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Thoughts of Nantucket from 58,000 Feet by J. E. Lacouture
RECENTLY WE FLEW BACK from London to Washington on the Con corde - on reflection, a rather spectacular 3 3/4 hour trip. Since I had been a pilot for years it was only natural that during the trip I would wander up into the pilot's compartment. The entire nose of the Concorde which includes the pilot's compartment is made of a very durable plex iglass and affords a magnificent view in all directions. It just so happened that I arrived there as the Concorde at 58,000 feet, Mach 1.85 was passing just south of Nantucket. It was a crystal clear day and there lay Nantucket about the size of a twisted hankerchief with Cape Cod just to the north about the size of a person's arm bent at the elbow. The great point of Nantucket looked like a miniature copy of the lower Cape from Chatham to Provincetown. It was a breath taking and meaningful sight to me who had roots in both places. I returned to my seat to take my wife up to see the spectacular view and then spent the short time remaining on our flight thinking about Nantucket. Memories in later life take on a cherished patina as one reflects on things past. I can remember Nantucket when there were only comparatively few cars and even fewer airplanes, when the beaches were uncrowded and clean as was the water, when one could lay on the beaches without worrying about being run over by a jeep, when the moors were pristine and undotted by houses, where there were no hous ing developments such as Tristram's Landing, Tom Nevers, Dionis and Surfside to spoil the priceless open lands of old. All the changes mentioned above have brought Nantucket into the modern world so alien to the Nantucket of old. The pressures of popula tion growth and demand are irreversible changing one of the few rem nants of rural environmental splendor left along the East Coast of the United States. Again I paused to think of the unbridled growth of Nan tucket today with its traffic problems, the worries of adequate water supplies, power supplies, sewage disposal, etc. I thought of men like Beinecke and Larsen and institutions like the Nantucket Historical Trust and the Nantucket Conservation Foundation who have tried so hard to stem unbridled growth especially of the Coney Island kind and who have attempted to preserve the historic homes of Nantucket and some of Nan tucket's priceless open lands for generations of the future. I then mused abit on the future of Nantucket. At this time I could only feel sorry for my grandchildren and great grandchildren. I feel certain that man's scientific drive, economic cupidity and unwillingness to cor rect and counteract destructive environmental acts will bring un precedented changes to Nantucket fifty years from now.
