexner calls it the "Artisan School." And he goes on to describe the portrait of Ann Pollard which is signed Aetatis Suae 100 & 3 months Apr. 11 1721 as the prototype and jewel of a group painted in Boston. The Pollard attribution should be understood to refer not necessarily to a single painter but to several working in the same manner. Not too long ago, Mary Black, Director of the Museum of Fork Art in New York City, cast her eye over Mary Gardner and left a short comment to be added to the Association file card. She noted the relationship to Ann Pollard. Finally our great thanks go to Miss Louisa Dresser, Curator of the Collections of the Worcester Art Museum. It was she who introduced me to the Annals of the Town of Mendon, thus re solving the problem of Mary's whereabouts in 1717 and the awkward matter of her three trips to Boston. And it is Miss Dresser who concludes her study of "portraits in Boston, 16301720" with Mrs. Coffin and Mrs. Pollard as examples of the socalled Thacher-Pollard group and the end of an era. For the moment, her discussion printed in the Journal of the Archives of the Smithsonian Institution (July-October 1966) is a point of rest in a continued effort to clear away confusion and piece together the existing bits of evidence. Notebook of John Smibert, Mass. Historical Society, Boston 1969. p. 86. 14 First Floivers of Our Wilderness, James Thomas Flexner, Dover 1969 p. 288 . . . Illustrations pps. 48 and 50. 13
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A Banquet of Perceptions Copyright 1971 by the National Association of Independent Schools
(From The Independent School Bulletin) BY RENNY A. STACKPOLE
TAKE A TWO AND ONE-HALF HOUR boat ride to a four teen by three-mile island, add an 1874 life-saving station, thirtyfive bicycles, enough food and bedding for a week, thirty thirteenyear-old boys, and some halcyon October days in southern New England; then mix thoroughly with the concept of total environ ment and you have prepared a unique recipe. The outcome is a banquet of perceptions related to a real educational experience. The Moses Brown School in Providence, Rhode Island, re cently completed such a program with its eighth grade on the island of Nantucket. The Headmaster, Peter Rhoades Mott, noted for his interest in ecology (see Art Education, October 1970), described the purpose of the program in environmental education as combating the "four-wall syndrome" of learning. Further more, each boy would come to grips with an extraordinary en vironment, all the while gaining a greater understanding of learning in the field. The mechanics of the trip were handled by the Head of the Middle School, Philip Rogers, and I was in charge of the overall coordination. The class was divided into two groups of thirty, each group enjoying five days on Nantucket. Three faculty and three seniors accompanied the boys. The voyage to the island on the steamer Nantucket provided the youngsters with the experience that accents the remoteness of an island. Arriving after dark, the students found the town shrouded in mystery as they were transported by bus to the lifesaving station, converted into a Youth Hostel, at Surfside. Gath ering in the common room of the structure, the boys listened as their names were called and they were assigned to watches. Similar to the system used by Outward Bound, the small watch (usually six boys) teaches each member the importance of group cooperation. As one boy said later, "we spent every day together and did everything together for five days. In those five days, I learned a lot about people, especially the people in my class." The boys did not have to be reminded that they were living in a place called "Surfside." The surf literally lulled them to sleep that first night — accompanied by the ever-popular ghost stories.
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The first day dawned clear and beautiful. One eager lad, expecting to be the first to rise, was surprised to find John Plummar, his teacher, busily concocting the scrambled eggs. After breakfast, the watches formed, and everyone walked three miles along a rutted road in the scrub pines to Surfside Road and town. The Old Mill, built in 1746, was the beginning of the group's survey of what is the mainstay of Nantucket's charm — her architecture. After being greeted by Edouard A. Stackpole of the Nantucket Historical Association, the boys proceeded on a ramble through the streets and lanes of the old town. There they were introduced to the colonial "lean-to" (called "salt box" on Cape Cod) dwellings of the seventeenth century, thence past splendid examples of Georgian, Federal, and Greek Revival houses, all the while learning how Nantucket matured from a small settlement to become the eighteenth century's whaling capital of the world.
