THE NANTUCKET HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION BOARD OF TRUSTEES Peter W. Nash President
E. Geoffrey Verney
Barbara E. Hajim
Alice F. Emerson
Marcia Welch
John M. Sweeney
Patricia M. Bridier
First Vice Preszdent
Vice President
Vice President
Vice President
Treasurer
CLerk
Pamela C. Bartlett Rebecca M. Bartlett C. Marshall Beale Robert H. Brust Nancy A. Chase John H. Davis Mary F. Espy Nina HeUman
Julius Jensen III Arie L. Kopelman JaneT. Lamb Carolyn B. MacKenzie Bruce D. Miller Bruce A. Percelay Melissa D. Philbrick
Christopher C. Quick Susan F. Rotando Melanie R. Sabelhaus Harvey Saligman Bette M. Spriggs Isabel C. Stewart Jay M. Wil on Robert A. Young
Frank D. MiiJigan Execulwe Ozreclor
RESEARCH FELLOWS Pauline Maier
Patty Jo S. Rice
Nathaniel Philbrick
Renny A. Stackpole
FRIENDS OF THE NHA Pat & Thomas Anathan Mariano & Mortimer Appley Heidi & Max Berry Christy & William Camp Jr. Laurie & Robert Champion Dottie & Earle Craig Prudence & WiUiam M. Crozier Robyn & John Davis Sandra & Nelson Doubleday Nancee & John Erickson Marjorie & Charles Fortgang Nancy & Charles Geschke
Georgia & Thoma GosneU Silvia GosneiJ Barbara & Robert Griffin Barbara & Edmund Hajim GeorgeS. Heyer Jr. Barbara & Harvey Jones Kathryn & James Ketelsen Sara Jo & Arthur Kobacker Coco & Arie Kopelman Sharon & Frank Lorenzo Carolyn & Ian MacKenzie Phyllis Macomber Miriam & Seymour MandeiJ
Ronay & Richard Menschel Aileen & Scott Newqui t Charron & Flint Ranney Gleaves & Thomas Rhode EIJen & Kenneth Roman Marion & Robert Rosenthal EIJen & David Ross Linda & Harvey Saligman Charlotte Smith Genevieve & Richard Tucker Marilyn Whitney Yuriko & Bracebridge Young Jr.
•List of Trustees and Frumdf correct as of june 200-1
ADVISORY BOARD Walter Beinecke Jr. Joan Brecker Patricia Butler Michael deLeo Lyndon Dupuis Martha Groetzinger Dorrit D. P. Gutterson
Nina HeUman Elizabeth Husted Elizabeth Jacobsen Francis D. Lethbridge Reginald Levine Katherine S. Lodge Sharon Lorenzo
Patricia Loring Paul Madden Robert F. Mooney Jane C. Richmond Nancy J. evrens cott M. tearns Jr. Mary-Elizabeth Young
EDITORIAL COMMITTEE Mary H. Beman Margaret Moore Booker Richard L. Brecker Thomas B. Congdon Jr.
Peter J. Greenhalgh Robert F. Mooney Elizabeth Oldham Nathaniel Philbrick
Sally eidman Bette M. Spriggs James ulzer David I I. Wood
Cecil Barron Jensen
Elizabeth Oldham
EDITOR
COPY EDITOR
Claire O'Keeffe \RT Dl RLC TOR
.. Historic ~antucket w~comes ~rticl~ on any aspect of Nantucket history. Original research, first-hand account , renuruscences of Island expenences, histone logs, letters, and photographs are examples 0 [ materials of interest to our readers. Copyright© 2004 by Nantucket Historical Association Historic Nantucket (ISSN 0439-2~48~ isclipual·blished quru:rderly by the Nantucket Historical Association, 7 Fair Street, antucket, MA 02554. eno c postage pru at Nantucket, MA and additional entry offices. POSTMASTER Send address changes to Historic Nantucket Box 1016 • Nantucket,~ 02554~ 1016 • (508) 228-1894; fax: (508) 228-5618. nhainfo@nha.org For information about our historic sites: \VW\v.nha.org
NANTUCKET VOLUME 53, NO.3
SUMMER2004
4 Foreword by Frank D. Milligan
5 Summering in - Windsor Cottage
8 Archaeology of the Polpis Bike Path
by Isabel C. Stewart
by Mary Lynne Rainey
14 Writer-in-Residence:
16
Poetry of Cape Verde by Jarita Davis
l lirtoric Nantucket Book Section Reviews by Nancy T. Adam and Elizabeth Oldham
19 NHA August Antiques Show News
18 Heritage Society by Betsy Tyler
21 NHANews
On the cover:
Florence Carter Johnston, Isabel C. Stewart's mother, ca. 1926
SUMMER HISTORIC
ANTUCKET
2004
3
FROM
THE
EXECUTIVE
DIRECTOR
Many Stories to Tell I
T
HIS SUMMER THE WHALING MUSEUM ON
Broad Street is closed for extensive restoration and next spring we will reopen it as a restored 1847 Candle Factory-along with the renovated Peter Foulger Museum. So for this summer we are encouraging visitors to "Follow Us to Fair Street" to the Quaker Meeting House where our trained interpreters and a small exhibit in the NHA Research Library's Whitney Gallery will provide visitors with a taste of Nantucket's whaling story. But this temporary relocation to the recently restored Meeting House has also rekindled an interest in our staff and visitors to learn more about Nantucket's Quaker history. I can promise you that a wonderful presentation on that subject is in store for those who venture up to 7 Fair Street this swruner. Branching out into a more thorough discussion of our island's unique Quaker history is just a first step in the NHA's plan to present a wider diversity of Nantucket's history in our properties, education programs, and publications like Historic Nantucket. In 2001 the NHA adopted its first Interpretive Plan, which includes the following five historical themes: Whaling (of course) Making a Living: Nantucketers have for centuries pursued with great adaptability and ingenuity many different-that is non-whaling-economic efforts and enterprises including farming, raising livestock, fishing, milling, weaving, trades that supported the whaling industry, and more recently tourism-related work. Island Ideology: We will explore the social, spiritual, and intellectual life of the island and tl1e emergence of a Nantucket ethos that continues to this day. From Native American beliefs and folklore through the rise of numerous religious groups and their impact on Nantucket, spiritual and intellectual life was shaped by an early and active drive for knowledge, education, and faith . The result has been the evolution of an island intellectual life that has provided urbane, sophisticated experiences in a physically remote environment. Peopling the Island: For centuries various peoples from around the world have populated Nantucket,
4
HISTORIC
NANTUCKET
coming for myriad reasons, and each group has helped to shape how the island has developed and changed. Not an easy place to live due to its location and lack of abundant natural resources, Nantucket has forced its inhabitants and visitors to adapt or leave, and at times large numbers have left, searching for different living conditions and/or better economic opportunities on the mainland. The ebb-and-Aow effect of those diverse populations has had, <md continues to have, a profound impact on the i land's history. Nantucket as Artist Colony and Res Community: This story, fan1iliar to roday's residents and visitors, chronicles the island's fascinating and at times necessary transformation from a depressed whaling center to a vibrant home for artists, writers, and actors and a popular resort community. This transformation has had an impact upon Nru1tucket residents who haYe struggled with a number of issues during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries: development, racial and class tensions, conservation of dwindling land and structures, ru1d an escalating co t of living. The as ociation's job is to preserve its important historic structures and utilize each of them in a manner that helps our residents and visitors understand the island's complex histmy as outlined in these five categories. One vehicle in this respect is the magazine that you ru¡e holding in your hands. As you read the articles in this issue of Historic ant11cket you cannot help but gain a greater appreciation for the diversity and complexity that is Nantucket's history. Yes, whaling is our keynote stmy; but there are so many additional stories to tell. Sometime this summer, why not "Follow Us to Fair Street." Corne to the Quaker Meeting House and engage our staff in a discussion about Nantucket's Quaker hist01y. Or take an NI IA Walking Tour where you 'vill discover not fabricated ghost history but reallife stories about the men and women who made a living on this island and walked the very sru11e streets. You 'vill find that these stories are every bit as intriguing and engaging as our whaling history.
