FALL 2015 | VOLUME 65, NO. 2
Nantucket H I S TO R I C
A PUBLICATION OF THE NANTUCKET HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION
The Power of Exact Imagining by william j . tramposch
Historical Fiction on Nantucket by betsy t yler
Gathering Fuel for the Fire by ben shattuck
How an Island Novelist Captured Nantucket’s Past by renny a . stackpole
Wonoma’s Nantucket by debra mcmanis
FALL 2015
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daniel sutherland photography
Board of Trustees Janet L. Sherlund PRESIDENT
Kenneth L. Beaugrand VICE PRESIDENT
Kennedy P. Richardson VICE PRESIDENT
William J. Boardman TREASURER
Mary D. Malavase CLERK
Josette Blackmore Maureen F. Bousa Coskata Marsh
Anne Marie Bratton William R. Camp Jr. FRIENDS OF THE NHA REPRESENTATIVE
Calvin R. Carver Jr. FALL 2015 | VOLUME 65, NO. 2
Olivia Charney Constance Cigarran
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Wylie Collins inside the nha
The Power of Exact Imagining by william j . tramposch
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Michael Cozort Ana Ericksen Whitney A. Gifford Peter Hoey
issue overview
Carl Jelleme
Historical Fiction on Nantucket
William Little
by betsy t yler
Victoria McManus Franci Neely
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sources for a nantucket novel
Gathering Fuel for the Fire by ben shattuck
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FRIENDS OF THE NHA PRESIDENT
L. Dennis Shapiro Maria Spears Jason Tilroe
edouard stackpole
How an Island Novelist Captured Nantucket’s Past by renny a . stackpole
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Christopher C. Quick
Phoebe Tudor Finn Wentworth Kelly Williams Alisa Wood David D. Worth Jr.
children ’ s book
Wonoma’s Nantucket by debra mcmanis
Ex Officio William J. Tramposch GOSNELL EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
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staff updates
festival of trees
News Notes
Historic Nantucket Betsy Tyler EDITOR
HISTORIC NANTUCKET (ISSN 0439-2248) is published by the Nantucket Historical Association, 15 Broad Street, Nantucket, Massachusetts. Periodical postage paid at Nantucket, MA, and additional entry offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Historic Nantucket, P.O. Box 1016, Nantucket, MA 02554–1016; (508) 228–1894; fax: (508) 228–5618, info@nha.org. For information visit www.nha.org. ©2015 by the Nantucket Historical Association.
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HISTORIC NANTUCKET
Elizabeth Oldham COPY EDITOR
Eileen Powers/Javatime Design DESIGN AND ART DIRECTION
INSIDE THE NHA » from
the gosnell executive director
The Power of Exact Imagining ANATOLE FRANCE ONCE IMPLORED writers
Lode for the pure ore of history he mined during
to “Awaken people’s curiosity. It is enough to
his stay.
open minds; do not overload them. Put there
An earlier Verney Fellow, Debra McMan-
just a spark. If there is some good inflammable
is, created and illustrated a story of Wonoma,
stuff, it will catch fire.” I think of this quote ev-
the Wampanoag girl on Nantucket in the era of
ery time I finish reading an engaging piece of
pre-history. Debra bases her book on her sub-
historical fiction or nonfiction. What ready en-
stantial knowledge of our island’s topography
gines our imaginations are; and what power the
coupled with her extensive understanding of
Writer has to “awaken” our imaginings! In our
Native American life- and food-ways. You can
society, we are all too familiar with the bore-
put great trust in Debra’s research, and you are
dom that can result from history poorly taught,
in store for a “great read” in this issue of HN.
and we surely remember those cases when the
Research Fellow Renny Stackpole has also
past has been presented with such “gusto” that
contributed an article to this issue, one that dis-
we can hardly wait to learn more. These great
cusses the significant gifts his father, Edouard,
historians transport us, and when their book is
had for writing Nantucket-based historical fic-
closed upon our laps, it is sometimes hard to re-
tion. Edouard, a revered director of our associ-
member where we are. The French medievalist,
ation, had from the start the love of local history
George Steiner, called this “the power of exact
that led him to become one of the most prolific
imagining.” It is where the facts preserve their
historians the island has known.
purity but within a framework that puts us, the
Finally, our own Obed Macy Research Chair,
Reader, right into the picture, side by side with
Betsy Tyler, writes about selected works of his-
our counterparts across the ages.
torical fiction that capture a feeling for the past
At the NHA, we are proud to offer our annu-
and simultaneously spin a good yarn.
al prestigious Verney Fellowship to a historian
We hope you enjoy this issue of Historic Nan-
with promise. We are thankful to Geoff and Liz
tucket. Our mission is to “tell the inspiring sto-
Verney for their vision and for their support
ries of Nantucket”; it is with pleasure that we do
of this initiative, for it has enabled us to bring
so in the pages that follow.
some extraordinary talent to the island. Last year, we invited Ben Shattuck to join us as he wrote his novel, set in eighteenth-century Nantucket; our Research Library was his Mother
ON THE COVER: Coskata Marsh, courtesy of Daniel Sutherland Photography
SPRING / SUMMER 2015
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OV E R V I EW
Historical Fiction on Nantucket
HISTORICAL FICTION, when well done, takes the facts and figures of the past and animates them, breathes life into characters, puts color in the landscape, and lights a fire on the hearth. The result is a recreated time and place that may or may not perfectly reflect what we cannot entirely know. You might think that nineteenth-century Nantucket had enough remarkable true stories, whaling and otherwise, to satisfy the imaginations of readers and stop the pen of anyone wishing to write fiction, but not so. The first novel based on Nantucket history — Miriam Coffin, or, the Whale Fishermen — appeared in 1834, the year before the publication of the first book-length history of the island, Obed Macy’s History of Nantucket. If you’re eager to travel back to an earlier time on the island, following are
BY BETSY TYLER
some titles that weave together local history, place, and people. Some are more believable than others, but that’s not the point. The story is what prompts you to turn the pages.
Joseph C. Hart Miriam Coffin, or, the Whale Fishermen, 1834 A whaling tale involving real Nantucket people and events of the Revolutionary War era, Joseph C. Hart’s Miriam Coffin, or, the Whale Fishermen presented an unflattering portrait of the very real Keziah Folger Coffin, transforming her true image — however complex it may have been — into the wicked and heartless Tory smuggler, Miriam. The novel was reprinted in 1882, and again in 1995, when Nat Philbrick reintroduced it to the reading public as not only a well-wrought imaginary world — “the best way to experience the sights, sounds, and even the smells of Old Nantucket . . . short of a time-machine” — but also as an important source for Melville as he crafted that other whaling novel, Moby-Dick.
Ruth Starbuck Wentworth The First Nantucket Tea Party, 1907 Purportedly written in 1735 by one Ruth Starbuck Wentworth — whose island genealogy has been disproved — the story of the first Nantucket tea is an epistolary fiction first published in the Inquirer and Mirror in 1877. Written from “Starbuck Plantation” by a young girl from the wilds of Vermont visiting her Aunt and Uncle Starbuck on Nantucket, the letter describes a dinner party held to celebrate her cousin’s arrival home from a sea voyage, with the dashing young captain of the ship as his guest. As this is a romance, Ruth and the captain naturally fall in love. The author of the little tale is unknown, although there are suspects, and the bibliographic history of the publication is so complex it inspired the 1940 monograph “A Nantucket Ghost Walks Again—Over the Teacups” by Edward G. Freehafer, who later became director of the New York Public Library. 4
HISTORIC NANTUCKET
miacomet beach
OVE R VI E W
Elizabeth Hollister Frost This Side of Land, 1942 A poetical evocation of island life in the early 1800s, This Side of Land features Frost’s summer home — the 1722 Elihu Coleman house near Hummock Pond — as a central character in a tale of twin girls who grew up there. A shipwreck off the south shore brings a sailor to the household, and when a stranger washes ashore a plot unfolds. On The New York Times bestseller list in 1942, the book brought so many people to the Frost house at the end of Hawthorne Lane that Frost’s son later closed the road to eliminate unwanted literary tourists.