Nantucket High School's Original Building An old woodcut shows the structure as it was erected in 1856 "What really interested me were those fine old houses in the town. It was really something to feel like you were back in the eighteen hundreds. One thing that really made the town look old was the cobblestone streets. I had never seen cobbles in my life," wrote Ricky Kovar. Eventually, the walk led the boys to Young's Bicycle Shop, where the lads were told by the glib proprietor that the bikes
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were theirs "to have, to hold, to cherish, to obey, to ride, and to have fun on. . . Bike riding around the island was the boys' most popular activity. Their senses were sharpened, their obser vations were keener, and they "really got to know the island and to breathe in the atmosphere," as one youngster observed. Lunch that day was a picnic on the beach near Brant Point lighthouse — the second oldest in the nation — and as the boys ate, they saw the dense morning fog clear away miraculously, revealing Nantucket's lovely four-mile-long harbor. At 1300 (during the week all time was entered into the log of experiences in naval time), the groups arrived at the Oldest House on Nantucket, built in 1686. At this national landmark, E. A. Stackpole, the most noted authority on the island's history, conducted the boys on a tour of the house and explained why the first settlers came to the island in 1659. From this site, the boys cycled to the Old North Graveyard, where they studied the stones and tried their luck at some rub bings, using shelf paper and large crayons. One Moses Brown boy found his own name, while another noticed that the early peo ples "died either very young, or very old," and that " a lot of them were captains lost at sea." By late afternoon of the first day, the boys had returned to the hostel. Two hours of free time had been set aside so that some could fish or swim in the surf, while others hiked up the wide white beach. After a Nantucket bluefish dinner, the boys watched a film depicting a boy's quest for his future in an early nineteenth century seaport town. Afterwards, they took turns stargazing through a telescope once owned by the famous Nantucket woman astronomer, Maria Mitchell. Although the first day had been a long one, at 0900 the next day thirty-five bicycles could be seen ascending the Shawkemo Hills around Nantucket harbor. There the boys got their first glimpse of the fall spectacular presented by the island's flora each year. Matthew Metcalf later wrote, "I liked the rolling vastness of the moors . . . the way the ground was covered with bear berries, the way it was like one long blanket. We were lucky to see it at its full splendor. The huckleberries were reddish brown. The thin sand roads that seemed to go forever also gave me a thrill." From Shawkemo the squadron of bikes made its way down another unpaved road to the Marine Biology Station of the Uni versity of Massachusetts at Quaise. There the group met Clinton Andrews, who delivered a stimulating talk on the evolution of the salt marsh, and then conducted an informal walk along the
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beach bordering' the inner harbor. Some boys investigated a manmade tidal pool; others collected shells; many others went swim ming. An interesting contrast was afforded the teachers on the trip — one to be related to all the boys, once back at Moses Brown. The first group of students visited Quaise during a Spring high tide and could witness the extraordinary high water carving new land formations on the shore. The second group, just a week later, saw an entirely different scene. A gale had hit the island shortly before the second group of boys arrived, and the beach was strewn with flotsam and hundreds of live scallops, mussels, and quarterdeck shells. That afternoon, the watches were assembled and everyone bicycled one mile to Polpis and the Hidden Forest. Of all the experiences scheduled, this one was the most popular with the boys. Charlie Clark wrote, "As you walk into the hidden forest you are filled with a curiosity. The surprise that you feel when you enter is astonishing. You start off in low brush and salt marshes and then you come to a vast forest with giant trees and a dark overcast put a shadow of suspicion about it. You ponder the question, Why and how did the forest get there and what must have gone on inside it." Arthur Albright noted, "When we entered the forest silence fell over the group, almost as if we were entering an entire new world." Many students who had read Tolkien's Hobbit likened the forest to descriptions of Mirkwood. The forest is situated on a private estate and not open to tourists or residents. The boys had a rare opportunity to see it. In the center of the forest is a large tree, beneath which an alleged treasure was hidden during the Revolutionary War. Prior to entering the forest the boys were told about the smuggling activity that took place during that era. Charles Clark, one of the eighth-graders, described the scene: "The chained oak itself is a quite large tree, having a wide base and very long, strong limbs. On the limbs were names of people and dates, some going back many years." The remainder of the second full day on Nantucket included a ride to Altar Rock and a panoramic view of the island from a one hundred-foot elevation (the second highest site on Nan tucket), an evening lecture on whaling by Mr. Stackpole, and more stargazing. We chose October as the ideal time for the Nantucket ad venture because of the lovely Indian Summer atmosphere. Never-