-Frank Milligan UMMER
2004
Summering in Windsor Cottage N 1899 1\IY GRANDPi\HE TS, .J I I
in the swnmer. (As a child, their daughter by arter and Mabel Pugh, eloped ~~~).. Florence, my mother, had almost suc- Isabel C. Stewart from \X'indsor, North aro- AIIPJ!~,Mlllln~<fo!\.;;i~ cumbed to an epidemic and was conlina, and went to live in sidered fragile by the family.) Philadelphia. To begin with, my Building began in 1926, the sumgrandfather tried his hand at runmer their daughter Isabel went off to ning a grocery tore in the modest Europe with three girlfriends. It was little neighborhood where he and completed in 1927. I have in an Mabel lived, but it was not a great album an outline of the plan for the success. Then he secured a governfirst floor of Windsor Cottage drawn ment job, employment highly prized by my mother in white irtk on black by "colored" (term of the clay) people photo paper. TI1e family was so excitcoming north because of its relative ed. Needless to say, such a move was The author's economic protection. I have the papers most unusual for African Americans in grandparents, he saved ignaling every promotion he their circle at the time. received at the Post Office. With his earn ings My mother, Florence Carter Johnston, and John D. Carter and from the Post Office and Mabel's from seamstress her sister, Isabel Carter Duckrey, were schoolteachers Mabel Pugh Carter. and had summers off. When Windsor Cottage was work, they bought a house on a numbered street (a 5C410-2A opposed to a back street) in Philadelphia. It was sold to built, they were in their twenties and joined other them nly because it was in the worst possible condi- African Americans on-island working "in service," The Carters' tion, but they fixed it up beautifully over the years and catering fancy patties, mostly for "richwhitefolks" (spo- Windsor Cottage ken as one word in our milieu). Our modest little was a gatherti1g place. were proud of their accomplishment and their location. Mabel's grandmother, Sarah, had worked on a Windsor Cottage became a gathering place on SC-439.3 Wind or plantation, Liberty Hall, the whole of which repaired by barge each summer to Nag's Head on the oast in order t get out of pesti lential northeastern North Carolina in the brutal heat of summer. arah's daught r, my great-grandmother Belle Pugh, owned s vera! propertie in downto¡wn Windsor that bad been left to her by arab. Windsor newspapers document th fir that burned down her restaurant, where it is said she had on ly been p rmitted to setve whites. randmother Mabel had been raised in Windsor and told stories of going as a child to Nag's Head "on vacation." In 1925 she visit d Nantucket with a seamstress friend from Philadelphia. She took one look at the island's south shore and saw in her memory the Nag's Head beach of her girlhood. She came home to Philadelphia from that first visit to Nantucket and announced to my grandfather John Carter that they would proceed to buy property and build on Nantucket to get away from (pestilential) Philadelphia
I
HISTORIC
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TUCKET
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5
Thursdays and Sundays for the more socially conscious among those working in service. And so they created their own self-sufficient world for socializing and recreation. At the same time, I gather from family stories, the family was accorded respect and dignity by the salt-of-theearth population of old Nantucketers with whom they shared common values-modest means, respect for hard work, lack of ostentation, and love of the island. The story was that my grandfather always wore a coat and tie when going "downstreet"; in his view, I imagine, that signaled for others his station in life and sense of self-respect, which required a proper response from those he encountered. And, sure enough, in my memory he was best known to Nantucket acquaintances and trades-people as "Mr. Carter." Windsor Cottage was also the place of choice for the Nantucket 11formation Bureau to recommend when their staff was confronted with the rare "colored" visitors to the island and were stymied as to where to send them for lodging where they would be welcome. So our guest bedroom on the first floor was occasionally "let" for, as I remember, $2 .50 a night. Repeat guests I recall were a physician and his wife from New Jersey, another an esteemed elderly lawyer from Connecticut whose graduation gift I still own-a dictionary to take with me to my freshman year at Wellesley-and, yet another, a well-known artist who used to leave the house each morning with easel and paints. In Nantucket my grandparents recreated a bit of Windsor, North Carolina. When my grandfather retired, he would travel to Nantucket from Philadelphia each April to set out his vegetable garden in the backyard. Each summer there were chickens, Rhode Island Reds. And there was the front porch for rocking and enjoying the sunset, which was at that time unobscured by brush and foliage across South Prospect Street, then a simple dirt road. Their small piece of property was on the edge of what, in days long past, had been the black quarter known as "New Guinea," a fact never mentioned during my growing-up years. Not until I wandered into the
HISTORIC
NANTUCKET
SUMMER
2004
***** B0 X
L UNCHES
CARTER'S BOX LUNCHES AND SANDWICHES Mill r~ll Telephone 3~R Will Deliver Anywhere
firehouse one day back in the late 1950s and spied the designation "Colored Cemetery" on the town map hanging on the waiJ did I realize distinctions that should have b en apparent to me aiJ along. Our part of town was indeed populated by ape Verdeans and a very few African American families. The daughter of one of tho e families whose father was a respected island dentist was refused admission to the children's program at Jetties Beach, but as I recall, after an initial flurry of protest and consternation, my family made little of the incident. n a happier note, during the 1950s and '60s I rem mber overtures made to my mother and aw1t by member of the Quaker and Jewi h communities on th island-and the modest beginning of another dimen ion of their social life that included occasionaiJy being welcomed to concerts and lectures in churches and in home. My mother and aunt had been extremely do e to their parents. After my grandparents died-six weeks apart in Decemb r of 1948 and January of 1949-the si ter ca t about [or omething to do to ease the pain. They decided that my aunt, a home economics teacher, and my mother, an elementary sch olteacher with a good head for numbers and excellent organizational skills, would be a good t an1 to tap the increasing numbers of tourists coming to the island. They started Florabel Carter's Box Lunches, the rust take-out business of its kind on the island. I recently found the handlettered sign that hung near the fence out in front of Windsor Cottage in the rust couple of years. Customers would sit in our front yard waiting for their orders: chicken and ham sandwiches, coleslaw, and a brownie for ninety-nine cents-just right for the beach-and the HISTORIC
NANTUCKET
business took off. The third year they This page: moved to a smaiJ storefront owned by Florence Carter at the Barretts on Federal Street. My Aunt Windsor Cottage, ca. 1926. Isabel also collected antiques and put a few in the window as decoration and for Listing/or sale. After the third year, though, they Carter's Box Lunches found themselves simply too exhausted /rom A Guide ro at the end of the summer. As teachers Good Eatingthey had been accustomed to some relaxation during the summer months; they could not adjust to the pres- Native Recipes, an rucker Island, 1951. sure of such an arduous swmner conmutment, so the business dosed. COUEC110.~ 169, BOX I. FOWER J I am terribly proud of those two women and my Opposite page, grandparents for being such intrepid pioneers on tllis island. Windsor Cottage has become the residential clockwise /rom upper left: "constant" for om fanlily-the place we each know we Generations four and five: can repair to for quiet time and reflection. AL11ost sev- the author's son Carter, enty years after my grandparents Erst foray, my husband granddaughter Nicole, and Don and I last summer welcomed the fifth generation-our son Carter's daughter Nicole. She landed on daughter-ziz-law Michelle the island just before her rust birthday, honoring a fanu- at the steps a/Windsor ly tradition that started with me, arriving on island for Cottage in summer 2003. the first time at nine months of age. The main differ- Three generations: ence: I traveled with my parents by stean1ship from Mabel Pugh Carter, author New Bedford; she jetted in witl1 hers from Califomia. Isabel Carter johnston
Isabel C. Stewart has visited the island almost every summer for at! of her sixty-five years. She is the executive director of the Chicago Foundation /or Women and a current member of the NHA Board a/Trustees.
