Historic Nantucket
A Main Street Mansion
January 1981 Published Quarterly by Nantucket Historical Association Nantucket, Massachusetts
NANTUCKET HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION Council 1980-1981
Walter Beinecke, Jr. Mrs. Bernard D. Grossman Leroy H. True Albert F. Egan, Jr. Mrs. Arthur Orleans Albert G. Brock Richard C. Austin
Vice Pres. Vice Pres. Vice Pres. Secretary
Donald E. Terry Miss Nancy Ayotte David D. Worth
Chairman Vice Chairman President - Chief Executive Officer Alcon Chadwick George W. Jones John N. Welch Edouard A. Stackpole
Vice Pres. Vice Pres. Treasurer Historian
Miss Dorothy Gardner Robert D. Congdon H. Flint Ranney
Mrs. H. Crowell Freeman Renny A. Stackpole, Director of Museums Edouard A. Stackpole, Editor: "Historic Nantucket" Mrs. Merle T. Orleans, Assistant Editor STAFF Oldest House: Curator'Mrs. Kenneth S. Baird; Mrs. Margaret Crowell, Mrs. Abram Niles Hadwen House-Satier Memorial: Curator *Mrs. P. Prime Swain; Mrs. Richard A. Strong, Mrs. John Stackpole, Mrs. Bracebridge H. Young, Mrs. Everett B. Merrithew 1800 House: Mrs. Helen S. Soverino, Mrs. Donald MacGlashan Whaling Museum: Curator 'Renny A. Stackpole; Rev. Frank J. Pattison, Manager; James A. Watts, Mrs. William A. Searle, Mrs. Folmer Stanshigh, Mrs. Arthur Collins, Mrs. Robert E. Campbell, Alfred N. Orpin Greater Light: Dr. Selina T. Johnson Peter Foulger Museum: Director'Edouard A. Stackpole; Peter MacGlashan, Asst. Director; Mrs. Reginald F. Hussey, Librarian; Everett F. Finlay, Mrs. Norman A. Barrett, Miss Helen Levins Macy-Christian House: Curator'Mrs. John A. Baldwin; Miss Dorothy Hiller, Mrs. Edouard A. Stackpole Old Goal: Curator 'Albert G. Brock Old Mill: Curator'John Gilbert; John A. Stackpole, Miller; Edward G. Dougan, Mrs. Edward G. Dougan Fair Street Museum: Curator: 'Albert F. Egan, Jr. Lightship "Nantucket": Curator'John Austin; Richard Swain , Chief Engineer Hose Cart House: Curator'Francis W. Pease Archaeology Department: Chairman'Mrs. Roger A. Young; Mrs. John D. C. Little, Vice Chairman Building Survey Committee: Chairman'Robert G. Metters »Ex-officio members of Council
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 28
January 1981
No. 3
CONTENTS Nantucket Historical Association Officers and Staff
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Editorial - Art on Nantucket
5 6
Historic "Essex" Manuscript Returns "The Forgotten Tribe" - A Documentary
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School "Marine" Program Creates Another Schoolship on Lightship bv Renny A. Stackpole The Robert Minshall Collection: Nantucket Archaeology by Elizabeth A. Little, Cynthia Young and Marie Sussek Rowland Hussey Macy -- Merchandising Pioneer "The War in the Pacific", An Exhibit at Peter Foulger Museum Reflections on Nantucket Development by Kevin D. Hurst Bequests Address Changes
12 16
19 20
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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 $.50 each. Membership dues are—Annual-Active $7.50; Sustaining $25.00; Life—one payment $100.00 Second-class postage paid at Nantucket, Massachusetts Communications pertaining to the Publication should be addressed to the Editor, Historic Nantucket, Nantucket Historical Association, Nantucket, Massachusetts 02554.
A Royal Navy Man tn Nantucket.