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theless, the weather can be perfidious, as I have already mentioned. As the third day dawned, the first group was greeted by more ideal weather, whereas the second group (one week later) exper ienced a gray rainy morning. I can best illustrate the uniqueness of Nantucket for this type of study program by listing the activities of the second group while they waited for the foul weather to improve. The boys were transported to town and the Quaker meeting house. After meeting, they toured the Fair Street Museum, the Old Mill's interior, the workshop of the famous Nantucket carver and model maker, Charles Sayle, and the waterfront. The most popular and lasting learning experience in the field was provided by the noted Nantucket naturalist, David Carson. For the better part of a day, each group walked and biked over the moors and through the pine forests with this remarkable man. John Pitts described the experience: "Mr. Carson . . . per iodically stopped us to point out interesting facts of the biosphere . . . like the bearberry (mealyplum) . . . the interesting land for mations like the ice-block lakes and ancient river valleys. Nan tucket is a natural wonder." Later on, as they were entering the pitch-pine plantation on the southern side of the outwash plain, the boys learned more about nature. "We saw strange deformed trees searching for the sun and crawling branches creeping along the ground looking for water . . . and the denseness of the branches. Strange plants were found, such as the white Indian Pipe and the Coral Mush room or Fungus." That evening Mr. Carson gave an illustrated talk about a summer trip to Mt. Robeson in British Columbia. On the last day, the boys were told to conduct an extra good clean-up of the hostel. After they had transported all their gear into town, they read on the itinerary sheet: "Tour Whaling Museum." Mitchell Tobin wrote later, "I expected a dull, boring, relic of the past which would be totally uninteresting. I was pleased to find it was quite the contrary. Fascinating, enthralling, appealing, are only some of the words that can be used to describe the museum." After entering, Tobin described "a short talk about how a whale was caught . . . using real harpoons and real whale boat. Mr. Stackpole showed how whales were speared and captured and we saw a huge skeleton of a sperm whale's jaw and teeth. Also . . . the top of a lighthouse, glass and all. Around the rooms various portraits of sea captains added to the decor of the walls." The Whaling Museum was a fitting climax for a busy five days. The strange admixture of Quakerism and whaling had pro duced the culture that was old Nantucket, and the Moses Brown
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boys had learned to perceive something of the past and present lives on the island. After their boat trip back to Wood's Hole and the return to Providence, the boys were asked to attend debriefing sessions. In addition, they composed essays about their impressions _ of Nantucket. Most of the essays reflected the depth of learning that can occur in an environmental program. Some remembered the Hidden Forest, while others, like Walter Kenyon, dedicated their recollections to the part of the moors called "Little Switzer land" by Nantucketers. "The rolling moors and the harbor off in the distance was fantastic. Another point of interest was the 'Footprint' Pond. It was a perfect likeness of a footprint." Bill Smith wrote that "on Nantucket are the only people that I can think of that care about their environment. . . ." Yet he continued by admitting that there were forces at work to build housing developments all over the island and, "if the land owners do this, they will wreck the whole effect of the moors. The moors give you a feeling of loneliness — they are beautiful. John Triedman noticed some areas already spoiled by tour ism and litter and noted, "In the bottom of a valley there was a stream, oily and reddish purple, and a wisp of diesel smoke wafted up from a noisy large engine. You can tell what was the most important thing I saw on Nantucket. I saw that it was being spoiled." Looking over the range of topics that we considered during the program, I think it is remarkable how much we accomplished. I can list the areas to which the boys were introduced and find such esoteric terms as icthyology, ornithology, marine biology, maritime history, and astronomy — to name a few. Moreover, the program reintroduced into the learning process that ingre dient of wonder so often missing in the classroom. Essays and debriefing conversations revealed the true sense of the program to be a keener understanding by each student of his fellow man, his environment, and what can be the adventure of learning.