Stewart as a baby, Florence Carter Johnston Smith, and her siste1; Isabel Carter Duckrey. Author Isabel with her grandfather john D. Carter and one of their chickens. Windsor Cottage in 1926, wzih floor pum drawn by Florence Carter
SUMMER
200_4_ _
7
The Archaeology of the Polpis Road Bicycle Path: A Landmark in the Study of Native American Li/eways on Nantucket by Mary Lynne Rainey
8
N
ANTUCKET ISLAND \V!A HRST DCPLORLD B'
Native American groups approximately 11 ,000 to 12,000 year ago during the early Holocene Paleolndian migration into the Northeast. From a small peak on the va t coastal plain to a remote island at ea, antucket' dynamic terrain has been home to a ucce i n [ remarkably adaptive human groups and th ir de endents since the la t glacial recession. Although a hesive entity of contemporaty Native Am rican d s n t exist on the island, undoubtedly there are individual living in the region today who may trace their heritage, in part, to Nantucket Indian families. Data recovery The enduring legacy of a once robu t indigen u excavation in progress. population is the perp tuation of Native place-nam s throughout the i land , refer n ing the locations of former c mmunity setd ments or culturally important natural land cape feature (Little 1987). Another legacy familiar to most Nantucketer i the material culture of past Native life that blankets the island, commonly di covered by local residents a a result [ natural erosional proce s and c nstruction. These beautifully crafted stone tools, broken p ttery, hell and animal-bone refuse heap , org~c soil layers, and occa ionally bunals, are among the finite archaeological resources of Nantucket. Unlike permanent place-names, Nantucket's archaeological sites are diminished annually in the face of a HISTORIC
NANTU CKE T
growing population <Inti imminent development. As 'arly as 1916, I larry B. Turner, <I local journalist and meml er t f the I lA. reported h1s concern about the depletion of ar ·hm:olog1cal l l ourc ·s on antucket in a bri of essa). Turner W<IS im·oh-l.'d 111 the removal of a uaise buri.tl almost thilt\ \ -.1rs before writing his article for the !l A's 1 uhlished J>rocccdmg1. In hi e say, he laments the disturb.mce of the sne and the sub equent loss of cultw-.1! materials colkl:ted from the burial at that rim· (Turner 1916:51). t\ "tonMhawk" taken from the gra,· ·in I ''7 \\;Is tr<KL' I hv Turner to Akron, Ohio, in 1916. Though an ath·ot.lle of preservation , it was clear to Turner that ard1<1Colo~tcal materials collected from isl,tnd sites by antiqu.trwns were not likely to remain lo ·a!. ·n,rough much of the twenti ·th century, antu ket's ar haeologi al sitL'S were th · ~ubj · ·t of inve tigation by various groups including loc,tl co li c tors, the Massa ·hus ·tts t\rcha ·olog1c,tl Soc iety, and the antu ket ll i ·tori ·;tl t\~~ociation. Although many important site~ \\' ·re L''-C<I\ ,tted. the scientific rudy of th e olle ·tions was lim itetl. In 1966, th e National 1 [i tori l rc. ervation Act r ·cognized the significance of archaeological resourc ·s throughout the country and pr vidcd a m ·d1;tnism to ensure that fc leral undertaking take into nsid ·r.nion their effects on such properties. , ub. cqu ·nt f ·d rat and state I gislation augmented the same principles and formalized the stag of ar haeological investigation under the broad heading of "cultural resource managem nt" (CRM). er the pa t twenry-fi,·e years or o, RM surveys ha ve been undertaken on antu ket as a result oft11 e de ign and construction of bi ycle path , wasre:~a.ter treatment facilities, h ols and recreational facilines, ~
i\t
1CR
2004
r Left:
housing developments, public utilities, airport improvements, and golf courses. In Massachusetts, archaeological investigations typically proceed in three stages, each of which is outlined in ection 106 of the ational Historic Preservation Act of 1966, and in state regulations. Archaeologists must meet certain requirements set forth by the National Park ervice and must obtain a state permit from the Massachu etts Hi torical Commission in order to conduct the work. The procedures are carefully designed to ensure that important archaeological sites are identified and evaluated in the planning stages of an u.ndettaking, and that tate and National Register eligible sites are preserved and protected if possible. The initial phase, called an intensive survey, involves gathering environmental and historic information about the land and determining if there are any known archaeological sites within the project bou.ndaries. The information is used to predict where wlknown sites might be located. Small test pits are then excavated to sample areas likely to contain sites. If potentially in1portant sites are discovered, it is often possible at this preliminary stage to redesign project plans and avoid them. Most of the CRM surveys on Nantucket have ended at the initial phase. HI
TORIC
NA
TUCKET
The second phase of investigation, referred to as a I site exanlination, is designed to determine if a particular Mapping the site is eligible for listing in the National Register of archaeological site. Historic Places. The goal of this phase is to gather infor- Right: mation about the size, age, condition, contents, and Route ofthe fu.nction of the site. The site exanlination must establish that the resource contains data that are unique and 1 Polpis Road that can add to our current state of knowledge about a Bicycle Path. particular research topic. If a defensible argwnent can be made for State and National Register eligibility, the proponent of the project must try to avoid the site. I If avoidance is not feasible, a plan is then developed to mitigate the adverse effects of the project either through preservation of the archaeological site or through an archaeological data-recovery plan. An archaeological data recovety is considered a final opportwlity to collect information prior to destruction of a site. It requires careful development of research questions, excavation of a proportion of the site, and in-depth analyses of the contents. In 1988, the Nantucket Planning and Economic Development Commission (NP&EDC) planned the construction of the 8.1-mile Polpis Road bicycle path from Milestone Road to Anne's Lane in Siasconset. Because the project was funded through the Massachusetts Highway Department and was reviewed by the Federal Highway Administration, it was subject SUMMER
2004
9
Bottom left: Grooved cobble plummet of local granite. Middle: Undisturbed rock hearth, nearly l m below sur/ace, radiocarbon-dated to 1,280 years ago. Right: Marbled, slipdecorated English earthenware, mid- to late-seventeenth century, recovered /rom wigwam floor deposits.
to review by the Massachusetts Historical Commi ion and required compliance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. An intensive archaeological survey conducted by the Public Archaeology Laboratory, Inc. (PAL) in 1989 confirmed that there were many Native American and Ionia! sites within the proposed alignment. Although e ti n of the path were redesigned to avoid certain site , ix ultimately could not be avoided. Pha e II studi were carried out by PAL in 1991, resulting in the conclu i n that four Native American sites were ignificant at the local and regional level. For the first time on Nantucket, an archaeological data recovery plan was to be initiated. Two of the four Native American site ontained domestic house-floor deposits representing, in each case, the interiors of former wigwams. Although the sites were in different environmental setting vera! miles apart, each of the wigwam floors was r markably similar. They consisted of blackened , greasy oil deposits extending about 8 to 9 m in length (26-27 ft) and imbedded with chipped stone tools, thousand of stone flakes (the debris from tool-production activity), food remains (shell and bone), and ceramics. The other two sites were smaller and were thought to repr nt brief encampments associated with the larger, nearby settlements. The data-recovery excavation involved 1lecting in a systematic way a ten percent sam pi of each of the four sites within the limits of the bicycle path easen1ent. Site grids were established to maintain exact vertical and horizontal reference points for all of the artifacts and activity areas. Square units mea uring 2 m x 2 m were excavated in 5 em increment , il were screened, and all artifacts were assigned prov nance relative to vertical and horizontal control points n the
grid. Bags of soil were also collected for laboratory analyses. The soils were ubject to a flotation process that all ws micro opi botani al remains to be extracted and identified. In addition, small fragments of charoal were carefully packaged for radiocarbon dating. The conclusion of fieldwork in the fall of 1995 marked the beginning of a 1 ·ngthy analytical process that would reveal considerable nt:\\ information about ative li fe on antucket (ltuney 2004). Over the c urse <f about two years, ncar!~ 70,000 artifacts ranging from large stone tools to microscopic eed were iden tifi ed. cata logued, and .trchived from the four ar ha ·ologic~J sites. An unprccedent ·d ·uite of eighteen radio ·arbon dares was comptled .md used to interpret the human processe that r ·suited in the e complex ar ha ·ol gi ·al depo. it . ,'p · ·ific c.uegories of re earch that have been enhanced from the data-recovery program include ative Ameri ·an .trchitecture, ceramic te hnology, and ( dways, among others. The project re ·ulted in the fir t radiocarbon dated maize samples fr m well documented i land ·onte ·ts, the first instance f w d sp ·cies identification in an archaeological site n antucket, and the first p<trttally recon tructed ceramic vessel on antuckct.