Art on Nantucket
5
THE FORTHCOMING BOOK, "Art on Nantucket," will be one of the most important publications concerning this Island to appear in recent years. Sponsored by the Nantucket Historical Association, it will contain the most important portraits and paintings that now exist on the Island, and this will include such distinguished American artists as Eastman Johnson, Thomas Eakins, William Swain and J.S. Hathaway. A second large scale exhibition has been held at the Fair Street Rooms, with many visitors enjoying an opportunity of viewing this extraordinary collection of paintings, many of which will be included in this unusual volume. Not only will the pages contain the work of the outstanding American artists noted above but will have several of the works of Elizabeth Rebecca Coffin, a student of Eakins, whose studio on Lily Street was a gathering place for a number of artists active in the late years of the 19th century and in the early years of the 20th. Such historic Nantucket scenes by Miss Coffin as "The Story of the Life-Boat," "Gathering Sea Weed," and "Mrs. Pitman," will delight the viewer. That unique painter-woodcarver James Walter Folger will also be seen, as will the fine paintings of George G. Fish, of Nantucket, who studied in Paris, and those of Annie Barker Folger, whose water colors became a Nantucket export in the early years of this century. It will be a volume to delight all to whom Nantucket has become a fascinating study, and to those who have but recently become acquainted with the Island's unique culture it will be a rare opportunity to learn more about this important part of its story The compiler of the book is Robert di Curcio, who has been working diligently to make photographic copies of each painting, so that the final reproductions will be true representations of the originals. He has been faithful to the task, and many of the historical studies will bring to the book a lasting value, not only to artists but to those who enjoy a production which, in itself, is a rare and beautiful study. As the work progresses, information as to its availability will be made oublic in the press and in official releases from the main office of the Association and from the Committee, which has Albert Egan, Chairman, Walter Beinecke, Jr., and Robert D. Congdon. "Art in Nantucket" will have a unique place in Nantucket literature. Edouard A. Stackpole
Historic "Essex" Manuscript Returns After Absence of 98 Years NEARLY A CENTURY AGO, Captain Thomas Nickerson, of Nantucket, who was the last survivor of the historic open-boat voyage of the survivors of the wrecked ship Essex, was prevailed upon to write of his experiences. A journalist from New York who was vacationing here, promised to take the manuscript and write the story for the old whaleman, and when he left the island in 1882 he took the manuscript with him. The writer's name was Leon Lewis. He was a busy man, and wrote adventure stories for a number of publications, using pen names as well as his own. Captain Nicholson's manuscript was never used as planned, and when • the old mariner died a year later, Feb. 17, 1883, his story passed into oblivion in so far as history was concerned at the time, and the manuscript-journal was forgotten. A few weeks ago, Capt. Nicholson's manuscript returned to Nantucket after an absence of nearly a century. The donors of this rare and historic, hand-written account, are Mr. and Mrs. James M. Finch, of Con necticut. Through friendship with journalist Lewis, one of the family had been given the journal and had preserved it over the many years in tervening. At first it was regarded as an old sailor's yarn, but upon in vestigation by a Nantucket historian the true nature of the manuscript was revealed. Most generously, the owners then presented it to the Nantucket Historical Association. The true story of the loss of the whaleship E s s e x of Nantucket, after being deliberately rammed by a bull sperm whale, and the voyage of the survivors in their open whale boats for ninety days, with the eventual rescue of only five survivors, is a classic tale of the sea. It served as the climax for Herman Melville's monumental Moby-Dick, and has become one of the great accounts of men against the sea. The first printed version of the disaster was written by Owen Chase, the first mate of the ship and one of the leading actors in the drama, and it was published in 1821. The Essex was a successful whaleship, and had completed two voyages when she sailed from Nantucket for the last time on August 12, 1819, under the command of Captain George Pollard, bound for the Pacific Ocean. She had been out for over a vear when she was sunk by her nemesis, a sperm whale, on November 20, 1820, being at the time in mid-Pacific Ocean, near the equator. After laying alongside the stricken ship for nearly two days, and obtaining a few provisions, the three whaleboats with a total of 20 men, set out on a course which, after a
Historic "Essex" Manuscript Returns
7