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"The Path Along The Bluff" BY EDOUARD A. STACKPOLE
IN RECENT MONTHS there has been a considerable study made of roads and rights-of-way outside the perimeter of the town, and of the original layouts and acceptances by the town. Some of these ways have been difficult to trace but one of the most un usual has had the good fortune to have been carefully documented — the "Path Along the Bluff" — that extensive footpath which leads all the way from the village of 'Sconset to Sankaty Head. Situated as it is at the top of the bluff, always commanding intriguing glimpses of the sea and the heathland on either side, the "Path" curves and dips as it follows the conformation of the bluff, and provides an entirely unique opportunity -for a stroll to and from the famed lighthouse at Sankaty. Undoubtedly, the most unusual feature of the path is that it is public (being owned by the town) and yet that it leads directly across the front yards of all those owning property fronting on the bluff. A number of years ago there was an attempt by one property owner to close that section of the path running through her front lawn, but a decision rendered by the late Judge Davis of the Land Court upheld the town's contention that the "Path" was a public way. The owners of the adjacent fronting property have, in most cases, had their grounds landscaped, so that the stroller appar ently is walking on and across a series of front lawns and f?ar;dens, with only a gap in the hedges to locate the actual "Path. In other instances, the path winds through natural terrain and thickets and in one case wanders through a thicket of Scotch broom. For at least half its mile-length, however, the adjoining property owners have actually maintained the path for public use. But the fact that it does lead into and across private prop erty has not created a nuisance to the owners of the residences along the bluff. This result has been occasioned by a comparably simple fact that those who take advantage of the opportunity to walk the mile-long path are too deeply appreciative of the exper ience, and it is rare, indeed, that private property is not respected. The story of the origin of the "Path Along the Bluff" is interesting from both the legal and esthetic viewpoints. It began three quarters of a century ago, when a summer resident of Nantucket, William J. Flagg, decided to invest in a real estate development at the east end of the island. It was early in 1873 that Mr. Flagg obtained title to a large section of land between 'Sconset and Sankaty, in that por tion of the island laid out by the original Proprietors as "Plain-
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HISTORIC NANTUCKET
field," bordering on Sesachacha lots. Although the original title gave him ownership to the foot of the bluff itself, the "Pro prietors" reserved for themselves the beach land from the foot of the bluff to mean high water. This later became part of the present Codfish Park. At the same time, or soon after, Mr. Flagg acquired other land at the east end and made plans for dividing the section into house lots. He was careful, however, to run the easterly boundary of these lots at what he no doubt considered a safe distance from the edge of the bluff. The "Proprietors of the Common and Undivided Land," controlling as they did the outlying land on the island, were petitioned in July, 1883, by Mr. Flagg, for another set-off. The petitioned requested the Proprietors to ". . . set off to him [Flagg] by metes and bounds, all the common land lying eastward in the Plainfield division, and by the Atlantic house. Also, all lying between these lines and the lines of Squam division, except the Pond." The Proprietors duly convened to consider this petition, but it was some months later — December 8, 1883 — that they agreed to "set off the land to said Flagg" at the same time requesting him to "account said Proprietors with an equivalent of ten sheep commons;" also, "to secure to said Proprietors a roadway two rods wide, over and across those portions of land by him reserved as set forth in the quit claim deed from Flagg." This set-off by the Proprietors is entered in the town records under date of December 8, 1883, although it was decided upon three months previous. The grant reads: Pursuant to a vote of the Proprietors of the Com mon and Undivided Lands of the Island of Nantucket, passed Sept. 26, 1883, we have this day set off to William J. Flagg, of the city and State of New York, as follows: All the common land lying Eastward of the east line of the Plainfield Division and of the South line of said division of Plainfield on the South, and the south line of the Squam division on the North, with the under standing said Flagg will reconvey a certain portion thereof to said Proprietors, to be held in trust by them. This was signed by Andrew Myrick, William C. Folger and Allen Coffin, as lot-layers. This "quit claim deed" referred to as given by Flagg is recorded in Book 68 of the town's registry records. It conveys the land requested by the Proprietors, with exceptions, as follows:
"THE PATH ALONG THE BLUFF"
21
First, all the land lying eastward of the land lying eastward of the land conveyed to me and Eliza Flagg, my wife, by deeds respectively of Frederick M. Pitman (see Book 62, Page 464), and James H. Wood (See Book 66, Page 49,8), and between the extension of the northern boundary line of the said land purchased of Pitman and the southern boundary line purchased of Wood. Second, all that tract of land lying eastward and between the extension of the northern and southern boundary lines of a certain tract of land conveyed by me and Eliza Flagg to William Ballantyne, by a deed recorded with the town records. The land hereby released to be forever held in trust by the said Proprietors and their successors for the pur pose of roadways and other public uses and purposes and not to be granted or set off by them in severalty to any individual person or persons. And I also convey to said Proprietors a right-ofway two rods wide along the shore above the high water mark over and across the tracts of land hereinabove excepted and reserved, said right-of-way 2 rods wide being forever secured to said Proprietors notwithstand ing any changes that may hereafter take place on the beach affecting the position of said line of high water mark. There can be little doubt in the established purpose for the land that Flagg reconveyed to the Proprietors, and which that corporate body agreed to guarantee. It was in the spring of 1892 that Mr. Flagg sold to a Mr. Heath the most northerly of the lots which he had laid out ten years before. It was then recorded for the first time that the easterly boundary was "a foot path along the top of the bank." This lot was later owned by the Grice family. Mr. Flagg called his real estate development "Sankaty Heights." He was aware of one fact that has not been fully appreciated — that there had been in existence for many years (perhaps as long as 'Sconset had existed) a footpath along the bluff top, which was used by the villagers and by farmers and fishermen. Sheep grazed here by the hundreds, sometimes straying down the bluff. Fishermen used the gullies from the village to 'Sachacha Pond to haul up their dories and their catch of fish. The "Path" probably ran all the way along the bluff to the pond. The government's erection of Sankaty Lighthouse in 1849 literally cut the "Path" in half.
"THE PATH ALONG THE BLUFF"
23
Mr. Flagg must have recognized this fact, for on August 1892, he entered the following petition: The undersigned requests the Proprietors of the Common and Undivided Lands of Nantucket to accept a certain tract of land in that part of Nantucket known as Sankaty Heights, but in perpetual trust nevertheless, for the residents and visitors of Nantucket, and to be used as a foot-path or foot promenade and for no other pur pose or purposes whatsoever. It is provided, however, that the same Proprietors may, when they choose, to convey and transfer the said land in like perpetual trust and for the purpose abovenamed to the Town of Nantucket or other corporation or body known to control the highways of the Town of Nantucket. William J. Flagg. On Sept. 1, 1892, Mr. Flagg sold a block of three lots to the late Mary K. Mitchell, and the warranty deed stipulated that the easterly boundary was the footpath along the bank. On Sept. 3 — two days later — the Proprietors voted to accept the tract of land offered by Mr. Flagg as a footpath, and on Sept. 21, 1892, Flagg conveyed the tract to the Proprietors, the tract including that land lying between the easterly tier of lots on the west and the beach upland belonging to said Pro prietors on the east, excepting certain lots previously sold and not material to this controversy, the strip of land so conveyed to be held by the Proprietors in trust for the purposes of a footpath along the bank, with authority to convey the land to the town. This deed was recorded in Book 76, Page 342. On Sept. 22, 1892, Mr. Flagg gave the Mitchell estate a quit-claim deed of all interest in the land lying eastward of the lots theretofore conveyed to her, with the condition that all of the land lying between the east line of said lots and the edge of the bank be kept open for a footpath along the bank; and further reciting: This deed being subject to my deed of Sept. 21, 1892, conveying the same premises to the Proprietors of the Common and Undivided Lands in Nantucket in trust for uses and purposes therein specified, recorded in Book 4, Page 342. From the fact that Mr. Flagg had made doubly sure that the "Path" would be preserved it appears that he was cognizant of the long use of the path as a traveled way. His efforts to protect it were further urged by his awareness of its appeal to the summer visitor as a perfect way for a stroll. The second in the series of legal steps to protect the "Path" •came in the next year. The Mitchell estate filed with the Land
"THE PATH ALONG THE BLUFF"
25