Native Amet·ican Architccn rc In the ·rudy of ative American architecture, the Pol pis R ad investigation provided evidence that traditional house sites were established on antucket during the Late Ar haic to Earl \X/oo lland Period, about 3,000 to 3,500 yea ago, and were used well into the venteenth and ea rl ightcenth centuries. Radi< carbon-dated chara!, hell, and maize samples provided specific time fram C r ite usc through the ontact Peri d (ca. 450
:km
·~·I•
1'\1 1001
10
HISTORI C
NANTUCKET
.UMME R
2004
B. P.), while seventeenth-century ceramic and pipe fragments certified enduring traditions after English settlement of the island. At the outset, homes were articulated \Vith the natural landscape, making use of protective slopes, slightly elevated terraces, and efficient access to critical resources. The architectural patterns observed at the two sites containing house floors were nearly identical. The study concluded tl1at oval structures measuring about 8 m in length were constructed using small poles (averaging 5-7 em clian1eter) in addition to two larger, interior posts (30- to 40-cm dian1eter) that may have supported ridge poles. Larger posts were set about 1 m inside the building perimeter and spanned about 6.5 m. These supports may also have been utilized as clen1ents of interior household furniture and were probably left in place during periodic, and possibly seasonal, movements to other parts of the island or to the New England mainland. The materials used to construct wigwan1s may have changed over time, although analyses of charred wood fragments from several sites indicated that, at a minimum, white oak and hickory were used by the ative residents. Based on the wide range of anin1al species
identified from food remains, deer, rabbit, raccoon, and were potential sources of food as well as skins for I seal clothing, bedding, or wigwan1 coverings. Mats made of reeds, sedge, and grasses were certainly used to line floors, based on the tl1ousands of grass seeds recovered from floor deposits. Various species of sedge were collected from coastal wetland margins, providing one of the principal raw materials used in the production of baskets, mats, bags, and in some cases clothing (Wood 1977; Josselyn 1674, 1865; Morton 1838). The importance of these resources to Nantucket's Native population is documented in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century English land transfers and court records (Worth 1992), and is now supported with archaeological data.
Ceramic Technology Deteriorated pottery fragments were found at all four of the archaeological sites, and were common in both wigwams. Of the hundreds of crushed ceramic fragments, differences in decoration, ten1per, color, iliickness, and paste were considerable, leading to the general conclusion that ceramics were probably used at the sites for
I
Data-recovery excavation in progress. HISTORIC
NANTUCKET
SUMMER
2004
11
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much of the Woodland Period (about 3000 years). Ceramics were not found in association with any other particular artifact class within the dwellings, and links with specific radiocarbon dated material could not be made. At one of the sites, however, the discovery of an isolated refuse pit containing only ceramic shards provided a unique opportunity to document a Nantucket vessel type. Because the pot was disposed of outside the home, the broken fragments were less subject to the deteriorating effects of trampling, and analysts were able to reconstruct a portion of it. Of the 1,217 fragments collected, 87 were cross-mended into 18 "s herd groups." The two largest sherd groups provided evidence of an estimated pot-rim diameter of about 21 em and revealed a relatively simple exterior design of geometric incising, cross-hatching, and stamping. The relatively thin walls and use of crushed minerals visible in the temper place the vessel broadly within the Middle to Late Woodland Period (ca. 1650-450 B.P.).
1!-NT. se
PAL
12
H I ST 0 R l C
N A N T U C K E T
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Analyses of the partially reconstructed ceramic vessel concluded that paste, design, and form are typical, and perhaps consi tent with information from Woodland Period ceramic contexts elsewhere in New England. Indeed, one partially refitted vessel from a site in Martha ' Vineyard exhibits exterior design elements that are indistinguishable from the Nantucket vessel (Macpherson 2000) . Localized craft specialization with regard to ceramic production, style, and decoration is
often attributed to cultural stress and the need to reinforce cultural identity in the appearance of common personal belongings and household equipment. In this case, stylistic con istencies \vith ceran1ics from Martha's Vineyard ~m d elsewhere in New England may signify a time when functional needs took precedent over cultural expression, perhaps a time of peaceful coexistence.
Foodways The archaeological inve tigations of the Polpis Road ires generated exceptionally large faunal collections, including the bones and teeth of many terrestrial species, fish, and marine mammals, as well as shellfish remains. Maize fragments were also recovered from two sites, and in both cases were radiocarbon dated to the end of the Late Woodland/Contact Period (A.D. 1440 to 1630 and A.D. 1495 to 1670). From the two wigwam sites, over 14,000 animal-bone fragments were recovered and studied, leading to the general conclu ion that diversity in diet was key to the succes of daily life on antucket. White-tailed -deer bone and teeth were most common, with other terrestrial species including rabbit, raccoon, turkey, turtle, muskrat, river otter, domestic dog, and domestic cow. At one site, deer-bone and -antler fragments had been modified for use as household tools. Antler billets were effective hammers for chipped-stone-tool pr duction, and a bone awl may have been used a a netting implement. The discovery of a grooved cobble, interpreted as a plun1met, provided another clue about potential fishing techniques at shallow, intertidal waterways where nets would have been effective. From the harbor and sea, a diversity of pecies was represented including piny dogfish , tautog, Atlantic cod, sturgeon, ea ba , striped bass, gray seal, and dusky shark. Bird bon were al o present, although in only one case wa a positive identification made. A single talon fragment from the Anlerican bald eagle was identified at the sam site where a tooth of a dusky shark was found. Those species have not been identified to date on Nantucket archaeological site and were not necessarily part of a meal. The eagle i well represented in Native mythology on a national level , and the potential utility of shark teeth as tools, personal ornamentation, or in ritual must be recognized. These finds hint at the spectrum of ceremonial events that were likely elements of daily life for this thriving ative community. . The recovered remains of pa t foodways at the Polp1s SUMMER
2004
Road sites represent a fraction of what was consumed, based on the lengthy record of occupation at the sites. The processing and disposal of food remains at specific coUecting sites, like the beach or along the margins of SlJt marshes and tidal rivers and streams, is a likely condition of prehistoric Life on Nantucket. And, like many contemporary antucketers, Native Americans appear to have been aware of the limitations of local resources and the unpredictable nature of island life.
Conclusion The Polpis Road bicycle path datarecovery program represents the fir t comprehensive, multidi ciplinary treatment of prehistoric archaeological resources on Nantucket. Fieldwork and subsequent analyses have generated new and regionally significant information about ative American lifeways on antucket, and a permanent collection of cultural material , notes, drawing , and photograph that LJtimately will be returned to the island for future generations to study. I was fortunate to have been assigned the role of field director on these important excavations and to have been given the opportunity to analyze the data. I look forward to cont inued opporrunitie to share the experience with the people of Nantucket.
Mary Lynne Rainey has bcm an empLoyee o/PAL since 1988 and bas been a professional archaeologist sti1ce 1980. ince 199 3, she bas directed fourteen culturaL resource-managemmt projectJ· on antucket, intbe areas of iasconset, esacbacha Pond, Pocomo, PoLpis, Plainfield, obadeer, Madequecbam and Miacomet VaLLeys, downtown, and til the EeL P01i1t neighborhood. Rainey has umiten environmentaL and historic contexts /or much of the irland that assirt proponents of new projects with planning strategies that take tit to constderation antucket's tinportant culturaL resources. She has aLso been a guest speaker at the antucket HistoricaL Association, the antucket ew Schoo~ the Nantucket ELementary Schoo~ and the University a/Massachusetts FieLd School.
HISTORIC
NA
TUCKET
Sources:
This page:
Josselyn, John
Excavation of/ragzle
[1674] An Account o/Two Voyages to New England, 1638-1663.
whelk shelf and white-
William Veazie Reprint, Boston, Mass.
tailed-deer bone in wigwam floor deposits. Opposite page, top:
Macpherson, Jennifer, and Suzanne Cherau 2000 ArchaeologicaL Site Examina-
tions: The Area 1 Site and The Bergeron Site, Down Island Golf
Talon bone of the American bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus).
Club Project Area, Oak Bluffs, Martha's Vineyard, Mass. PAL Report o. 1016-2. Submitted to Down Island Golf Club, Inc., and Environmental Science Services, Inc., WeUesley, Mass. Morton, Thomas
Middle: Tools crafted/rom white-tailed-deer antler (Odocozleus virginianus): a. pestle, b. billet,
1838 [1637] New EngLish Canaan. Amsterdam, 1637; reprint New York, NY.
c. pressure-/laking tool. Bottom:
Rainey, Mmy Lynne 200-t PoLpis Road Bicycle Path ArchaeologicaL Data
Partially reconstructed
Recovery Program: Site 19-NT-50, the Roadki!L Site (19-NT-166), Site 19-NT-68,· and the FoLger's Marsh Site (19-NT-180),· and SuppLemental Site Examination of the FoLger's Marsh Site. The Public Archaeology
ceramic vesse~ showing extenor geometnc patterns.