month at sea, took them to a desolate island, called Henderson's Island, and three of the men resolved to stay there rather than continue in the open boats. These men were later rescued by a merchant vessel bound for Australia. The three whaleboats continued their voyage, with Captain Pollard first intending to reach Easter Island. Lacking an accurate chart he missed the island, and continued on an easterly course for the west coast of South America two thousand miles away. For two more months the courageous men kept on. Then the boat commanded by the second mate, Matthew Joy, disappeared, never to be seen again. Before Captain Pollard's boat was picked up by the brig Indian, a merchant vessel, with only one other man alive, Mate Chase's boat was similarly sighted by the Nantucket whaleship Dauphin, with only two other men alive in it. The whalemen had been forced to cannibalism for survival. When they finally reached Valparaiso they were mere gaunt skeletons. They had survived the longest open-boat voyage in maritime history. Saved with Captain Pollard was Charles Ramsdell, who, by lot, had to be the executioner of a shipmate, young Owen Coffin, the drawer of the fateful token, who was sacrificed so that his companions might sustain life. In Mate Chase's boat were Benjamin Lawrence and the youngest of the crew, Thomas Nickerson (sometimes called Nicholson) who was then but sixteen years old. Altogether remarkable is the fact that all these five survivors returned to the sea on whaling voyages, and all became masters of their respective ships, some merchant vessels, as well as whaleships. The Owen Chase account has become the definitive version of what had happened on board the Essex and during that 90-day ordeal in the open whaleboats. The Captain Thomas Nickerson's manuscript adds to the story, as it contains a number of incidents not recorded by Mate Chase. Captain Nickerson had an extra advantage, also, in that, as the last survivor of the open boat crews, he had talked with other members of that small band who lived on Nantucket—Charles Ramsdell, Benjamin Lawrence, Captain George Pollard and Captain Owen Chase. First of this unique group to die was Charles Ramsdell, who passed away in 1866, on July 6. Next to go was Captain Owen Chase, who died on March 7, 1869, at the age of 73. Captain George Pollard, master of the ill fated Essex, returned to the sea in October, 1821, in command of the ship Two Brothers, of Nantucket, and had the misfortune to lose this ship by striking an uncharted reef to the north of the Hawaiian Islands. But his crew was rescued within a few days by the Nantucket ship Martha, and spared the tragic aftermath of the Essex. Captain Pollard, upon return
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"The Forgotten Tribe" A Documentary
EARLY IN DECEMBER an interesting and important television film was released by Miss Maureen O'Sullivan which she had prepared for the Nantucket Historical Association. Filmed by a professional company— Studio 16 of Springfield, Mass., under the direction of Allen Suhonen, formerly of Nantucket—the documentary is called "The Forgotten Tribe," and was prepared by Miss O'Sullivan, with the assistance of Mrs. Cynthia Young, and Mrs. Elizabeth Little, and Paul Morris, of the Archaeological Committee of the Nantucket Historical Association and Pepsi Brenizer. It runs approximately for 20 minutes and is available to schools, clubs, and other organizations, and it recounts the story of the Nantucket Indian tribe which had lived on Nantucket for centuries before the first white settlers arrived. As a branch of the Algonquin Confederacy of Indian tribes, the Nan tucket aborigines had a distinct and unusual culture. They were more closely allied with the Rhode Island tribes, and the visit of King Philip in 1667 would indicate this chief regarded they were under his jurisdiction. As the sole occupants of the Island when the first white men came, their friendship and help to the first settlers was invaluable. Despite the fact there was never any armed conflict between the whites and the local Indians there was considerable friction, due to the Indians' unwillingness to consider their lands as being removed from their use through sale to the white men. The film brings the ancient picture into a better focus. The places where they lived, their artifacts, their activity as whale-catchers, their life as a nomadic people, the sites of their villages, and other features gives the film an authentic ring. As gatherers of shellfish, the several heaps of shells found around the harbor bear mute evidence of these activities, with the numbers of arrow points, stone knifes and stone net sinkers found in these areas. With the strange illness, which was conveyed from a sickness that raged on board a ship stranded on the shores in 1763, the majority of Indians living on Nantucket were stricken and, having no immunity against it, were almost entirely wiped out. As an indigenous people this was the end of the tribe. The documentary serves a dual purpose: it brings back the strange story of the original inhabitants of Nantucket and their way of life; it demon strates how in a little more than three hundred years every trace of the "Lost Tribe" has disappeared. Only the findings of the archaeologists have uncovered and revived this interesting chapter in Nantucket's past.