Henry Carlisle The Jonah Man, 1984 Survivor Owen Chase wrote an account of the sinking of the whaleship Essex and subsequent tragic open-boat journey, published soon after his return to Nantucket in 1821. By telling his version of the story, he became the central figure of the drama, and George Pollard is remembered as the unlucky captain turned night watchman. In The Jonah Man, Henry Carlisle brings Pollard to life and gives him a voice. It’s a compelling story, with a cast of Nantucket characters, including Carlisle’s own ancestor, whale-oil merchant Henry Coffin of 75 Main Street. If you didn’t get enough of the Essex disaster after our major exhibit, Stove by a Whale: 20 Men, 3 Boats, 96 Days, and Ron Howard’s movie, In the Heart of the Sea, based on Nat Philbrick’s award-winning book, then spend some time with The Jonah Man .
Sena Jeter Naslund Ahab’s Wife, 1999 A feminist version of Moby-Dick, Ahab’s Wife tells the story of Una, who is something of an “everywoman.” She escapes a tyrannical father in Kentucky to live in a lighthouse near New Bedford with her aunt and uncle; disguises herself as a boy and goes on a whaling voyage; survives in an open boat by resorting to cannibalism (sound familiar?) when their ship is stove by a large sperm whale; and marries one of the survivors, who brings her to Nantucket. All of that happens before she becomes Ahab’s wife. Along the way she rubs elbows with a pantheon of historical figures — Frederick Douglass and Maria Mitchell, among others. It’s an ambitious book, with a preposterous plot, but Nantucket scenes make it interesting. Other works of Nantucket-based historical fiction focus on Quaker life and whaling adventures. Don’t forget Edouard Stackpole’s rousing tales, discussed in this issue by his son, Renny, and check out Everett U. Crosby’s Nantucket in Print and Susan Beegel’s Nantucket Reader for other titles and genres. FALL 2015
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Detail from A Chart of Nantucket with Shoals, by Thomas F. Mitchell 1 8 2 0MS1 0 0 0 -D 3 -F 2 -N2
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HISTORIC NANTUCKET
Gathering Fuel for the Fire Sources for a Nantucket Novel BY BEN SHATTUCK
This novel, Edwin Chase, takes place over half a year in 1796.
THE NOVEL’S NAMESAKE and his mother, Laurel, live an isolated life on the windswept peninsula of Coskata — that triangle of sand strung to the northeast corner of Nantucket, as Edwin describes it. After serving in the Revolutionary War, his father suffered from what we now call post-traumatic stress disorder. He moved them far from town, away from everyone. The house was a sacrifice to the wind, Edwin says: The wind rattled the fire-boards and casements at night. The wind threw sand on the windows and guided it through the siding, no matter how many times I resealed it. Sand came down the chimney. Pooled on the hearthstone. Snaked over the floorboards. Banked up on all sides of the house. Collected at the feet of the table. It came in on my clothes, in my hair, under my fingernails, and filled my bed. I dug it out of my eyes before I fell asleep. My pantcuffs were shovels. I swept the house every day, and still. ‘At least we won’t need to dig the graves,’ Laurel would say, ‘when we’re buried here.’
One late winter day, a year after Edwin’s father disappeared, a man and a young pregnant woman arrive unexpectedly. Nobody came to our house, Edwin says of approaching figures:
Coskata forest, circa 1960s, photograph by John W. McCalley P17653
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GATHERING FUEL
The day I arrived on island last October to begin my Verney Fellowship, I took pencil and notepad and sat in the sand north of the Coskata woods for an afternoon. I closed my eyes, and listened.
The only prints on the path were made by me, Laurel, mice, and the birds. That felt like the punctuation of our solitude.
with secondary sources for broad strokes, then go to pri-
Commas and periods in the footsteps of animals. Hundreds
mary sources for narratives, and finally pepper the text
of ellipses, dotting the pauses between us and town.
with sensory experiences to draw the reader into the scene. But in my research for the novel, I worked backwards — or,
Late one night, after going through the man, Will’s,
inside-out might be a better way to put it. I started within
satchel, Edwin discovers that Will and his mother, Lau-
sensory experience, first inhabiting the character before
rel, were lovers when they were younger. In the following
thinking about the outside world — the politics, economy,
months, he sees Laurel’s life bloom anew, while his own
and culture of late 1700s Nantucket. The day I arrived on
unravels: his engagement to the Great Point Lighthouse
island last October to begin my Verney Fellowship, I took
keeper’s daughter, Matilda, is slipping away; something
pencil and notepad and sat in the sand north of the Coska-
is killing his sheep; he is changed by the young pregnant
ta woods for an afternoon. I closed my eyes, and listened.
woman, Rivkah; and in the second half of the book, a hurricane and two escaped convicts do predictable damage.
In those minutes of watching Will and Rivkah approach, there was the sound of gulls screeching, of the wind passing over our house and the dune grass, and of the sea feeling
THE NOVEL GREW from a short story I wrote based on a journal I had read that was written by a twenty-three-
the land, saying to it with each wave, “here you are, here you are, here you are.”
year-old living on coastal Massachusetts in the early 1800s. I was struck by how similar he and I were at twenty-three:
Pulitzer Prize-winner Edward P. Jones said of his novel
both unsure of our life paths; wishing we were accomplish-
set in 1855 Virginia, The Known World, that he did no re-
ing more; restless. I felt an immediate kinship. But to trans-
search before writing the book. “I started out thinking I
form a story into a novel, I needed to expand his world, to
would read a whole bunch of books about slavery,” he said
fill it with people, memories, and stories. I set the book on
in an interview. “But I never got around to doing that.” To
Nantucket very early in the writing process because of the
me, that seems like an impossible task (I spent hours in
preservation efforts I knew the island managed — of pri-
the Nantucket Historical Association’s Research Library
mary sources, historic buildings, and landscape. On Nan-
trying to accurately describe Nantucket life in 1796), but
tucket, it would be easier to time travel. I applied for the E.
I see what Jones is saying: imagination and sensory expe-
Geoffrey and Elizabeth Verney Fellowship, which supports
rience can provide a closeness to a character that texts or
research in the Nantucket Historical Association’s Re-
documents can’t reach.
search Library in addition to giving the researcher a three-
Mallards slid across the black water, Edwin starts one
week residency in the historic Thomas Macy House at 99
scene. In his story, he was waiting in the marsh to shoot a
Main Street. I think I was the first applicant in the Verney’s
duck the afternoon Will and Rivkah arrived. For me, it was
fifteen-year history to be awarded the fellowship for a fic-
last January, when a blizzard shut down most of the island
tion project. The fellowship was invaluable, grounding me
and waves were famously turning to slush. Both Edwin
on the island to filter through sources for the novel both
and I were on the edge of Coskata pond:
written and unwritten. When researching a nonfiction project, I might start 8
HISTORIC NANTUCKET
The buffleheads Laurel had seen were rafted by the far edge of the marsh. More circling overhead. Snow coming
photograph: daniel sutherland photography
GATHERING FUEL
September Evening at Coskata
Early-eighteenth-century Swain farm in Polpis, painting attributed to James Walter Folger, circa 1900
1 9 9 1 . 5 4 0. 1
FALL 2015
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GATHERING FUEL
down now. One of those hesitant flurries that wouldn’t
have a pickled beet for dinner. Or a boiled egg. A handful
last. Snowflakes paused on the water before snapping
of berries. After my father disappeared, she said to me, “I
dead. Toward Wauwinet, two empty staddles guarded
don’t care what you eat, but I’m not cooking anymore.” She
the land. Columns of dark weather painted the horizon.