Laboratory, Inc. Report No. 621. Submitted to the antucket Planning and Economic Development Commi sion, Nantucket, Mass. Turner, Hany B. 1916 "Vanished Treasures," Proceedings: Nantucket Historical Association. 44-53. Cowtesy of the Nantucket Historical Association Research Library, Nantucket, Mass. Wood, William E.
1977 New England's Prospect, edited by Alden T. Vaughan. Reprint by Amherst College, Amherst, Mass. Worth, Henry Barnard
1992 Nantucket Lands and Land Owners. Nantucket Historical Association, Reprint Heritage Books, Inc.
SUMMER
2004
13
Writer-in-Residence: Poetry of Cape Verde
I!Je Nmztucket I h1torical Associatzon hosted ]a1'ita A. Davzs as the \'VritcJ~m-Residcncc at the :-JHA/rom March 22 to Apri/2. Davz~~ ts tbc author o/a collection o/ poe!I)' titled TI1ere Should Be More Water. Her luork highlights the influences that New England and American culture has bad on Cape Verdean mmzigrant.1, as well as Cape \hdean influences on New England com1mmities. During her stay, the NHA coordinated her vz~rits to Nantucket schools and offered evening programs/or the Nantucket coJJmzw?ity to hear her read her poetry. We arc pleased to present a sampling of her work here.
by Jarita Davis Above left: jarzia Davis with seventh and eighth-grade students at the Nantucket ew School. Above right: ]arita in the Whziney Gallery display o/her poetry accompanied by linoleum cuts by przntmaker Alexandra Hullinger
14
HISTORIC
Y GRANDFATHER WAS BORN ON THE
M
APE
Verdean island of Brava, but because he was so often at sea with the Merchant Marine, I knew very little about him or his connection to "the old country." In the summer of 2000, I stayed in New Bedford while taking a class in Portuguese at UMass Dartmouth and found myself surrounded by the Cape Verdean community, which is so prevalent in this area. I began writing poems about my observations, memories, and my tenuous connection to this culture_ In addition to writing poems from my personal experiences, I also researched historical information about Cape Verdeans and their role in southeastern Massachusetts at the New Bedford Free and Public Library and the New Bedford Whaling Museum's library and wrote from the details I found there. In 2002, I received a Woodrow Wilson Research Travel NANTUCKET
Grant to go to Cape Verde and continue the project by writing poems from the other side of the Atlantic. Later, I came to the antucket Hi torical A ociation as the Writer-in-Residence to use its research library and to interact witl1 me Cape Verdean community on island. Almough tl1e name "Cape Verde" suggests a green, heavily vegetated place, the islands are dry and often plagued with drought. These conditions make it difficult to sustain life, and many Cape Verdeans temporarily move overseas to earn money and then return to support their families on the islands. The result is a community with a strong sense of longing and nostalgia for mose who have eimer le& or been left behind. The poems printed here reflect the ties between Cape Verdeans living in meir native island homes and those here in southeastern Massachusetts.
SUMMER
2004
THE CORN POEM
for 1(my Tony is big. If he weren't Cape Verdean, he'd be from Kansas. "You should write a poem about corn," he tells me now. "A piece of corn, talking to a man in Cabo Verde who plants it. " When Tony was a boy, his father's dim rustling in the kitchen shook him awake each morning, and from his bedroom window, he watched a silhouette slipping from home, rushing to meet the sun in a field of corn that would not grow.
Every year, you plant me in this hole in the dirt and wc1i1/or rain. Maybe there's enough rain, or maybe it doesn't rain /or two years. Or three. But still you plant, why?
HARVESTING A R ETURN Over and over again, owners and overseers of cranberry bogs pronounce the Cape Verder, whether he picks by hand, scoop or snap, the very best harvester of ranberries on the Cape Cod bogs. NbertJenks, anthropologist, 1924 I can look at the cranberries, yes, but not eat them. It's their color that's sweet when the pink beads and candied crimson pebbles tun1ble into their wooden boxes.
If you buy your own land, in three to five years, you can harvest a full crop. In three years, I'll be in Fogo again, telling my sobrinhos stories of the bog. Not about arthritis snapping my hips and ankles as I crouch in the dewy dawn , or the skin splitting my hand as I reach from the cold, dry air into the wet vines. I'll bring back different stories, American dothes, and a handful of cranberries for each child. I'll laugh when they spit the bitter flesh back into their hands. When their faces gather, scattered brown layers edipsing each other, I'll tell how here parents picked and scooped and told the children stories of Nho Lobo, the lazy wolf. And how women picked too. Mothers in wide brimmed hats stained their dresses while kneeling on crushed leaves and cranberries hidden in the wet bogs, teaching
His father left his frustrations in fanning for America, and Tony grew strong eating the dried corn his father used to press into dirt, while OLher boys' fathers still crouched in their plots of land, ignoring quiet c mplaints and insults from corn.
the children those old Cape Verdean songs: the one about the rooster who longs for his youth, and wishes he could fly. And how the children helped, too,
Why are you so s111p1d to plant me in this hole in the dirt? You could make some couscous or nice manchupa to eat.
I'll tell them about autunm tumbling bellind boxes of cranberries set at the edge of the fields, and how the end of the day would fall from the hills with a quiet fire
Tony's father returned to abo Verde, to hold the dry kernels in his palm and feel them stirring for growth. He bought more land with American money, and hired men to put pieces of corn in dirt and wait for rain. "Write something like that, " Tony tells me, resting an enormous hand on each knee. "A piece of corn talking. But the man plants it anyhow. That would be a good poem ." And maybe it would. But in all my revisions, the corn kernel wants to crack through its own hard yellow skin and stretch its green reach to meet the sun.
HISTORI C
NANTUCKET
stumbling under the awkward shape of empty wooden crates, gray and bigger than themselves and brought them to their parents, bent in the bogs.
of trees like narrow volcanoes exploding orange and yellow leaves. The evenings folded with the smell of burning wood, and colors collapsed into the sw1set. And all through eptember and October and November, late into every Saturday night, we sang along with the accordions and mandolins in the cabins by the bogs. The workers danced, and the children took warm bread with cranberry jam from their mothers' rough hands, hands torn by the berries' vine and stained red beneath the nail. Work on the bog is work that makes you feel old. Old enough to wonder how you are still bending your back over another man's crops, not your own. My scoop snaps across the vines' twigs. The money comes slowly, but it comes. Boxes stand stacked, bulging \vith berries. If the picking is good this year, and next, I'll bring back an aching armload of stories and bloody berries from the fiery fields of this other Cape to the brown faces in the beige mountains of Fogo.
S U M M E R
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15
DREAMING IN CRIOLU, OR WHY I ROMANTIOZE THE OLD COUNTRY I dream of Cabo Verde every night now. A family that owns a corner store there remembers me from nights before. We smile, nod, point between stacked rice bags and ceranuc statues of the Virgin. Sometimes, I follow faint sounds guitars, violins, accordions through narrow brown and yellow streets. I step over uneven cobblestones beneath white sheets where a prac;:a opens up. Above a crowd circling gray and brown, \vith tambourines and finger cymbals, a woman \vith a bright mouth and dress sings to Christmas lights strw1g from street lamps. I've only visited Papa's broken fishing islands in visions, where a wheelbarrow jerks his father forward, hopping and lurching behind. A black scarf covers his mother's head, she leans over the milk canister and a boy brings his calf to its family waiting beneath a stone archway. Brava held him in its worn nets. Too poor to keep him, his memories became nune. Today I have learned to say, Bom dia, and tonight I will not point, but speak \vith my family in their cramped corner store.