Abram Quary-Last of Nantucket's Men of Indian Blood.
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School "Marine Program" Creates Another Schoolship on Lightship by Renny Stackpole
FOR THE PAST four years the retired lightship N a n t u c k e t , at Straight Wharf, has given the Nantucket Historical Association a floating museum, and this has been a testing step for the Association. Maintaining this unique combination of steel and operable machinery requires con stant attention, an active program, and planning. Since 1978 a "museum-in-school" program has been devised in which a • dozen high school students report to the ship at noon each week during the semester, and receive instruction in naval science. This course ac tually gets under weigh through an exciting sea experience, through a week's cruise on board the handsome topsail schooner Shenandoah, commanded by Captain Robert Douglas.This fall the cruise ranged from the Vineyard to Newport and Mystic Seaport, in Connecticut, and, as an extra feature, Captain and Mrs. Irving Johnson, whose voyages aboard the Yankee are famous, joined the ship's complement. While on this cruise, each boy in the class became closely involved in every phase of working the vessel. Their duties included standing watch, scrubbing decks, handling sails, galley work, polishing brass, marlinespike seamanship and going aloft. During the evenings, while lying in such romantic anchorages as Tarpaulin Cove, after having rowed ashore in a Whitehall boat, they would listen to the balladeer Bill Schustik recount his folk songs and sing chanties, and hear Captain Johnson tell of his voyages through the islands of the Pacific. Reading by the light of kerosene lamps, with the sound of the wind in the rigging, brought the maritime past of Nantucket back vividly. On one occasion, while the S h e n a n d o a h was working her way up the East passage to Newport, the replica of the frigate Rose suddenly ap peared on the seaward side and began firing her long guns. It was a startling and remarkable demonstration of what some of the Nantucket vessels had to undergo over a century ago. One of the schooner's crew members stated: "I don't believe the boys will ever forget this experience!" The 1979 cruise on the S h e n a n d o a h was made possible by a matching tuition grant contributed by local Nantucket merchants with the help of funds from private citizens. Each boy paid fifty percent of his passage. In 1980, the September cruise was made possible by a matching grant from the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
School "Marine Program"
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Captain Harry Allendorfer, U.S.N. Retired, the Director of Maritime Preservation for the Trust, personally visited the lightship Nantucket during the Whaling Museum's Golden Anniversary. As part of this event the last active lightship on the Nantucket Shoals station (formerly the Portland) came to Nantucket under command of Captain Larry Everman, U.S. C.G., and was moored down the wharf close by the Nantucket. It was one of the most unusual additions to the anniversary occasion. In his address on the foredeck of the Nantucket, Allendorfer remarked on the Maritime Heritage Program. He stated that, while the National Trust's matching grant of $31,000 for the maintenance and preservation of the lightship is vital, he felt that the training program held on board the vessel was of paramount importance and that he was delighted with its potential. One of the class, a boatswain on board, Earl Eldridge, escorted Captain Allendorfer and other guests to the ship's engine room where the class members assisted in getting the 900 h.p. engine started. Tours of the ship further demonstrated the work of the students in various duties. Renny Stackpole, a staff member of the Association, is the instructor for the Lightship program. In conversation with the visiting delegation, he explained that the Marine Program class intends to prepare the lightship for a trip to the shipyard, under her own power, in mid-1981, for a periodic inspection and bottom painting. Instructor Stackpole mentioned, also, the historical significance of a marine program, citing the fact that, with the establishment of the Coffin School in Nantucket in 1827, Admiral Sir Isaac Coffin sponsored a schoolship as a seafaring part of the School when he fitted out the brig Clio. In this century many Nantucket boys became students aboard the Massachusetts