put her mother’s cookbook for me on the table. In the hours
Gulls stood on the sandbar, which would soon disappear
inside, out of the wind, by the fire, I felt my shortcomings
under the incoming tide. If there was a day when the tide
lift. Everything changes for the better with heat and time:
kept coming, when it drowned the spartina, lapped at our
onions go sweet with butter; potatoes soften. Cooking
door, mixed into the fire’s ashes, and filled the chimney, it
is a funeral. First, the duck’s death on the marsh. Then,
would be today. I dropped my forehead to my knees, and
embalmment with butter and grape juice. Burial in a pot
prayed for a duck to land close. My clothes creaked in the
under embers. Grace, the eulogy. Eating, the afterlife, when
drizzle now coming down. My neck was cold. Always cold.
the duck becomes me for days. Under our feet, in the cellar,
Ice linked one dead rush to the next. Winter was hardening
depending on the season: cheese, apples, pears. Turnips
everything into shape. Paul’s dog barked in the distance, as
and potatoes from the hotbox. At times, berries for pies:
if to show how quiet it was. Winter.
gooseberries, strawberries, mealy plums, cranberries, beach plums. In the kitchen, rosemary, thyme, garlic, hyssop,
There’s a certain beauty in raw facts — those sparse numbers that become seeds to grow stories — that one
yellow dock, and mint hanging from the ceiling to dry. An inverted, withered garden. Sometimes I’d stand in the kitchen, tip my head back, close my eyes, and inhale. On
can cull from secondary sources, which I happily used
the counter, pickled vegetables, cucumbers, beans, beets,
after spending afternoons sitting in the marsh or walking
and onions.
for hours up to Great Point. When Edwin was alive, I read, there were 4,690 people on Nantucket, 12,000 sheep, 577 houses, and, oddly, no bluefish — they had disappeared
BOOKS LIKE THOREAU’S Cape Cod, published seventy
from Nantucket’s shores in 1763, the same year a tubercu-
years after the novel takes place, still painted for me an
losis epidemic decimated the waning Wampanoag popu-
image of coastal New England when it was all under sail.
lation. By 1796, there would be only twenty Wampanoags
Storms brought us together, Edwin says in a scene inspired
left on Nantucket. There were no trees on the island, save
by Thoreau’s account of walking a beach near Truro:
those the settlers had planted, a few old wind-gnarled ones, and some juniper and oaks out in Coskata. Nantucketers cut and used peat for fires. Anyone outside the tight
Laurel and I walked up and down the beaches, collecting small items and putting them in our pockets. Years ago, pear trees washed ashore. My father cleaned the leaves
limits of town was distant and isolated — in 1793, a certain
with fresh water and warmed them to life by the fire. Days
William Coffin wrote that he hadn’t been one mile from
after a spice shipment ran aground, I caught a codfish
town in years. If you weren’t whaling, or involved in that
filled with nutmegs. I showed Matilda (Edwin’s supposed
industry, you were likely a sheep farmer. So, my job was
fiancée). It was the first time I’d seen her smile after
simple, Edwin tells us:
moving back to the lighthouse to live with her parents.
Introduce a ram, double the heartbeats in the field every year, then reduce. That might be the story of the living: pull a fish
A short smile, though. She pinched a nutmeg from the stomach, smelled it, and then pocketed it.
from the sea; cut peat from the ground; shoot a bird from the sky. Take a little of everything from everywhere. At the end of the year I’d pray I’d added more instead of taking so much.
The limits of some secondary sources were also productive. For instance, the Barney Genealogical Record — an extraordinary resource — gives almost no facts
I hunted down any book that might describe the culture
on Matilda’s life. Only her birth is recorded, whereas the
of 1790s Nantucket. I found a way to discuss food — a door
BGR gives robust profiles on all her other family members.
to distant culture — by giving Edwin control of the pot:
That vacuum of her life is exploited in later chapters, as a
There was a point when Laurel stopped eating. She might
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HISTORIC NANTUCKET
product of her sudden (imagined) disappearance.
GATHERING FUEL
Books like Thoreau’s Cape Cod, published seventy years after the novel takes place, still painted for me an image of coastal New England when it was all under sail.
FINALLY, PRIMARY SOURCES. What magic it was, I often reflected when unfolding a letter or opening a journal from the 1700s, that ink preserves a person’s thoughts for two hundred years. If secondary-source research was about making a world for my characters, primary-source research was about filling that world with those characters — all bearing their own troubles, hopes, memories, experience. In a late-1700s Court Record, Justice of the Peace Caleb Bunker records a woman saying that her husband was going to kill her. In another book of records, there’s an account of a man brought to court for impregnating a woman. Pay $350, the Justice orders, or marry her. I read a letter from a man to his nephew-in-law, who had married the man’s sister (to untangle that: the nephew had married his mother-in-law, the letter-writer’s sister): “And can you set so light by our church privilege as to part with them for the enjoyments of a particular woman?” the letter-writer asks. “The infamy even upon both families will probably make the trouble vastly outweigh all the satisfaction that can possibly arrive from it.” I read a journal recalling a woman who discovered her husband had a second family on the mainland. When the man came back to Nantucket, the woman wouldn’t let him into the house. He left a pair of shoes for their daughter on the doorstep. Each of these stories appears in the novel, nearly unedited in scene. Edwin’s aunt is the abused woman; his uncle is the one who married his mother-in-law; the woman who Letter from Paul Pinkham to the U.S. Commissioner of Revenue, June 28, 1796
MS164, FO LDE R 7
discovers her husband has a second family is Matilda’s sister. There were some published firsthand accounts of Nantucket in the late 1700s that proved invaluable. French-American writer J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur uses an anthropologist’s lens and a poet’s pen to render life SPRING / SUMMER 2015
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GATHERING FUEL
Eighteenth-century Elihu Coleman house, toured by author Ben Shattuck, postcard by Henry S. Wyer, 1904 PC-HAWT HOR NE -9
Cooking hearth of the Elihu Coleman house, 1905 12
HISTORIC NANTUCKET
P20033
on Nantucket in the late 1700s in his Letters from an American Farmer. At one point in reading Crèvecoeur, it seemed as if he had even encountered the family I had invented. Crèvecoeur writes: Several dwellings had been erected on this wild shore [Siasconset], for the purpose of sheltering the fishermen in the season of fishing; I found them all empty, except that particular one, to which I had been directed. It was like the others, built on the highest part of the shore, in the face of the great ocean; the soil appeared to be composed of no other stratum but sand, covered with a thinly scattered herbage. Here lived a single family without a neighbor. I
Eighteenth-century account with pressed flower
MS10 A B 54 9
had never before seen a spot better calculated to cherish contemplative ideas; perfectly unconnected with the great
IN THE PAST YEAR, in the name of research, I toured
world, and far removed from its perturbations. The ever
eighteenth-century houses; I timed the walk from Quaise
raging ocean was all that presented itself to the view of this family.
to the Great Point Lighthouse; I stood on frozen ponds, noting what was caught in the ice; I made rush lights;
On very lucky days, primary-source research might
boiled down bayberry leaves for wax. I read books on eigh-
lead the book into new imaginative territory. The discov-
teenth-century sheep farming, on storms, cooking, colo-
ery of one letter in particular steered the entire second half
nial Newport’s Jewish population, and notable weather
of the novel. I had been looking through letters from Paul
events before 1800. I read letters from those who’d lived
Pinkham, the Great Point Lighthouse keeper and Matilda’s
through the English occupation during the American Rev-
father. In his letter from 28 June 1796, Paul wrote to the
olution, from those who were condemning adultery, from
U.S. Commissioner of Revenue, “I am intensely sorry to in-
gossipy neighbors, and from the many people involved in
form you a boat was stolen on the night of the 23rd instant.
the Nantucket Bank Robbery scandal.