LABOR OF LOVE EVERAL MONTHS AGO, MR. WAYNE JOHNSO
S
WROTE TO
the Research Library asking about "illustrated editions" of Mary Starbuck's published poetry, specifically Nantucket and Other Verses, first published in 1911 by J. J. Little & Ives, New York. I replied that no such edition existed, but six copies in the collection had tinted postcards amateurishly pasted to the front-cover boards, and I sent him photocopies. Mr. Johnson owns a printing plant in Brighton, Michigan, and has a profound love and respect for a beautifully made book. From time to time-just for the pleasure of it-he produces limited editions of works in the public domain that he considers worthy of reprinting in a brand-new suit. For the Mary Starbuck poems, he photographically reproduced the texts on a fine vellum paper, bound the leaves by hand, and had a slipcase made. On both the book's front cover and the slipcase he imposed that familiar tinted image of Nantucket catboats in the harbor. It's a sweet little gift package, printing only fifteen of Miss Starbuck's poems-a combination of pious reflections and odes to nature, like this one:
Inland RETURN FLIGHTS The seventeen year old on the plane from Sal to New York knows Cape Verde is not a place you leave. It's the shuttling across the Atlantic \vith his carry-on filled \vith letters written and saved long ago photographs his family forgot had been taken: His mother, standing by a cove, leaning against jagged rock in a string bikini the san1e color as her warm brown skin. A black and white photo of his father that could have been the boy himself except for the yellowing crease at the comer. Video footage: fast music, quick hips. That's my uncle's house. The walls brown in the can1corder's dim light. That's my cousin. That's my cousin too. He wears the necklace his girl gave him even though it pinches his neck. One tiny bead has an "F" for "Farina. " That's her name,
Fatina. I'm coming back next summer.
1 6 HISTORIC
NANTUCKET
I dream of the east \vind's tonic, Of the breakers' stormy roar, And the peace of the inner harbor With the long, low hirnmo Shore. I want to sail down from Wauwinet As the sun drops low in the west, And tl1e town, like a city celestial, Looks a fitting abode for the blest. I long for the buoy-bell's tolling When the north wind brings from afar The smooth, green, shining billows To be churned into fom11 on the bar. Oh for the sea-gulls' screaming As they swoop so bold and free! Oh for the fragrant commons, And the gloriou open sea! For the restful great contentment, For the joy that is never known Till past the jetty and Brant Point Light The Islander comes to his own!
This perfect little nostalgic souvenir is available in the Museum Shop for $47. Call (508) 228-5785 to order.
-Elizabeth Oldham SUMMER
2004
Historic Nantucket Book Section D ownright Dencey by Caroline I )ale ~nedeker Bethlehem B 1uks Ignatius Press, San Fnmcisco 2003
P
RI:P¡\RI : TO JUMP lUG! IT IN
when you open Downright Dencey. Author Caroline Snedeker wastes no time introducing the reader to the cadences of Quaker speech in this story about a Quaker family in early nineteenth -century Nantucket. Dionis Coffyn (so spelled in one branch of the ishmd Coffins), known as Dencey, walks home from school chattering with her schoolmates when they encounter a group of boys from another school, one for the les privileged. The story revolve around Dencey, who meets a particular boy from this group of ragamuffins on this day. Many of the issues they deal with are issues that are similar to those children have to wrestle with in the twenty-first century. Questions of bullying, faith, parentage, and environment color all the activities of young people on the island in nineteenth-century Nantucket. Today's grandparent who grew up reading this book, originally published in 1927, will welcome this reprinting. The author, who had fallen under the spell of the island on her fiTst visit, returned some years later and would pend a part of several years here. Much about Nantucket in the early nineteenth century will sound familiar to readers today; children of any age (the book suggests 12 and above) who are visiting Nantucket for the first time, or have already been seduced by this special island will recognize place names and locations. The Coffin School, Brant Point, the Town Clock on the tower of the Second
IIISTORIC
NANTUCKET
Congregational Meeting House on Orange Street, all take their places in this adventure. Whaling, which had been the source of the money that" greased the wheels" of the economy, was winding down and fathers, brothers, and sons were about to return from the sea to find a place in this mostly Quaker community. The Commons, what we would think of as the moors, become a backdrop for much of the story. Great open fields where the sheep kept down the growth of scrub oak, and where some remaining Indians kept homes that were barely even shacks, kept children from venturing out alone. The winds, untamed by trees, swept across the commons all year long, and in bad weather the reduced visibility could disorient anyone in this place where the dirt roads we use today were unknown and paths were few. All of this contributes to the suspense created by Dencey herself, who undertakes a mission requiring secrecy and courage. An excellent candidate for a rainy-day read-aloud, Downright Dencey will please children of any age. Slip a copy into your bag to take on your vacation.
Review by Nancy Tuttle Adam
Nancy Tuttle Adam is a poet and photographer who spent most ofher summers here untzl she became a permanent reszdent in 1984.
S U M M E R
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004 17
HERITAGE SOCIETY RESEARCH PROJECT
Christine T. Wyer Bequest: Portrait of Captain William P. Harris Thir z:r an account ofa bequest made to the 1 l !A by Clm:rtme T \V1â&#x20AC;˘er As part ofthe 1{erztage Societv Rescarcb Project h) t.daml researcher BetJy '/)â&#x20AC;˘fer. future iHue.r ofllistoric 1 \mtuckct will include other such reports on bequests made to tbe SJ fA over the last century.
was born in 1837 , never to see her father. Captain Harris and his with antucket's entire boat's crew were "lost at whaling history know sea " after harpooning a whale that there are fewer and flying off on a Nantucket tales of greasy luck and glory than sleigh ride. Captain Harris's there are of hardship and gruehandsome portrait mu t have some death at sea, and not just been a comfort to his widow for the whales. A cursory look at and daughters; it illustrates youth local vital records reveals an and hope in the face of overalarming number of "lost at sea" whelming odd . references. That descriptive William's portrait was in his phrase was not the metaphor it family for several generations is today. before Christine Wyer made this In 1836 Captain William P. bequest to the Nantucket Harris, at the age of twenty-six, took command of his first whalWhaling Museum in her will Captain William P I farris ing vessel, the Ganges. He had dated August 20, 1966: "the more than likely been on several portrait of Capt. William P. voyages before this, working his way up from greenhand to Harris (great grandfather of Irvin M. Wyer), the fire bucket, mate. His new appointment as master of the Ganges may and the large iron trypot all to be found at my West Chester have prompted him to have his portrait painted to com- home." Bequests like the portrait of her ancestor prompt us memorate that important moment in his career. Captain to look into our history more do ely, and to consider the Harris had been married to Lydia Macy for five years; their personal costs of our whaling past. daughter Charlotte was born in 1833, and daughter Mary -Betsy Tyler
T
18
110 E OF US FAMILiAR
HISTORI C
NANTU C KET
SU MM E R
2004
N H A
Everything Old Is New Again The Nantucket Historical Association's 27tl1 August Antiques Show will be held August 6--8 and promises to be more exciting than ever. As chair of the 2004 show, I am thrilled to announce our new airconditioned location at the Nantucket New Scho~l, 15 Nobadeer Farm Road. This change of venue was made with the full support of the An tiques Council. Once again we wi ll have t hirt y-seven d ealers who will bring antiques, paintings, and rugs from around ilie world. The theme of this year's show i "Everything Old Is New Again," as we celebrate a "new" location and tl1e restoration and renovation of the NHA's "old" museum s and construction of "new" galleries on Broad treet. I am also delighted to announce that ilie 2004 August Antiques Show I Ionoraty Chair is Peter Nash, ilie outgoing I IA president of the board of trustees and a tireless volunteer leader at ilie NHA. The show week will begin wiili ilie Friends of ilie NHA hosting a lecture by Jock Reynolds, ilie Henry]. H einz II Director of ilie Yale University Art Gallery, and will culminate wiili a beautiful cocktail party and dinner at the site of ilie Oldest House, honoring our Founders, ,hair's Council, Benefactors, and Patrons. Trianon/ eaman Schepps will again host ilie dinner in recognition of its lOOm ann iversary. Throughout ilie show week there wi ll be many surprises to help launch the new location, so watch for developing plans. I look forward to greeting each of you at ilie show as we work to educate and preserve and protect ilie past for future generations. - Leanne Kendrick
200.f August Antiques Sbou• Cbair
Familiar Faces in a New Space This y ar the Nantucket Historical Association's Antiques how ha s many exc itin g changes and improvements. We have corrected a few of ilie problems wiiliout compromising our outstanding roster of dealer and we are anticipating a fabulous show in a new lo cation at the Nantucket New School, 15 Nobadeer Farm Road. After too many years of unbearable heat at ilie high school, with no chance of air conditionin g, we are thrilled to be in a fully air-conditioned building. Also, for tl1e first time, we will truly have a "preview cocktail party" wiili appropriate beverages being served. Our layout will be different: dealers on all three floors , wiili elevator access, and a tent off ilie lower level for folk- and garden-art dealers. The design of ilie building is charming, wiili an entry-level atrium revealing ilie ilii.rd floor wiili a gallery around it and dealers HISTORIC
NANTUCKET
NEWS
27TH AUGUST ANTIQUES SHOW
August 3-8, 2004 SCHEDULE OF EVENTS Tuesday, August 3 NHA Friends Lecture Preserving an Artistic and Architectural Legacy: The Yale University Art Gallery Jock Reynolds, The Henry]. Heinz ll Director, Yale University Art Gallery, Harbor House Village, 5:30P.M.