training bark Ranger, later renamed the Nantucket. The present course is in the nature of a revival of an Island tradition. The mainstay of the schoolship program is in each boy's sense of identity with the ship's program and his attainment of a series of ratings. A new student begins as an Apprentice Seaman, then works up from an Or dinary to Able Seaman, and eventually to the Boatswain rating. Strict drills are conducted in the following areas: Man overboard, fire and damage control, and injured persons. Students learn signalling, Morse code, marline-spike seamanship, sailing and rowing drills, piloting, hull and small boat construction, deck and engine main tenance, and cooking skills in the ship's galley. During each school day a student "Officer of the Day" is in charge of weather observations, keeping a ship's log of work activity and greeting
School "Marine Program"
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guests to the vessel. At given times during each semester students live on board to simulate a voyage at sea. At this time the Nantucket is converted from shore power to internal power. No liberty ashore is granted until the vessel has been successfully navigated from one place of departure on a ship's chart to a destination known only to the navigators. A recent simulation found the students piloting the vessel from Christmas Island to Honolulu, Hawaii. A "hidden" feature in the curriculum that emerges throughout all the program is the transferring to another generation of the story of Nan tucket's salt sea heritage. Part of each three hour session is spent "yarn ing" about Nantucket and New England JVlaritime history. Historian Renny Stackpole and ship keeper Richard Swain have a daily oral quiz relative to a pot-pourri of stories being related. On one day the boys read and talked about the wreck of the Kirkham on Rose and Crown shoal near Nantucket's eastern shore. In that dramatic event young Earl Eldridge's great-grandfather received a medal from Congress as part of the Life Saving Station crew from Coskata.
Through the study of Navigation and Radio Operation the students learn an immediate geography lesson. Many who have graduated from the program are already commercial fishermen sailing from Nantucket. During a visit recently, graduate Richard Mack, now serving on the fishing vessel Nobadeer, related how the constant "man overboard drills" had helped him in a recent rescue of a shipmate washed overboard at sea. According to Stackpole and Swain, that in itself makes the program a success. Indeed, Nantucket again has a schoolship program.
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The Robert Minshall Collection: Nantucket Archaeology by Elizabeth A. Little, Cynthia Young, and Marie Sussek
IN DIRT ROADS, in gardens, in pits dug for construction, even on beaches, Nantucketers sometimes find stone tools and projectile points made by the prehistoric inhabitants of the island. For the past three years, the Nantucket Historical Association has been photographing and cataloguing Nantucket Indian artifacts from private collections as well as from its own collection. Where possible, we record artifact styles, lithic material, and find sites. A "golden age" of archaeology occurred in the 1930's, when Edward Brooks initiated controlled archaeological excavations which were followed by published reports. Alfred O. Shurrocks, Alice A. Shurrocks, Nelson Olney Dunham, and Layla Dunham also at that time began looking for surface indications of Indian sites on the island. Although they made substantial collections of surface finds, since given to the Nantucket Historical Association, the major significance of their work for ar chaeology lies in the fact that they recorded the find sites of each artifact at the time of discovery. Robert Minshall, as a teen-ager, tagged along with Mr. and Mrs. Shurrocks as they walked the dirt roads on the island, and, as a young man, used to visit Edward Brooks at his office at the Museum of the American Indian ir New York City, with archaeological questions. Minshall spent 45 summers surface hunting for Indian artifacts on Nantucket, and recording the site of each find. Last year he presented his collection, with proveniences attached, to the Nantucket Historical Association. We have spent the past year photographing and cataloguing the Min shall collection, and in July presented the original copy of the catalogue to the Foulger Museum of the Nantucket Historical Association.