Coui t a petition for registration of title to her land, claiming easterly to the ocean. In that case, as in other cases which fol lowed out of this same tract, Judge Davis of the Land Court ruled that title to the strip between the easterly line of the tier lots on the west and the line at the foot of the 'bank to the east, passed to the Proprietors under said deed of Sept. 21, 1892, and not to the respondent under her deed of Sept. 22, 1892. Meanwhile, the Mitchell estate had extensively landscaped its grounds, including that portion occupied by the "Path," and had also erected a number of buildings on the beach below. It was in 1924 that the town voted to seek title to the "Path" through the Land Court. A conference between the late Joseph Kenney, of New Bedford, the town's counsel, and Franklin E. Smith representing the Proprietors, cleared away legal problems, with Mr. Smith suggesting that the Proprietors resign as trustee of the strip (as appointed by Flagg) and that the town be ap pointed as trustee. The Proprietors met on May 1, 1925, and voted to give the town a "deed of release to not only the Path, but all the land between the top and bottom of the Bluff along the Path," a dis tance of some 7,000 feet. In September, 1924, William S. Swift made a survey for the town, and the plan was accepted by the Proprietors in its release to the town. When the case came before the Land Court the Mitchell estate claimed the land fronting it (including the Path) by reason of adverse possession. On December 1, 1929, Judge Davis of the Land Court ren dered his decree which legally established the "Path Along the Bluff." In regard to the respondent's claim, he found: The Sankaty Path is in constant use, and is a matter of importance to all lot owners along the bluff. It is a well-defined path, but, owing to inroads from the sea, needs care and repair. It is in good condition in front of the respondent's house, and her lawn has in no way in terfered with the path. There has been nothing in her care of the bluff that has been in any way adverse to the rights of the Pro prietors, or of the Town as their successor in title, nor in any of the said acts of the respondent has there been anything adverse to the purpose of the trust under which title to the strip of land has been held, namely, the maintenance of the path. That portions of it have been used by the respondent for access to the beach and for bathing purposes, or for the housing of her gas engine
26
HISTORIC NANTUCKET
for lighting her summer residence, has not been incon sistent with a reasonable inference of permission of the part of the Proprietors. . . There is a decided difference between a user of open tracts of seashore property and similar user in a settled community. Title acquired by adverse pos session rests practically on estoppel as a matter of public policy. When an owner has permitted himself to be ousted and another to be in open, notorious and exclu sive occupation of his land under a claim of right for a period of twenty years, he has lost the right to assert his title. He does not lose it by a reasonable allowance of the use of a portion thereof by a neighbor and on the while to himself, which does not in any way interfere with his own control of the property for which he him self uses it. In such case permission is to be inferred; and the more so where title to land is in a public body like the Proprietor. On the facts of this case I find that title by adverse possession has not been acquired against the petitioner and its predecessor. The Sankaty path runs from the Sankaty Light house southerly to a considerable distance beyond the limits of the Flagg land. The petition and accompany ing plan cover the entire path. The southerly boundary line of the Flagg tract, title to which is now in the peti tioners, is the northerly line of the public way shown on the filed plan immediately south of the Judkins lot, a little over one-half way down the plan. The northerly line of the strip owned by the petitioners is the southerly line of the respondent Grice which is to be shown on the decree plan. Many are familiar with Bliss Carmen's poem describing the Path, beginning with the line, "Have you ever heard of 'Sconset," but there is another verse which deserves to be equally well known, as written by Mrs. Abbie Ransom. In part, this reads: "Have you ever followed the path along the bluff, When the sky is gray and the sea is rough? When, shoreward thickening, the fog drifts down Until homes are the wraiths of a phantom town? I have followed the path to Sankaty Light, When the moors were brown and the frost was white, With the sun a ball on the ocean rim, Where the Indian Summer breathes with Him, From the north to the south, a curve is swept, On the far horizon a soft haze slept. To the west the moorlands, above the sky, In all the vast silence, Just God and I."
The 'Sconset Pump in 1892 A summer scene at Pump Square during the years when the Path Along the Bluff was first used as a pleasant public way for strollers.