Thursday, August 5 August Antiques Show Preview Party Sponsored by Eaton Vance Management Nantucket New School, 15 Nobadeer Farm Road, 5:30-8:30 P.M.
Friday, August 6 27th August Antiques Show Opens Nantucket New School, 10 A.M.-6 P.M.
Children's Historic Crafts Workshop Nantucket New School, 10 A.M.
Antiques Show Special Events Nantucket New School, 1:30 P.M. Kailieri.ne Houston, Kailierine Houston Design
Saturday, August 7 27th August Antiques Show 10 A.M.-6 P.M. Antiques Show Special Events Nantucket New School, 1:30 P.M. Bob Bitter, Scala.ma.ndre
Antiques Show Cocktail Party and Silent Auction Sponsored by Netjets & PNC Advisors, Oldest House, Sunset Hill, 5:30-7:30 P.M.
Antiques Show Dinner and Live Auction Hosted by Trianon/Seaman Schepps, featuring Michael Carney Orchestra Oldest House, Sunset Hill, ... ~.... ,_ "-·...... , 7:30P.M. ... ••• ~''"'"·- --~----
Sunday, August 8 27th August Antiques Show 10 A.M.-4 P.M. August Antiques Show Raffle drawing, 3 P.M. Postcards /rom the NHA colledion
- -2004 - 19
SUMMER
PNC Advisors
sponsor of the Antiques Show Cocktail Party
Letter The following is a letter originally sent to the Inquirer
and Mirror. To the Editor:
Anonymous Janet and Rick Sherlund Laurie and Bob ham pion Murat Aslansan, GFC Inc. Nantucket Storage Center
sponsor of the Antiques Sholl' valet parking
After touring the new Whaling Museum, I felt compelled to share my impressions with you and your readers. I am sometimes a little cautious and dubious of new things on Nantucket, but the moment I stepped into the building I was impressed. The architectural designs, arrangement of space and traffic flow through the exhibits will show the true history of our wonderful island. So many incredible items will come out of storage to ee the light of day, and they will be spectacular. Even the observation deck will be a drawing card for its view of the harbor and surroundings. I feel that the NHA project is one that all of Nantucket \viii be proud of and something we shall enjoy for years to come. Thank you to all who have supported it and those who will in the future.
Boston Private Bank George Cloutier American Management ervin:, Inc. Richard E. Griffin, Griffin Family Foundation Magazine
sponsor of the Antiques Show prmtLI7g Wayne Pratt & Co. Lucille Jordan Associates, Inc. Flather. & Perkins, Magazine A11ttque.1, ortheast Auctions, and '/Z1e Catalo?,ue of Antiques & Fine Art,
sponsors of the Antiques Show Dumcr Woodmeister orporation
Nancy A. Chase
Capital Campaign Update in open rooms and classrooms. A tent for food and drink and the NHA's Collectors' Corner, underwritten by Windwalker Real Estate, will be outside at the back of the building. While the space is completely different, the benefits of the new home for the show should outweigh any of the challenges of the change. Only one dealer from last year is unable to return this year, so please know that all of your familiar and favorite dealers from before will be back, and we are all looking forward to seeing you.
- Diana Bittel Antiques Council Liaison
NHA Thanks Underwriters The Nantucket Historical Association is grateful for the support of the August Antiques Show underwriters. Their support makes a lasting contribution to the NHA's education programming. Below is a list of all of the underwriters. Trianon/Seaman Schepps
sponsor of the Antiques Show Dinner Eaton Vance Management
sponsor of the Preview Party Windwalker Real Estate
sponsor of the Collectors' Corner NetJets
sponsor ofthe Antiques Show Cocktail Party
20
H I S T 0 RI C
N A N T U C K E T
As the ampaign for the Nantucket Historica l A sociation is "homeward bound" in it final year, the NHA has reached the record achievement of $19.9 million toward the $21 million goal for the new mu cum , permanent endowment, ~md Research Libraty. "We are nearing our goal-and we anticipate exceeding it-thanks to the overwhelming generosity of so many N11A members and new friends from the Nantucket community and beyond," said Marcia Welch , NHA trustee and campaign chair (shown \vith husbandJo cph). As of mid-June, 1,117 people had made gifts and pledges to the campaignover half of them in 200-1 alone. The achievement includes $210,000 rai ed through this spring's campaign initiative as well as $211,000 from the campaign's public pha e, which began last fall and is chaired by trustee Rebecca Bardett. Earlier thi year the as ociation received two significant incentives to complete the campaign this year. First, Georgia and Tom Gosnell provided an additional $1 million capstone commitment to the campaign so as to inspire other potential donors. For every two dollars contributed, the Gosnells \vill match it with an additional dollar. SUMMER
2004
N H A
N E W S
all over world and once again attracted a large
In addition, the Kresge Foundation awarded the HA a $500,000 challenge grant for the museum construction and renovation. To receive this grant, the NHA must achieve the overall $21 million goal by December 31, 200-1. For more information about the Campaign for the antucket I listorical Association, contact Jean Grimmer, associate director and director of development, at (508) 825-2248, ext. 11.
N antuckct Tower Clock: E. How ¡ & Company of Boston #3 Model This clock was a gift to the town in 1881 from William Hadwen Starbuck. It was originally located in the tower of the Unitari~m Church where it operated the four clock faces ~m d familiar bell. It was removed from the tower in 1972 when the dials were electrified. Since that time, the large ca t-iron flatbed works have been in storage. The clock is currently being restored by Alan Androuais of the Americlock ompany in t. Louis. Alan recently completed the work on the current town clock. When finished, the original clock will be installed in the heart of the new museum building-situated in the middle of the central stairwell, so visitors will be able to walk around it and observe the restored, and operating, clockworks.
audience of enthusiastic revelers. The Wine Auction Dinner featured the cuisine of Todd English, internationally renowned owner/ chef of Olives Restaurant in Charlestown, Massachusetts, and host chef Don Kolp of the Brant Point Grill, and wines from Maison Joseph Drouhin presented by Laurent Drouhin. Mary Jo Otsea of Sotheby's served as auctioneer for the evening. The dinner was chaired by Dorothy Slover, who gathered for auction a wonderful selection of rare wines, large-format bottles signed by winemakers, and a variety of "over-the-top" lifestyle packages. In addition, over thirty-two individuals offered wine from their private collections for auction . Otsea, senior vice president and worldwide director of the carpet department at Sotheby's, kept the bidding moving swiftly.
From left: The 1881 town clock being moved out of the Gomold Storage Center /or restoration. W!ine f-estival co-founder Denis Toner is fonked by Bruce Cole (left) of Vintner's Alliance
Follow Us to Fair Street
and Laurent Drouhin
The NI IA was awarded a grant by the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism, sponsored by the Nantucket Island Chamber of Commerce. It is intended to help the NI--IA announce that the association's whaling progran1s are being offered at the Quaker Meeting House during the 200-1 restoration of the Whaling Museum. With the help of Chamber staff, including executive director Tracy Bakalar and public relations manager Lisa Reefe, the NHA planned a campaign"Follow Us to Fair Street"-that includes a brochure, advertising, posters, and buttons. "It's been a successful effort," said NHA executive director Frank Milligan. "And it has been gratifying to see our visitors walking through town with bright yellow 'Follow Me to Fair Street' buttons pinned to their jackets." Learn more about the summer programs from an NHA staff member stationed in a kiosk on Broad Street, next door to the Museum Shop.
ofMaison josepb Drouhin. Dorotby Slover, chair of the Nantucket Wi1i1e Festival W!ine Auction.