. . . It is supposed that John Clark Junior of New Haven &
But one of the most revealing moments of the research
Abel Weathers, alias Smith, alias Coats, alias Weatherly,
process came one late afternoon, when I was flipping
who lately broke out of the gaol of this county and who
through a ledger book from 1777. The book recorded the ba-
were committed for the robbery of the Nantucket Bank, are
sics of many ledgers: an account of sales, interspersed with
the perpetrators of the theft.”
weather reports and day-to-day happenings. I’d read many
Every account of the Nantucket Bank Robbery I’d pre-
like that before. I was just about to return the book, when I
viously read claimed that the convicts had been aided by
turned to a page that held a pressed flower. A 237-year-old,
off-island cohorts. But with Paul’s letter, I suddenly saw
yellow flower. With that, the text came alive. Not in what the
how the drama might have swept into the northeastern
author had written down, but in the author himself. Matil-
side of the island: If the Nantucket gaol sounded the alarm
da gave me a flower today, Edwin says, late in the book:
on June 8, then, according to Paul’s letter, for two weeks the convicts had made their way northeast, through the marshes, moors, and beaches, all the way to the light-
Yellow. I carried it in my pocket all afternoon, because she said it would be good luck, that I shouldn’t lose it. I walked the hog to John Throat, and when I returned in the
house. Those two weeks will never be recovered in any re-
evening, Laurel was slouched in her chair by the fire, her
cord, which is fertile ground for fiction. How did they eat?
feet in Will’s lap. She didn’t look at me. I touched the flower
Where did they sleep? Were they aided by anyone?
in my pocket. Shucked my boots. Went upstairs. In the
Enter Edwin. If he met them, on their way to the Great
ledger I put the flower, intent on keeping it for a long time.
Point Lighthouse, how would they change his life? How would Laurel, Will, and Rivkah receive them? How might
BEN SHATTUCK, the NHA’s 2014 Verney Fellow, is a graduate and
they play a dramatic influence in his life?
former Teaching-Writing Fellow of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. FALL 2015
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Edouard A. Stackpole, circa 1930s
How an Island Novelist Captured Nantucket’s Past
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WHEN HE WAS FIVE YEARS OLD, seriously ill with diphtheria, my father Edouard would later recall how his mother, Therese Mauduit Stackpole, nursed him through days of fever and semi-wakefulness while reading stories by Robert Louis Stevenson. He would later compare his mother to the Scottish writer’s nurse “Cummy,” who is lauded in the introduction to A Child’s Garden of Verses: For all the story-books you read: for all the pains you comforted: For all you pitied, for all you bore, in sad and happy days of yore:
At that time, Edouard’s mother shared chapters from Treasure Island, Kidnapped, or poems by Whittier and other classics borrowed from the Atheneum Library. One particular story that
BY RENNY A. STACKPOLE
stirred his imagination was featured in the magazine Chatterbox. “Jim Davis” by John Masefield was the tale of a boy who lived with adopted parents near the Devon shore in the year
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HISTORIC NANTUCKET
South Beach of Nantucket Harbor, circa 1920s
PC-WA SH I N G TO N ST SH O R E- 1
1800. While exploring the coast, the lad discovered the
A garrulous Portuguese former whaleman, Joe Lewis,
hideaway of smugglers and was forced to join them in a
who lived near the boy on Mill Hill, was a welcome source
series of adventures along the French and English shores.
of stories, and often sang, in a rich baritone voice, “Blow Ye
This story fired young Edouard Stackpole’s imagination,
Winds in the Morning.” This led Edouard to collect songs of
and served as an inspiration for his works: Smuggler’s Luck
the whaling era, as well as stories handed down by relatives
and You Fight For Treasure.
and friends. In 1923, while a student in Boston, he wrote to
When we were very young, his stories became our bed-
his father, Charles, who was remarried and living in Con-
time favorites. Often, during a winter’s evening, he du-
necticut, seeking more information about his ancestors,
tifully read one after another. We also loved to join in on
including the Pinkhams, Folgers, and Coffins.
the chorus of his favorite sea chanties like “Blow the Man Down,” or “A- Roving.”
Edouard’s grandfather, Charles Myrick Stackpole, who died from injuries while salvaging a shipwreck off Tucker-
Where did he derive inspiration for the books he com-
nuck Island in 1886, had served as a foremast hand aboard
posed from 1931 to 1941? While seeking out material for
the whaler Columbia during the Civil War. In future years he
his stories, he gained access to logs and journals loaned
was able to locate the few letters Charles had written to his
by descendants of island seafarers. He also interviewed
mother, Judith Pinkham Stackpole, from the Pacific Ocean.
acquaintances whose parents or grandparents could recall
Edouard’s mother, Therese Mauduit, while comment-
those earlier times.
ing on her son’s search for the Stackpole and Pinkham
While in grammar school, Edouard was allowed to visit
lineage, reminded him not to forget her side of the family:
the Nantucket waterfront, where his fisherman father rent-
“After all, we French were using knives and forks while you
ed a shanty and was at one time keeper of the lighted bea-
English were still using your fingers.”
con at the end of the east jetty. He recalled his first inter-
During his early school days, the island’s past was enliv-
view with a retired mariner: “Is it true that you sailed to the
ened by teacher Ann Ring. And during his teen-age years,
Pacific on the Nantucket whaler Columbia?” he asked. The
he relished history lessons taught by teacher Nancy Wall-
abrupt reply was short and blunt: “That’s so, and whose
ing. She encouraged him to read Obed Macy’s History of
brat are you?”
Nantucket and William F. Macy’s Story of Nantucket, as he FALL 2015
15
EDOUARD STACKPOLE
During World War I, he found after-school employment as a shop boy in the store of William “Bill” Holland on Main Street.
His memories were as sharp at age eighty as when he included them in his first stories while a student at Nantucket High School. At his high school graduation in 1922, he met a gentleman who would become both a mentor and
sought out further material for a series of essays he com-
lifelong
posed for school.
resident Austin Strong. A
friend,
summer
His memory of island life at that time would soon figure
well-known New York play-
vividly in his first stories, and many future articles written
wright, Strong was the ad-
for the Inquirer and Mirror. Among them was a brief his-
opted grandson of Robert
tory of Nantucket volunteers during the War of the Great
Louis Stevenson. As a youth,
Rebellion, many listed on the Civil War monument on up-
along with his mother, Belle
per Main Street, including his great uncle, Albert Stackpole.
Strong, he lived with the great writer at Apia in Samoa.
It was his observations of the town’s waterfront that inspired an article he later composed: Commercial Wharf was the scene of considerable activity when the little steamer Petrel came in with a load of fish.
Austin Strong, circa 1950s, photograph by Louis Davidson P 1 0 14 9
In 1930, Strong learned that his friend and New York book editor Maude “Celia” Turner was promoting the publication of young Stackpole’s Smuggler’s Luck. In accepting the story, the editors for publisher William Morrow &
How vivid are these scenes, especially seeing Everett Chapel
Company applauded the young author’s work. Yet, Austin
who, though crippled, was one of the strongest men on the
Strong was even more salutary as he wrote:
Island. Others I recall: Arthur Barrett, Bill Bartlett, Charlie
When I picked up the manuscript, I did not know what to
Vincent, and “Cap’n” Manter.
expect. What I found was a fine story, simply told. Things like that don’t happen. It’s a kind of miracle. It’s really
He also recalled the catboats sailing from North Wharf,
good. It was as fresh and salty as sea air, and as exciting.
often on bluefishing parties: But it was in the skippers of these craft that we find an unusual story, as many of these owner-skippers were
AGAIN, ONE WONDERS when his first novels began to take truly distinct form. Perhaps while he worked so dili-
formerly captains of square-rigged whaleships and
gently to earn the Fowler history prize and other awards
merchantmen, others would be mates or pilots, others
at Boston’s Roxbury Latin School in 1924. The opportunity
fishermen of ancient vintage. . . .
for those studies became possible through scholarships offered by Margaret Harwood, the director of the Ma-
As for the men who identified with the waterfront, in their
ria Mitchell Association, and Coffin School teacher Alvin
combined stories, they would make a book-length article.