We are now beginning to give the artifacts in the Minshall collection a detailed examination, and expect some interesting results to emerge from this study. Already, we can observe that, as in other Nantucket collections, the percentage of white quartz points is somewhere around 10 percent, which
Robert Minshall Collection
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is low compared to inland sites in Massachusetts. In particular, we find a relatively modest occurrence of Late Archaic triangular and small stemmed points, which are usually made of quartz. On the other hand, even a preliminary sorting by style shows more Late Woodland artifacts, infrequently made of quartz, than Late Archaic artifacts. Current explantations for this style frequency distribution are that the rising sea has eroded or covered many coastal Late Archaic sites, and that the Late Woodland period saw a general increase in coastal population.
On Martha's Vineyard, William A. Ritchie's excavations produced primarily Woodland and Late Archaic point styles, with barely a trace of occupations earlier than 5000 years ago. In contrast, on Nantucket, almost every collection which we have seen, including Minshall's, con tains a significant number of projectile points older than Late Archaic.
The strengths of the Minshall collection lie in the number and variety of tools of the Susquehanna styles, dating from about 3700 to 3200 years ago, and in the large number and variety of ground stone tools such as gouges, grooved axes, adzes, celts, pestles, hammerstones, sinker, gorgets, etc. We attribute whatever knowledge we have of artifact styles and their corresponding carbon-14 dates to Professor Dena F. Dincauze, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, archaeological consultant to the Nantucket Historical Association. The Historical Association accepts collections with gratitude, and will curate them with care. The Archaeology Department endorses studies of Nantucket's prehistoric inhabitants from existing collections. For this purpose, careful, accurate records are needed. We strongly urge collectors to record their own collections, but, if they so desire, we will do it for them during our annual summer cataloguing program. Our objectives are the conservation of archaeological sites o*- Nantucket, and the development of knowledge and understanding of Nantucket's first inhabitants. We have enough catalogued material now at the NHA, including pottery and faunal remains, to extend an invitation to scholars to consult our collection. Professor Barbara Luedtke, University of Massachusetts, Boston, used our resources this spring for research, and commented very favorably on the catalogue and the availability of the materials. The public is cordially invited to see the new exhibit at the Foulger Museum showing highlights of the Minshall collection.
The Minshall collection catalogue was completed and deposited at the Foulger Museum on July 30, 1980. On the front steps of the Museum, Center - Robert Minshall presenting his catalogue to Edouard A. Stackpole, director of the Museum, Cynthia Young, director of the Archaeology Department, and Marie Sussek, research assistant, [photograph by E. A. Little].
(Dr. Robert Minshall died at the Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis, Mass., on December 22, 1980, only a few months after he had given his valuable collection to the Nantucket Historical Association. He was 56. He was a life-long summer resident of the island and had played an important part in many of Nantucket organizations and activities. He had been a professor at Brown University and ten years ago had joined the faculty at Cape Cod Community College. His contribution to the Nantucket Historical Association is thus doubly appreciated and his continuous cooperation with the aims and work of the Association will be greatly missed. — Ed.)