28
Audubon's Letter From Nantucket That the famous American John James Audubon was a visitor to Nantucket is not as well known as it might. The out standing ornithologist and artist, whose monumental Birds of America is one of the most sought after sets of books, came to this island in July, 1840, a part of his tour of New England, dur ing which he was successful in selling many of his folios. While here he wrote to his son, John J. Audubon, Jr., in care of the Rev. John Bachman, in Charleston, South Carolina, and the letter has been preserved, now being in the collections of the Peter Foulger Museum, of the Nantucket Historical Association. In March, 1919, Alexander Starbuck, the great historian of Nantucket, learned of the existence of the Audubon letter from advice contained in a communication to him by a dealer in anti quarian items, Otho Wiecker, of Boston. Mr. Wiecker had pur chased the letter from Patrick F. Madigan, a rare book and manuscript dealer in New York, paying $25 for it. The sale price to Mr. Starbuck was $28, plus 16 cents for registered mail. In his accompanying letter Mr. Wiecker indicated he had first attempted to sell the letter to some Nantucket residents, without success, writing, in part: "The worthy fathers of Nantucket are like most of the people, even the educated class, possessed of blunted senses as regards autograph values, which are vital products of the hand, often the heart, always the mind of the writer. . . ." Fortunately, Mr. Starbuck bought the letter and it eventually came to the Nantucket Historical Association. The document is in excellent condition, the writing clear and legible, with the old style "f" for "s," and filling three pages of a four-page folded sheet. The postmark is in a circle, containing the name "Nan tucket — Jul. 27—Ms." and the written cost "25," meaning 25 cents. Apparently Audubon had been here several days, as he mentions having received letters from his wife. He had first written home on July 24, 1840, reporting that he had come by steamer to Nantucket from New Bedford. The letter at the Peter Foulger Museum is dated July 26, 1840, written to his son, as already stated, and reads as follows: "My dear Johnny: You will of course have heard of my having left home, ere this reaches you; and like myself will feel desirous to know something of what happens when far away. The last news I have from you was received here 2 days ago, in a letter from Mamma and Victor, saying that your beloved Maria, had again assumed better symptoms, and that although you now did expect to remain at Charleston the whole of this summer, you had some hope of her recovery. May God grant this, and also your safe return to us at an earlier period than
AUDUBON'S LETTER FROM NANTUCKET
29
you expect. How is my sweet little Lucy? I have not heard her mentioned for some time. When I left home little Harriet had grown finely and was a great pet of mine, and I hope that I will very soon see and kiss her fat cheeks again. "I arrived here on Tuesday last, after having visited Boston. Salem, Ipswich and New Bedford; and since then have obtained i3 subscribers. This Island is not more than 14 miles long and on an average 3x/£ miles wide, and yet the population of Nan tucket exceeds 8,000 Inhabitants, deriving their wealth and com forts from the Whale Fisheries in the South Pacific through a ileet of about 75 ships of from 220 to 360 tons burthen. At the exception of the trees planted in the garden and those in the streets, scarcely a bush is to be found above 7 or 8 feet high, and that only in the swamps from which the inhabitants collect the Peat they burn in winter, along with the imported wood and coals from the main, or as the people here term it, the Continent. The Island is almost wholly sand, covered with much of Sea-grass and short dwarf shrubbery, such as oaks and bilberry bushes, through which about 10,000 Sheep run at Large, hundreds of which perish every winter during snow storms, etc. There is about 10 species of land birds here at present, thousands of yellow-winged sparrows, and in the winter ducks of many kinds are said to be abundant. Fish to my surprise is scarce at this season, and the largest quadruped found in a wild state is the Norway Rat. There are hundreds of jumping mice, and several species of shrew and bats, some of which I have in rum. The People are very kind, and I see many Quakers; more indeed than elsewhere in America for the amount of population. No less than 8 churches! and of course every person a saint! The wealthy portion of the population know little more than the value of Dollars, but I have met several exceptions, and a few persons of real talents and merit. "I have seen the greater portion of the Island, on which are several fine large fresh water ponds with fish and eels, that are said to be good, but none of which have I had the luck to taste. Indeed the only fish I have eaten was Sword Fish, but it has a fishy taste, and I do not like it. You would be surprised to see the people riding through the streets in carts standing up like Draymen, the females seated in chairs and trotting along merily. Ten thousand Dollars are paid annually for Blackberries, and Bilberries! the only fruit I have seen here, and that is imported from the Continent by the steamer. A very few peaches are grown in Green houses, but nothing properly called fruit in the open air. During hard winters, the communication with the Main is sometimes stopped for 3 to 6 weeks. I have had given me many teeth of the Sperm Whale, and some fine shells for the little ones to play with on the carpet. Almost every gentleman or lady has a fine collection of Shells, principally from the shores of the Pacific and the south Sea Islands.