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Nantucket Wine Festival As a partner of the Nantucket Wine Festival, the Nantucket Historical Association was pleased to present two of the festival's most popular events-the Gala Celebration on May 18 and the Wine Auction Dinner on May 22 at the White Elephant hotel. The Gala featured top food and wine representatives from HISTORI C
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Estate-Tax Seminar organizers:
NHA Trustee Pam Bartlett and attorneys Penny Scheerer and C. Richard Loftin. The sheep-shearing demonstration attracted a Iorge crowd of on-lookers at the 2004 festival at the Old Mill.
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Estate-Tax Seminar Draws a Crowd The opportunity to learn about the new Massachu etts estate-tax laws attracted more than thirty year-round and seasonal Nantucket residents to the NHA's estate tax planning seminar at the Thomas Macy I louse on June3. Attorney C. Richard Loftin, who practices law on Nantucket with a special focus on estate and tax planning, presented a number of ways in which to minimize or eliminate federal and Massachu etts estate taxes and emphasized the impact of the Commonwealth's new estate-tax law. Nantucket estate and probate attorney Penny Scheerer encouraged people to think about the charitable component of their estate plans and spoke about the opportunities and advantages of making bequests to nonprofits , such as theNHA. As members of the NHA's Planned Giving Advisory Committee, Loftin and Scheerer presented a similar progran1 in January. The NHA plans to offer another estate-planning seminar in the fall. In 2003 the board of trustees established the NHA Heritage Society to honor, posthwnously, all those who have made gifts to the association through their estates in the last 109 years. Dming that year's annual meeting, the separate honor rolls for Bequests of Real Estate and Cash and Bequests of Artifacts were unveiled. These two documents will be updated annually and \vill be displayed permanently at NHA headquarters. At the 2004 annual meeting the NHA will honor the individuals who, dming their lifetimes, have included the NHA in their estate plans, with a token of its appreciation.
Sheep-Shearing Festival On Saturday, May 29, the Nantucket Historical Association hosted the 2nd Annual Sheep-Shearing Festival at the Old Mill. The cooperation of Mother Nature helped to make it an enjoyable event for the commwlity, with over 300 people in attendance. The wooly creatures were at the festival complin1ents of Dr. Ernie Steinauer of Mass Audubon's Lost Farm
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anctuary and were shorn for public viewing. Victoria Harvey and Tafy Pal ensk i of Nantucket Sheep and Wool demonstrated hand spinning and hand carding, and offered a rainbow of yarns for sale. Along with the demon trations. children ranging in age from toddlers to teenagers plavc.:d a variety of nineteenth-century-style games such as hoop races and the game of grace . TI1e Old Mill was up and running, and vi itor were offered tours throughout the day. The spectacle of children playing, sheep receiving their ummcr haircuts, and the.: Old Mill waving its enonnous arms was a joy to see and experience. -Laura Cant 1 I \ lntc.:rn
News from the NHA Research l ibr<t-y With our whaling lectures and programs being offered at the Quaker Meeting I louse, the NHA Research Library has seen a considerable increase in foot traffic. The research center is open five Jays a week. 10 A.M.4 P.M., with Suzanne Gardner assisting researchers on Wednesdays throughout the summer. Library patrons includ ed Professor D elphin e Chartier from the Univer ity of Toulouse, looking into women who went to sea in the nin eteen th cent u ry. he found some delightful entries ;md illustrati ns in a journal kept by Elizabeth Morey, wife of Israel Morey, master of the ship Phoenix, July 1853 to August 1855 (log 207). Volunteers continue to pcrfonn a \vide variety of essential tasks. Norma Burton is entering collection -level descriptions of all our manuscript collections; Donna Cooper reads and summarizes the \Vhalemen's Shipptilg List, a weekly newspaper from the nineteenth century; Barbara Thomas is reading a ship's log. Joanne Polster scanned over 100 images from our tintype and daguerreotype collections. Les Ottinger completed his summary of the log of the ship Phoenix (dated July 6, 1834-Feb. 4, 1837) and this information was entered into the database. A long-distance volunteer, Leigh Blount of Virginia, has spent considerable time uncovering errors in the well-used Barney Genealogical Record (she noticed, among other things, that several clilldren had been born after their parents had died!) and it has been updated. An intern from Simmons College, Leslie Malcolm , in1posed some SUMMER
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much needed order onto the large, unprocessed collection of Helen Winslow Chase's per onal papers; Helen Didriksen is in the process of helping to build the finding aid to this important collection. The new volunteerinformation packet, describing many projects, will be mailed to those interested in volunteering. If you're interested in receiving a copy, please call Georgen Gilliam Charnes at 508-228-1655 or send an email to georgen0 nha.org.
Library C lumns in Nantucket Newspapers The NI IA Research Library has recently been given the opportunity to provide regular column s in two of Nantucket's newspapers-the Nantucket Independent and the Inquirer and Mirror. Each week, Georgen Gilliam Charne , curaror of library and archives, provides the Independent with an image from the NHA's collection lmd asks the year-old paper's readers for help in identifying it. "It has been intere ring to sort through the in1ages that need more information. For instance, we may know the date of a photograph but not the location of the house or the people pictured,"said Charnes. ''I'm looking forward to hearing from the community. Who knows what we will learn?" The responses from readers will be printed in subsequent issues of the newspaper and added to the NHA's online linage database. Charnes's column in the Inquirer and Mirror is intended to educate the Nantucket comm unity about the resources available at the Research Library by highlightin g our preservation efforts and some of the valuable manuscript materials in our collection . "We hope that islcmders learn a little about our preservation efforts and, in turn, understand how to better care for their own journals, letters, and photographs," said barnes.
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Young's Bicycle Shop Wmdow As you walk along Steamboat Wharf this month, take a moment to look in the window of Young's Bicycle Shop. There you will see a collection of whaling objects and photographs from the NHA. Thanks to the generosity of Harvey Young, the NHA has been permitted to use the space to help inform visitors about our whaling programs at the Quaker Meeting House on Fair Street for 2004. The window display was designed and illstalled by membership coordinator Virginia Kinney and registrar Mark Wtlson.
Staff News Susan Vaughan joined the NHA staff in April as Office Administrator. With over twenty-five years of officemanagement experience, most recently as the Human Resources and Office Manager for a Hingham manufacturing firm, Susan brings a wealth of experience and expertise to this challenging position. Having vacationed on the island for over thirty years, Susan is thrilled to have moved here permanently and is fulfilling her long-term goal of bemg a resident of Nantucket. Daniel Marshall was hired last winter to serve as the NHA's Senior Interpreter. With his recent experience at Colonial Williamsburg, he is uniquely qualified for the position. Dan is responsible for scheduling the NHA's summer staff of forty mterpreters and visitor-service representatives. Dan moved to Nantucket ill March with his wife, Judy, and on June 3, 2004, they became parents of twin boys, Connor and Geoffrey. The NHA staff welcomed Lillian Fay Richard, daughter of Finance and Human Resource Manager Johanna Richard and her husband Blake, on April 2, 2004.
IN MEMORIAM
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T IS WlTI I A PROFOUND ENSE OF LOSS 1HAT
we heard of Walter Beillecke's death. Over the past decades Walter demonstrated vision and an unrelenting commitment to historic preservation as a member of the Nantucket Historical Association's Board of Trustees and, more recently, as a member of our Advisory Board. He inherently understood the i.Jnportance of preservillg ilie historic architecture with which this island is blessed. Furthermore, Walter consistently supported
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countless NHA-led preservation projects and significant artifact acquisitions, both financially and by providing access to his many contacts withm the national preservation field. Typically, he preferred ro keep those contributions anonymous. Walter was always a phone call away whenever I sought his advice, and, even in failing health, he never failed to deliver on a promise to assist. The NHA will be forever thankful for his hard work and wise counsel. -Frank Milligan
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A Bird's Eye View a/Nantucket
2ft. x 3 ft ., retail $100, plus shipping and handling
cdn c9twn 'Pliotfb d~
in tlw QY~ ~Uf! c~ Also available in notecards, table-top framed pictures, and mirrors. Note the NHA properties depicted in the rug: the restored Whaling Museum, Oldest House, Old Mill, and Hadwen House
NANTUCKET
HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 11 Broad Street, Nantucket â&#x20AC;¢ (508) 228-5785 www.nha.org O PEN APRIL THROUGH D ECEMBER 2004