Rowland Hussey Macy Merchandising Pioneer ROWLAND HUSSEY MACY, the merchant who developed the concept of the modern department store, was born in Nantucket on August 30, 1822. His father was a captain in the merchant fleet of Nantucket, and his mother one of the Barnards of the Island families. At the age of fifteen, young Macy embarked on his first and only whaling venture as a foremast hand on the ship Emily Morgan, of New Bedford, under the command of a fellow Nantucketer, Capt. Shubael Clark. After a voyage to the Pacific Ocean that lasted three years, he returned home and received $441.25 for his "lay", or share, in the voyage. As he walked the decks of the whaleship he gave much thought to what was to be his means of livelihood in the future, but it is doubtful if he could ever visualize how different a pattern his life would become. Instead of rowing a whaleboat, or climbing aloft, or helping at the try-pots boiling oil, Rowland Macy would embark on adventures in the world of mer chandising, and, after some dismal failures, persevered to launch a business that became the prototype of the modern-day department store on a grand scale. But the lessons he learned in his whaling voyage from 1837 to 1841 were to bring to him a fundamental confidence in his ability to overcome all odds. Financial reserves in Massachusetts; an abortive attempt to launch a store in Marysville, California; and the indifferent success associated with another store in Massachusetts at Haverhill, left him in financial straits. But his courage continued. We next find him in a small town in Wisconsin, where once again he tried another venture, this time in real estate. The panic of 1857 helped put an end to this effort. He resolved to go to New York City. In October of 1858. R.H. Macy opened his first New York store two doors below 14th Street. This time he was successful. Merchandising policies, which had not worked m other places where he had established his stores, now suddenly found favor. Buying for cash and selling for cash, and advertising on a. grand scale became trademarks in his career. Prices of goods were featured at odd rather than at even prices— $3.98 instead of $4.00—$9.98 instead of $10, and soon. His advertisements were interesting, and one feature was a star (printed red in "give-aways"), giving rise to a story that it symbolized a mysterious star which guided him while at the helm of the ship during night watches. Without doubt his life as a whaleman helped prepare him for the difficult years of mercantile experiences. It encouraged him to try again and again after each failure; it established his belief in the ultimate success of his endeavors.
"The War in the Pacific" An Exhibit at Peter Foulger Museum ALTHOUGH TIME PASSES quickly it is difficult to believe that onl) thirty-nine years ago, with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the world of American thought became acutely conscious of the great Pacific Ocean, and of the naval and air war which was to transpire there. As many Nantucket men participated in World War II, especially those who were engaged in the Pacific struggles, they will be interested in a special exhibit on this phase of the War which is now on display at the Peter Foulger Museum. Dealing primarily with the naval actions, the exhibit contains both contemporary accounts of the conflict by utilizing newspaper headlines and photographs, as well as several maps and illustrations which ap peared at the time. Some of these will serve as instantaneous reminders of the times, and also revive memories of a particular event. The exhibit was inspired by the Rev. Fred D. Bennett, former pastor of the Congregational Church, for whom Bennett Hall is named, and who served as a Chaplain on board the U.S.S. Pensacola, and Tarawa, as well as other naval craft, and was appointed Chaplain at the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis in 1957. Commander Bennett loaned a number of excellent photographs of the vessels on which he served, as well as of his Annapolis experience, and related material. The whole makes an effective show. Some of the clippings from The Inquirer and Mirror are on view, giving accounts of Nantucket men who served in the Army, Navy and Air Force, as well as the U.S. Coast Guard. These are of more than passing interest, as these columns of "Men in Service" were among the features of this newspaper during the years of World War II. ' The special exhibit is displayed on the second floor of the Peter Foulger Museum. It covers a relatively small space but its concentration depicts one of the most far-reaching periods in our nation's history, and the public is cordially invited to visit the museum and enjoy this reminiscent journey into our historic past.