Paddack. For two years he lived with his uncle and aunt in
As a small boy I think of a sun-drenched porch on the front
the same neighborhood where the war for American inde-
of the tiny Bon Ton Fish Market, on Easy Street, over which
pendence began. This locale would soon play a part in his
John Taber presided. Here would sit Frank Meiggs with
first adventure tale.
his beard; Henry Main, with his red hair and bright, blue eyes snapping out a story between clenched teeth on the stem of a pipe; Clint Orpin, younger than regulars there, but a veteran fisherman; and Captain Henry Folger, who had been a coasting skipper and whose resonant voice still returns over the years. 16
HISTORIC NANTUCKET
Through these studies, he began more research about the lives of historical figures from Nantucket, including island merchant William Rotch, store owner Keziah Coffin Fanning, and island ship master William Mooers, of the ship Bedford, who flew the first flag of the new nation in
EDOUARD STACKPOLE
Staff of the Inquirer and Mirror in the print shop, circa 1930s, Edouard Stackpole second from left
P22645
the port of London, months before the Revolutionary War
This was true, except the girl’s name wasn’t Nan, and
concluded. He also collected stories about island whalers,
she couldn’t be bothered with a bucket. She was the light-
like Captain Obed Starbuck, who sailed into the Pacific as a
house keeper’s daughter, and she ran away on the morning
mate on the whaler Hero in 1822. It was during this voyage
boat with a young journalist and was married. And when
that the young man led a successful attack to retake the
they finished up their honeymoon and stepped off the
vessel from pirates, and became master of the vessel on
boat at the island again, they felt that they had been to a
its next voyage. These and other Nantucket tales were the
foreign country,
inspiration for Madagascar Jack and others stories soon to take form.
The young journalist was Edouard A. Stackpole [of] the staff of the Inquirer and Mirror, the biggest newspaper in
In 1925, Edouard began his career as a compositor,
the United States. Its page was almost twice the size of the
printer, and reporter for the Inquirer and Mirror. Along
Boston Globe’s. It was not so much a “blanket sheet” as a
with newspaper work, his first novels reflected his innate
“maintops’l sheet.”
sense that stories were as much for the ear as for the eye, especially as shared with family, classmates, or friends.
Following their marriage, Edouard and Alice forged a partnership, as he wrote and she typed, one after anoth-
In 1928, my father began courting Alice Thacher Larsen,
er, the stories that became his first six published books.
whose father was keeper of Sankaty Head lighthouse. At the
Beginning with Smuggler’s Luck, letters of support arrived
same time, he earned the devoted attention of her siblings
from off-island, including the following from a friend:
Marie, Ethel, Thelma, Helen, and Dorothy. Along with their parents, Eugene and Edvardine Larsen, the girls lived at the cottage where their father began service as keeper of the lighthouse in 1914. Alice and her sisters would later fondly
You will go far because you are a real worker and that is the most important thing…. I think of you two as one for Alice has a very important part in this…keep at it. We believe in you. Always your friend, Austin Strong.
recall “Eddie’s” readings as his stories emerged. In a Boston Globe article by Frank Sibley titled “Nan-
In his book, Edouard’s love for Nantucket is reflected
tucket the Picturesque” (May 18, 1934), the reporter quot-
through the first-person narration of Timothy Pinkham, as
ed the well-known limerick:
the lad longs for a safe return home from his first adven-
There was an old man on Nantucket,
ture at sea:
Who had a fine girl and a bucket,
… to walk through Saul’s Hills to where the Indian
But the daughter named Nan ran away with a man
Settlement was nestled in Gibb’s Swamp; to follow the
And as to the bucket, Nan tuck it.
sheep paths through the green of Ram Pasture; the FALL 2015
17
EDOUARD STACKPOLE
meadow larks’ sad cry or to hear the cheep of flashing red-wing blackbirds. . . . or the walk along the beach from Nobadeer to Tom Nevers, or watching the surf roll upon the white sands and listen to the sea gull’s piping calls; to row over the blue harbor to Coatue . . . or to catch a ride to ʾSconset where the fishermen sent the dories through the surf after cod.
Smugglers Luck would warrant seven printings from 1931 to 1941. Its sequel, You Fight for Treasure, also published by William Morrow & Company, became successful in the tradition of “boys’ books.” Again, the young author continued to share the exciting adventures of Timothy Pinkham. As in the first tale, we learn more about the island’s Quaker community and their struggles during the Revolution. In the best traditions of Stevenson, the young hero discovers a treasure map, and a secret found in the mysterious “Hidden Forest.” Edouard and Alice Stackpole in front of The Little Book House, 2 Quince Street, 1931
As children, we were fortunate to share firsthand the adventures featured in his first books. Often, our dad joined us as we built a replica of a smuggler’s hut in the “Hawthorns,” or traced the route of Timothy Pinkham and his patriot friends through the Hidden Forest. And who could forget “rantum scooting” on weekends across the middle moors, or driving out to Madaket to visit our grandmother Therese near Hither Creek? While writing subsequent novels, Edouard enjoyed island friendships with William F. Macy, Harry B. Turner, Grace Brown Gardner, Mary “Molly” Starbuck, Elizabeth Hollister Frost, the Reverend William “Will “Gardner, and Everett U. Crosby — to name a few. Nantucket’s whaling past soon came alive in Madagascar Jack, the adventures of Obed Folger, a young ship’s boy and stowaway. The story, featuring the cruise of the whaler Lady Adams, served as a detailed primer about the craft of whaling, as well as a tale of a mutiny and the discovery of South Sea island treasure. Noted marine artist Gordon Grant, while illustrating the book in his Lexington Avenue studio, wrote to the author: “You’ve written a bully story and I am enjoying the illustrating of it. I only hope my visualizations coincide with your ideas as to characters.”
Book jacket text, 1931 18
HISTORIC NANTUCKET
EDOUARD STACKPOLE
Two of Stackpole’s history-based sea tales from the 1930s
Edouard Stackpole, seated at his desk in the Peter Foulger Museum P 14 0 0 8
diences in New York and New England. He also received positive reviews from novelists Ben Ames Williams and Kenneth Roberts. In 1930, when the Whaling Museum opened, my father continued his study of the NHA whaling logs, and a vital resource of information found in the back issues of the Inquirer and Mirror. Beginning in 1937, he contacted the Department of State, then in dispute with the empire of Japan regarding American claims to Pacific Ocean territories, including Canton, Howland, and Johnson Islands. These claims were substantiated through the logs and journals of INDEED, GRANT’S LIVELY DEPICTIONS of the characters
Nantucket whaleship masters. On March 12 and 13, 1938,
and actions for the book were just what the author wished.
articles in the Boston Globe and New York Times credited
The whaling scenes were based on those found in Thar She
Stackpole for his research. Many of the islands claimed
Blows by William H. Macy, a former Nantucket whaleman.
were located in the Kingsmill “Grounds.” As reported by
In 1937, Privateer Ahoy portrayed the adventures of
Stackpole, this region was first charted by Nantucket Cap-
young Thad Jenkins during the War of 1812, when a Brit-
tain William Worth 2d of the ship Rambler in 1822.
ish fleet blockaded key American ports. Part of the action
My father continued to write stories over the years, yet
involved the negotiations of Nantucket commissioners
it was in nonfiction maritime research that the Nantuck-
who sought an accommodation from an English admiral
et journalist made his mark with the publication of two
to resume whaling and a description of the battle off Tom
works of history: The Sea Hunters and Whales and Destiny,
Never’s Head between the privateer Prince de Neufchatel
both supported through Guggenheim fellowships. When
and the English ship Endymion.
