Editorial: The Old Roads Return Home

The Old Roads Return Home

RECENT ATTEMPTS to block some of the old roads out of town create a growing problem. These have been public ways for more than a century and a half. Those which have been half forgotten should be reclaimed. They may appear to lead nowhere in particular, but they were at one time used by the public for a definite reason.

No matter how insignificant it may seem, an out-of-town road is important in its relationship to the present as well as the past. It is a matter of fact, that public apathy has resulted in the loss of several. The one in question was a connecting link to Hummock Pond's "north head" for a century and more.

The old roads are a part of our Island's history. We will not find anywhere in New England the number of twisting rutted roads which lead across ou; commons. They represent a part of the past that is mute in Nantucket's story but eloquent in what they represent.

It is, perhaps, understandable that the old roads should be forgotten as they have been for so many decades a familiar sight. But, as citizens, they belong to all of us as they are a part of the corporate body. They have no stretches serving as speedways; they have no cement abutments; they connect no visible habitations. But they represent a way of life that can never return, and should be preserved if for no other reason. The history of Nantucket has become our most important single asset, and they are an imperishable part of this history.

The old ways, the old roads, may seem to wander in many directions - in apparent aimlessness-but they ultimately return to the old Town of Nantucket. They bring us back to all our doorways.

-Edouard A. Stackpole