Reflections on Nantucket Development by Kevin D. Hurst (conclusion) The Right To Build DO WE, as humans, have the right to do whatever we want with the environment? Specifically, do individuals have the right to do whatever they want with the Nantucket land they own? Most Nantucketers would answer in the affirmative. They would argue that this right is an important extension of our God-given right to individual freedom. They believe "controls" governing their land use will inhabit this freedom. Without a doubt, I, too, am for maximizing individual freedoms. However, I feel the way to maximize individual freedom is to limit or restrict unwarranted freedoms, and thus provide the conditions for equality for all. I feel that a far greater number of present and future freedoms will be maximized by preserving Nantucket's present en vironment in comparison to the small number of present individual freedoms that are maximized by unwarranted use of the land. An individual's right to build whatever he wants on his acquired property should not be put forth as absolute. If this right continues to be put forth as exceptionless on Nantucket, land developers will continue to hide behind it. Rights must be reappraised on a regular basis. Do not forget that there was a time, in the recent past, when property rights in cluded the right to hold human beings in slavery. Nantucket already has fairly effective rules which regulate what type of structure may be built. The larger, more important question remains: can Nantucket come to agreement on a comprehensive guide that will regulate the building of the structure itself? It might be interesting, in this discussion of rights, to note that the right not to be subjected to exploitation or degradation might be classified as an absolute and non-conflictable right. Without begging the question, I offer this thought to the reader: whose end does the building of more touristrelated business, more hotels, more houses, more condominiums, more sewage treatment plants, more garbage dumps, and more roads serve? Is it the person concerned with Nantucket preservation? The primary objective of the developer is economic profit. Rarely does a developer seriously ask himself, "Have I, in any way, lowered the quality
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Historic Nantucket
of the environment for the general public and for future generations?" Rather, the common question is: "How might I build this development so as to yield me the highest profit?" Thus, one can hardly expect Nantucket developers, whose primary aim is economic profit, to be concerned at any great length with the long-range effects of their developments on Nan tucket's fragile culture and future generations. They have little desire to consider the hidden cost of their operations in terms of environmental quality to society as a whole.
Nantucket Development and The Concept of Progress It could be a common assumption that Nantucket's physical and cultural resources are to be exploited in the interest of economic progress: more development will bring more progress. Again, I feel this argument is just another guise used by developers to rally citizen support while hiding their true intentions. Everyone wants progress, but is progress a direct and unconditional result of development? Before one can judge whether or not Nantucket is moving in a desirable direction, one has to know precisely what the destination is. If Nantucket has no comprehensive plan of where she wants to be in ten years, her present movement could be either Progress, or simple travel toward an undesirable direction. It all depends on the individual's perception of where Nantucket should be in ten years. Thus, Nantucket's progress is a concept which should involve a synthesis of the past, and a plan for the future. After examining United States history, two basic reasons for emigrating to this continent become apparent: for religious liberty or for the im provement of one's economic status. After checking Nantucket's history, I realize that the Island was settled for the former reason. For hundreds of years, the Island remained a culture based primarily on religious ideals. In fact, this religious influence is why the Island's physical and social characteristics are so well preserved today. It was not until the late 1800s, with the switch to tourism, that people began realizing that the Island's well-preserved character (its intrinsic value) could be sold for economic profit. Hence, the economic gains that today are attracting more and more monetary exploiters are dependent on the preserved nature of the Nantucket culture and environment. Nantucket's living history is well over three hundred years old. It is now in the power of the developer to change this history and all its acquired
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Historic Nantucket
value in just a few years. Once Nantucket's historical commodity is destroyed, the Island will be of no great value in the years to come. Nantucket is an aesthetically pleasing, historical microcosm of American experience. This is its major value. To alter or deface this Nantucket feature any further would be to act unethically towards our present and future general ions. Our obligation is to preserve this unique Island—to preserve not only the physical characteristics, but also the cultural traditions and the values found therein.
Kevin D. Hurst is a native of Utah and attends the University of Utah, majoring in environmental studies. He attended the University of Massachusetts-Boston seminar in Nantucket this past winter, with the class studying Nantucket History and Culture, sponsored by the University of Massachusetts and the Nantucket Historical Association. This is his term paper, which not only received a high grade but becomes an important study for all who love Nantucket.
PLEASE—Send us your change of address if you are planning to move. You will receive your copy sooner and we are charged extra for all copies returned because of an incorrect address.
Bequests or gifts to the Nantucket Historical Association are tax deductible. They are greatly needed and appreciated.
North from Upper Milk Street Duke Street and the Elihu Coleman House in 1893. The old street is more familiarly known as Hawthorn Lane. Henry S. Wyer was the photographer and his artistic touches are clearly revealed.
"Snow in The Lane"
Photographs by Henry S. Wyer
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North From Upper Milk Street—1900. Photograph by Henry S. Wyer