Yale President Kingman Brewster awarded my father an
Two years later Mutiny at Midnight was published.
honorary degree in 1964, his citation read, in part: “Surely,
This dramatic tale, based upon the account of William Lay
the whaleship was your Yale and your Harvard.” No better
and Cyrus Hussey, describes the voyage of the Nantucket
words could be quoted, especially those written by Her-
whaleship Globe and one of the most brutal mutinies in
man Melville.
the history of American seafaring. Along with Madagascar Jack and Privateer Ahoy, Edouard’s stories were often broadcast to young radio au-
RENNY A. STACKPOLE, NHA Research Fellow, is Director Emeritus of the Penobscot Marine Museum in Searsport, Maine. FALL 2015
19
WONOMA’S N a n t u c k e t STORY AND ILLUSTRATIONS BY DEBRA MCMANIS
I DIDN’T SET OUT TO WRITE a book for young readers
winter destination, as I was on my way to England to em-
about Wonoma, the most famous Indian woman to walk
bark on a study of seventeenth-century systems of English
the island. The idea grew organically while I was exploring
land tenure. I was also going to visit the ancestral villages of
the agricultural history of precolonial Nantucket for my
Nantucket’s prominent settlers and collect any notable facts
farm-history book, Town Farms and Country Commons:
I could unearth about those pioneers. But my plans were
Farming on Nantucket. But the urge to make a children’s
undone in the last hour, and instead I found myself in the
book steeped in Wampanoag mythology might never have
charismatic town of Boulder, Colorado. The change in des-
struck if my best-laid plans had not been thwarted early on.
tination literally shifted my direction away from the English
Before becoming a Verney Fellow in 2007, in preparation
and placed my focus squarely on the American Indian. It
for my farm-history book, I spent the previous winter in Col-
20
was as if the book had a compass of its own.
orado studying the horticultural practices of North Ameri-
A year later, as a Verney fellow studying island agri-
can Indians. The opening chapter describes the lifeways
culture, I was able to dig into the Wampanoag resources
of the Wampanoag and how the indigenous women of this
housed at the NHA’s Research Library and the native-arti-
tribe represented the island’s first farmers. Colorado, how-
fact collection at the Gosnold Support Center. To light the
ever, was about five thousand miles away from my intended
way, I relied heavily on the anthropological research of Dr.
HISTORIC NANTUCKET
WONOMA’S NANTUCKET
I was knee-deep in indigenous horticultural practices when I stumbled on an observation made by the English stressing the natives’ profound affection for their hunting dogs. Elizabeth Little and also on research by Nathaniel Philbrick
Wonoma was eyeing the start of her new crop when her
in his Abram’s Eyes and Away Off Shore. Philbrick’s chapter
little dog began to bark at the other end of the garden,
on “Native Origins” roused my attention because his en-
near a row of sunflower mounds. She got up to get a
gaging tone changed my perspective on how history could
closer look, and saw a small bird quivering under a pine
be written. It could be wildly entertaining and remain fact-driven. I was knee-deep in indigenous horticultural practices when I stumbled on an observation made by the English stressing the natives’ profound affection for their hunting dogs. This overt fondness for man’s best friend
branch. “Run Wild get back!” urged Wonoma. Run Wild kept barking but moved away so Wonoma could crawl under the low-hanging pine branch to get near the tiny nestling.
persists today on the island. It was here that the idea for a children’s book anchored in Wampanoag history crystal-
The little bird did not move. It was scared, and Run Wild
ized, when I recognized a shared cultural space to create a
had frightened the bird even more. To keep her little
relationship between a young native girl and her sidekick
dog away, Wonoma knew she would have to act fast!
dog, and use their adventures together to add momentum
But as she was reaching for the small crow, Wonoma
to a story about Indian farming and foodways.
remembered her father’s warning about wild animals.
Wonoma’s father, the legendary Sachem-chief Wauwinet, also figures prominently throughout the story. Believing that no one is ever wise by chance, the chief allows his daughter to cultivate inner strength and discover personal power by giving Wonoma opportunities to navigate her intuition—also known as following the Good Red Road, according to the Wampanoag. These life lessons are
Before picking up the bird, she thought, Should I follow the old-ways-of-the-Indian and leave this wild animal alone, or, should I follow the Good Red Road since there is no mother crow? Wonoma reckoned she would follow her heart because it was the baby bird’s only hope. Knowing she would have to answer to Father for this later, Wonoma believed in what-she-must-do!
granted even at the risk of breaking “the rules” or upsetting cultural tradition. As Wonoma learns how to grow her first Indian crop, with the help of her loyal companion Run Wild, she is also faced with life choices that help her grow into her namesake as a renowned healer.
FALL 2015
21
WONOMA’S NANTUCKET
skydrop & Run Wild back at the family wetu . . . Holding the round Indian basket with baby crow inside, Father moved near the central fire-pit to keep the nestling warm. The wise chief knew the bird was lost and that it would not survive without Mother Crow. Because the crow was sacred to the Wampanoag, Father thought protecting it was a way to honor the Great Spirit. He was pleased Wonoma had followed the Good Red Road by listening to her heart.
The character of a ten-year-old Wonoma is based on the Legend of Wauwinet: A Nantucket Tradition, written in 1888 by Charlotte P. Baxter. In her poem, Baxter describes Womona as a young woman who possesses extraordinary healing powers through traditional herbal-medicine techniques passed down orally through the generations. My story is rooted in elements of this well-known legend but depicts Wonoma as a brave young girl who has a natural affinity for the wild plants and flowers that grow throughout the island. Under the tutelage of her grandmother, Wonoma learns how to expand her innate interest in herbs into a powerful skill by strengthening her long memory-house (long-term memory) with the aid of an imaginary color wheel. In this way, Wonoma can hold in memory the multitude of local herbs and plants and their location on the island. Throughout the text, I chose to emphasize words that describe the colors of the plants and herbs that Wonoma “spots” by highlighting them in their respective colors, such as “autumn sienna” for acorns and “sunset mauve” for the bloom of the waterlily.
22
HISTORIC NANTUCKET
WONOMA’S NANTUCKET
Every day, after Wonoma was finished working in the garden, she walked about the outskirts of the village collecting fallen twigs and branches for her family’s two fire-pits. Firewood was as important as food to the Wampanoag living on Nantucket. Wonoma’s daily rounds of collecting wood also gave her time for her favorite color-spotting! Lately, she was putting to memory all the herbs and wildflowers growing
In writing Wonoma’s Nantucket, it was important to
throughout her father’s side of the island, the Indian
cast a collective net across many American Indian tribes
place called Wauwinet. It was Grandmother who first
to fully understand the particular lifeways of the Wampa-
recognized Wonoma’s love of plants and flowers and
noag. I was determined not to lead my young readers
taught her how to record the unique color and shape of
astray with a loose interpretation of island history. Unfor-
each plant inside her long memory-house, by using the
tunately, there is little written history about Nantucket’s
gift of her colorwheel.
indigenous community. It wasn’t until English settlement occurred in 1659 that fragments of native life were documented in town records in the form of land deeds and ter-
Later on that summer . . . On their way back to the family wetu, Grandmother and Wonoma stopped at Turtle Pond to collect some water-
ritorial disputes between the English and the Wampanoag sachems (chieftains). Even today, there is no official record of the Wampanoag language, although efforts in Mashpee are under way to reclaim this highly complex language.
lily root, a plant that grows on top of the water’s surface.