•30
HISTORIC NANTUCKET
"I have written all this stuff to amuse Maria with, and I hope that it may please both her and yourself. Do you go on with the small drawings? I hope you do whenever your spirits are sufficiently good. I was very sorry to read of the death of Mr. Pringle, of the Custom house; his illness must have been very sudden. I hope my dear boy that you take excellent care of your self, for the month of August is a dangerous one at Charleston. I cannot expect to hear directly from you while I continue ram bling about, but wish you to acknowledge the receipt of my letters when you write home. I hope all the friends around you are quite well, and I wish you to remember me most kindly to every one, not forgetting good old grandmamma Davis. God bless and protect you my Dear Boy. "Your Father and Friend, "John J. Audubon "I will leave here on Wednesday for New Bedford again where I expect to sell about one dozen pictures." In one of the letters from Nantucket published in Vol. II of his "Letters," Audubon mentioned he had sold several "Nos." of his prints to a number of Nantucketers, including Charles G. Coffin, Daniel Jones, Jr., James Macy, A. W. Starbuck, F. W. Lawrence, George B. Upton, F. W. Mitchell, George Cobb, Fran cis F. Hussey, George F. Folger and Jared Coffin. The Atheneum had also purchased a set. Writing from New Bedford a few days later, Audubon mentioned he had 20 subscribers "on that truly curious Island." Among new names to add to his list were: Andrew M. Macy, Thomas D. Morris, Nathaniel Barney, Charles P. Chase, David Joy, Geo. Myrick, Jr. He also mentioned that Andrew M. Macy and Daniel Jones, both booksellers, had offered to act as his agent, and "neither of these gentlemen will hear of a commission. They have assisted me greatly." Displaying the well known sense of humor which charac terized him, Audubon also mentioned that there were no hotels on the Island, "and I went to a Boarding House, 3 beds in a room, and $12 per week! Pretty severe! One gent there was so honorable as to propose to take a copy of the large work paying down $100 and one hundred dollars annually without interest for nine years to come! by Which he would have had that copy for nothing." Besides sperm whale's teeth and shells which Audubon sent "for the Darlings to play with, and ornament the chimney mantle," he forwarded a copy of Obed Macy's History of Nan tucket, with the admonition, "which read." — E. A. S.
LEGACIES AND BEQUESTS
31
Legacies and Bequests Membership in our Association proves that you are interested in its program for the preservation of Nantucket's famed heritage and its illustrious past, which so profoundly affected the develop ment of our country. You can perpetuate that interest by giving to the Association a legacy under your will, which will help to insure the Association's carrying on. Counsel advises that legacies to the Nantucket Historical Association are allowable deductions under the Federal Estate Tax Law. Legacies will be used for general or specific purposes as directed by the donor. A sample form may read as follows: "i give, devise, and bequeath to the Nantucket Historical Association, a corporation duly or ganized under the laws of The Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and located in the Town of Nantucket, in said Commonwealth, the sum °f dollars."
Legacies may be made also in real estate, bonds, stocks, books, paintings, or any objects having historical value, in which event a brief description of the same should be inserted instead of a sum of money. Please send all communications to the Secretary, Box 1016, Nantucket, Massachusetts 02554. Office, Union Street.
>£
l PESCENO* H T OP T«E FtftST
Forefathers' Burial Ground Overlooking Maxcy's Pond, this Memorial, a gift of Frederick C. Sanford, was built in 1881. Action at the last Town Meeting put it in care of the Nantucket Historical Association.