With this in mind, I used a nesting-doll approach to round
Carrying a handful of roots and a basketful of acorns,
out my research: I began with the encompassing Indians
they were on their way back to the family wetu when
of North America, followed by sedentary farming tribes
Grandmother turned to Wonoma.
of early pre-colonial America, then sized down to the farming tribes of southern New England, followed by the
“Granddaughter, you have done well living up to your
semi-sedentary coastal tribes of the Cape and the Islands.
namesake during the Season of Warm Moon,” praised
By this time, I had a workable understanding of the day-
Grandmother. “By and by, you will begin to understand
to-day life of a native family living on Nantokete.
the ways of your spirit and the abilities you hold to make things grow. One day you will learn the ways of herbal medicine according to our People and become a
When the long season of cold moons set in, Wonoma’s
powerful healer throughout the entire island.”
people wore shawls, wraps, winter coverings and moccasins made from animal hides they hunted on the
Grandmother’s powerful words made Wonoma’s
island or traded for on the mainland. But for the most
cheeks burn. It pleased her to know that Grandmother
part, the island families kept warm by staying in their
was proud of her first harvest, but Wonoma knew that
long family wetu, using wood and corncobs to keep
living up to her namesake would not be easy. “Am I
the steady fires burning. The winter months were also
brave enough to follow the Good Red Road?” thought
a time when the traditional crafts of basketweaving by
Wonoma.
the women and woodcarving by the men were taken
FALL 2015
23
WONOMA’S NANTUCKET
up. Frozen Moon was also a time to listen to Father tell ancient stories. Acting out the old animal legends with his strong lively hands, the Chief moved in high steps around the central fire-pit. In this way, Wampanoag history was passed down through the generations.
Initially drawn to Nantucket for its natural beauty and rural setting, I’ve spent a lot of time outdoors experiencing the terrain and working the landscape, so that imagining Indian trailways, and picking meadows or sacred meeting grounds used by the Wampanoag was not too difficult. In fact, areas that once represented bustling farming neighborhoods on Nantucket, such as the Polpis valley region or the villages near Madaket and Siasconset, began as native village communities where “Indian Lands” and gardens were planted in the surrounding soil. While much has changed on Nantucket over the centuries, the inhabitants of the island seem to share common ground when it comes to their favorite gathering spots for enjoying the surf or feasting on clambakes—such as Miacomet, which means “at the meeting place,” according to the Wampanoag.
24
HISTORIC NANTUCKET
the inhabitants of the island seem to share common ground when it comes to their favorite gathering spots for enjoying the surf or feasting on clambakes.
WONOMA’S NANTUCKET
Summer moons marked the time when the Indians living on Nantucket would set up family cook-outs along Big Water. Before first light, Wonoma’s mother had gone to collect clams and quahogs near the shore while Father went out to catch lobsters. After his catch, he will gather many armfuls of seaweed to use later at the family clambake. Later on, just before last light, he will find a good place along the beach to make a feast. Then, he will dig a great
Before first light, Wonoma’s mother had gone to collect clams and quahogs near the shore while Father went out to catch lobsters.
hole in the sand and fill it with Rock People. Using a sacred firestone, which he wears in a small sack around his waist, Wonoma’s father will make a large fire. Next, when all the Rock People are glowing red, he will lay many armfuls of seaweed on top of them. After the steam begins to rise, Wonoma’s mother will place the quahogs, clams, lobsters, and green corn inside the steaming sand-pit. Then Father will pile on more seaweed to make a steaming blanket to cover the clambake.
Through the course of Warm Moon Season (the growing season from May through October), Wonoma’s sidekick, Run Wild, gets into a few curious scrapes of her own but ultimately finds her way back to the family wetu, with
Days before the Harvest Festival, all the Indian women gather to build a long dancehouse made from limber tree-sapling poles and sturdy grass mats. Inside the
the help of the family crow, and just in time for the Great
grass lodge, the men build a row of three fire-pits down
Harvest Moon Festival!
the center to keep it warm and bright for the all-night ceremonies. Wonoma remembered how the large flames flickered against the walls of the festival dancehouse and how the steady fires warmed the grass-mat walls, infusing the entire lodge with the sweet fragrance of dried beach grass. To Wonoma, the long festival wetu felt just as alive as the villagers gathered inside. Wonoma recalled hearing Big Water rage and Sacred Fire roar as the spirits changed places among wind, fire, and the thundering beat of the Indian drum. Wonoma believed these lively spirits had found favor among her People, and she knew this was important for a good harvest because the spirits had the power to make crops grow. . . . DEBRA MCMANIS, the NHA’s 2007 Verney Fellow, is currently researching California’s non-dairy almond-milk industry.
FALL 2015
25
NHA UPDATE
NHA Research Fellows FALL/WINTER 2015
Southwest Art Defined (Rio Nuevo Publishers, 2013) by Margaret Moore
Frances Ruley Karttunen completed Something Should Be
Booker won the New Mexico Book Association’s judge’s choice for best
Done: A History of the Nantucket Civic League and presented it
design and layout of a book by a New Mexico author in 2013–14. Mar-
at the 2015 annual meeting of the league.
garet keeps busy with freelance manuscript editing, copyediting, proofreading, and indexing.
2013 Verney Fellow Ted Melillo’s article “Making Sea Cucumbers Out of Whales’ Teeth: Nantucket Castaways and Encounters of
Seth Bruggeman’s essay “A Most Complete Whaling Museum: Profiting
Value in Nineteenth-Century Fiji,” appeared in the July 2015 issue
from the Past on Nantucket Island,” appeared in Museum History Jour-
of Environmental History. Yale University Press recently published
nal (July 2015). He has been tapped to edit the AASLH’s Guide to Com-
his book Strangers on Familiar Soil: Rediscovering the Chile-Cal-
memoration in 2016. Currently, Seth is working on a history of the Bos-
ifornia Connection.
ton National Historical Park commissioned by the National Park Service. Hershel Parker continues to contribute articles to the Journal of Eric Jay Dolin’s new book, Brilliant Beacons: A History of the American
the American Revolution and is planning a book—Ornery People:
Lighthouse (Liveright, an imprint of W. W. Norton) will be published in
Who Were the Depression Okies?—about his ancestors in rela-
April 2016.
tion to episodes of American history of the South.
Joan Druett’s book Tupaia (Praeger, 2010) the story of Captain Cook’s
In October, Nathaniel Philbrick received the America and the
Tahitian navigator, has recently been published in Chinese and French. In
Sea Award from Mystic Seaport. The movie based on his book
2014, the Old Salt Press published her book Eleanor’s Odyssey, the diary
In the Heart of the Sea premiers in December, and his next book,
of Eleanor Reid, who in 1799 accompanied her husband, Captain Hugh
Valiant Ambition: George Washington, Benedict Arnold, and the
Reid, on the East Indiaman Friendship to New South Wales, the Spice
Fate of the American Revolution is slated for publication in 2016.
Islands, and Calcutta. Barbara White coauthored Hidden History of Nantucket (His-
26
With his daughter now in pre-school, Mark Foster is back to museum
tory Press, 2015) with Frank Morral. She is currently completing
exhibit design while continuing his research on the whale oil refining in-
a biography of Anna Gardner, a teacher at Nantucket’s African
dustry at Nantucket and elsewhere.
School who went south during the Civil War to teach freedmen.
HISTORIC NANTUCKET
News Notes & Highlights COLLECTIONS
Recent Acquisitions Nantucket treasures find a permanent home Lorin Low Dame (1838 –1903) moved to Nantucket after the Civil War to serve as principal of Nantucket High School. His keen interest in natural history is apparent in the album of algae he created in 1869, featuring
Album of algae
artistically mounted local specimens. In 1870, the Dame
and sketchbook
family moved to the mainland, where Lorin continued
from Dame Family
his career as an educator, but summers were spent on
Collection
Nantucket—at Bloomingdale Farm in ’Sconset and
MS5 4 2
later at Hinckley Farm on the north shore. Olive Arnold Dame Campbell (1882–1954), youngest child of Lorin and Nancy Arnold Dame, took a sketchbook with her on excursions around the island in the summer of 1901, recording farmhouses (many no longer standing) and other scenes. These two remarkable Nantucket items
Portrait of
were donated to the NHA by Dame descendants
James Allen Backus
Marcia Butman and Liz Coolidge.
2 0 1 5. 1 2 . 1
Linda Backus Morral has a long family history in Wauwinet, as she recounted in a recent oral history interview. She donated to the NHA a stunning portrait of her grandfather, James Allen Backus (1866–1936) the original proprietor of the Wauwinet House—painted by Harriet Barnes Thayer, circa 1895.
Charles West Coffin (1806 – 68) was the twenty-threeyear-old first mate of the Enterprize on a whaling voyage with Captain John Stetson from 1829 to 1832. The ship returned with a record-breaking 3,032 barrels of sperm oil. The logbook kept by Coffin on this voyage had been held by his family since 1832, until recently donated to us by his three-time great granddaughter, Norma A.
Cover and page from
Watitsky. The NHA also owns a journal kept by a crew
logbook kept by
member on the same voyage, providing the opportu-
Charles West Coffin
nity for scholars to compare first mate Coffin’s official
MS2 2 0 LOG4 0 7
version with that of a less constrained observer. SPRING / SUMMER 2015
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News Notes & Highlights NHA STAFF
Summer 2015 Interns: Jennifer Neiling, curatorial; Jessica Bierman, education; Esther McLaughlin, 1800 House; Megan Kastner, special events; Brianne Roth, education; Libby Clark and Lacey Davis, public programming
NHA Internship Program
The NHA launched its first summer internship program in 2007. Promoted as “study abroad . . . in America,” the program offered college students and recent graduates the unique opportunity to gain hands-on museum experience and live in historic housing in downtown Nantucket. In 2015, summer interns continued to keep the museum humming during the busiest months on island, interacting with visitors in the Whaling Museum and historic sites, engaging young learners in the museum’s Discovery Room, bringing enthusiasm and skills to 1800 House classes, helping plan programs and curricula, and assisting with special events. The appeal of the program is astounding—more than a hundred applications are received yearly for half a dozen positions. Now expanding into the off-season
Laura Marion, Records Management Intern,
months, the NHA internship program sponsors special-project in-
fall 2015
terns with expertise in areas like archives, oral history, and collections care, focusing attention on essential behind-the-scenes activities that support our mission. 28
HISTORIC NANTUCKET
NHA STAFF
Oral History Fellow Jacob Horton returns In September 2014, Jacob Horton joined the staff as an oral history intern for a ten-week-long project focused on gathering interviews and assisting with a digital exhibit called New Voices, featuring recent immigrants to the island from around the world. More than a year later, after extending his internship twice and subsequently persuading him to accept the role of interim Public Programs Coordinator, we are delighted to announce that Jacob has been awarded a one-year Oral History Fellowship to continue his excellent work in that department. A 2014 graduate of Columbia University’s Masters in Oral History program, Jacob brings expertise and energy to the NHA’s longstanding oral history initiative. He will focus on training volunteers to conduct the important work of collecting local stories
Jacob Horton, Oral History Fellow
about Nantucket people, places, and events.
NHA STAFF
Sacerdote Chair of Education Angela Grove joins the NHA In November, Angela Grove joined the NHA as the new Sacerdote Chair of Education, an endowed chair named in memory of Peter M. Sacerdote with a $1-million gift from his family. Grove recently completed her Master of History degree at the University of Vermont. In her position as Sacerdote Chair, she will focus on the NHA’s educational efforts and programs for K–12. She will be responsible for organizing school group tours; custom programs like Nantucket Night Watch, a fourth-grade overnight program in collaboration with Nantucket Elementary School; A Walk Through Time, the NHA’s interactive walking tour and sleepover program for the Nantucket New School; and Museum in My School, a classroom-based educational program highlighting NHA artifacts and collections, as well as managing the Discovery Room, the Whaling Museum’s designated space for families, and its signature programs Hands-On History and Win-
Angela Grove, Sacerdote Chair of Education
ter Discovery Days. SPRING / SUMMER 2015
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News Notes & Highlights News Notes & Highlights NHA PROPERTIES
Macy-Christian House Rehabilitation 12 Liberty Street project begins The Macy Christian Historic Rehabilitation Plan
The Nantucket Historical Association has commenced the longawaited historic rehabilitation of the Macy-Christian House, located at 12 Liberty Street. When the rehabilitation is complete, the house
•
Historical documentation
will serve as the residence for the NHA’s Executive Director and
•
Laser scanning the structure
will be a venue for events to support the NHA. Along with various
•
Structural stabilization
contractors performing specific aspects of the work, the NHA has
•
Exterior rehabilitation: new storm
partnered with the North Bennet Street School in Boston to provide field experience for about a dozen students studying preservation
windows, gutters, roof repair, paint •
carpentry. The students were on site for two weeks in October
condition: chimney and hearth
focusing on timber framing in the attic, as well as other repairs.
repair, repointing and stabilization •
Carpentry and framing, adding shed dormer on south and reconstructing
Work progresses on several
existing north dormer
aspects of the Macy-Christian project. Shown here are
•
Remodeling kitchen and bathrooms
contractors from Driftwood
•
Repair/replacement of electrical, plumbing, and HVAC
Construction led by Karl Phillips and students
•
Rehabilitation of existing plaster
from the North Bennett Street
walls and painting interior walls
School preservation carpentry
and trim
program led by Michael Burrey.
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Restoration of fireplaces to operable
HISTORIC NANTUCKET
2015 EXHIBITIONS
2015 Festival of Trees A holiday tradition in the Whaling Museum
Celebrate the holiday season on Nantucket at the NHA’s Festival of Trees, our highly anticipated winter tradition that begins during Nantucket’s Stroll weekend and transforms the museum into a festive wonderland for the entire month of December. This event features community-crafted trees designed by local merchants, nonprofit organizations, artists, and children. The Festival of Trees 2015 chairs are Holly and Marty McGowan, owners of ʾ’Sconset Gardener and Pumpkin Pond Farm. The Festival of Trees is open Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. through December 27, and daily from December 28 to 31 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free for NHA members and children under six, $5 for year-round Nantucket residents, and $20 for general admission.
In the Heart of the Sea The story behind the Hollywood movie Learn the true story behind Ron Howard’s latest film, based on author Nathaniel Philbrick’s best-selling book In the Heart of the Sea, at the NHA’s major exhibition Stove by a Whale: 20 Men, 3 Boats, 96 Days, on view now at the Whaling Museum. » Visit nha.org for dates and times And make sure to join the NHA’s highly popular In the Heart of the Sea Official Walking Tour when it resumes in May 2016. Explore the world of the Essex and its Nantucket crew with an NHA guide and learn about the vital role that whaling played in the economy and social structure of nineteenth-century Nantucket. SPRING / SUMMER 2015
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PERIODICAL POSTAGE PAID AT NANTUCKET, MA AND ADDITIONAL ENTRY OFFICES
P.O. BOX 1016, NANTUCKET, MA 02554–1016
Imagine . . . All That Your Planned Gift Can Do The NHA’s Whaling Museum and historic sites, like the Old Mill, Oldest House, and Greater Light, are places that inspire us and awaken our curiosity to imagine other times and other people. Since 1894, planned gifts have helped sustain the Nantucket Historical Association—from adding important artifacts to the collections to building an endowment fund to ensure the preservation of our iconic properties. There are many creative ways to make a planned gift—bequests of cash, artifacts, and real estate; gifts of life insurance policies, appreciated securities, and retirement plan assets; and trusts and other estate planning methods. We invite you to become a member of the Heritage Society with your planned gift to the NHA. Through your vision and generosity, the NHA will continue to tell the inspiring stories of Nantucket through its collections, properties, and programs.
The Heritage Society: Planning Today for the NHA’s Tomorrow To learn more about opportunities to join the Heritage Society, please contact the Development Office at (508) 228–1894 or plannedgiving@nha.org. 32
HISTORIC NANTUCKET Printed in the USA on recycled paper, using vegetable-based inks