10 sankaty comprehensive by Nantucket Preservation Trust

Hedged About

S A N K AT Y ROA D, S I A S CO N S E T

A House History Written by Betsy Tyler Designed by Kathleen Hay

nantucket preservation trust Two Union Street â&#x20AC;˘ Nantucket, Massachusetts www.nantucketpreservation.org

Copyright ÂŠ 2010 Nantucket Preservation Trust All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the Nantucket Preservation Trust. Cover image and endpapers: A View of Siasconset a Fishing Village on Nantucket, 1797, by David Augustus Leonard: 1979.66.1, courtesy of the Nantucket Historical Association. The text of this book was set in Perpetua, Bickham Script, and Dear Sarah. Researched and written by Betsy Tyler, Nantucket, Massachusetts Michael May, Project Coordinator Elizabeth Oldham, Copy Editor Designed by Kathleen Hay Designs Nantucket â&#x20AC;˘ New York Printed in the USA

Photo by Lisa Hubbard

The garden at Hedged About

10 Sankaty Road 1909

SANKATY ROAD

n a former transfiguration, Sankaty Road was the route to Sankaty Lighthouse, before Atlantic Avenue (now called Baxter Road) was laid out in the 1880s. The true name of the road leading north out of the village is debatable—on Harry Platt’s 1888 map, it is labeled “Road to Sankaty Head,” while on the maps of Aurora Heights published in 1887 and 1892, we find “Sankaty Avenue”; and even on the current deed to the property, dated 2004, there is a discrepancy. The property address is listed as 10 Sankaty Road, but the east boundary is described as Sankaty Avenue. For consistency, in this history it will be called Sankaty Road. As the reputation of the village of Siasconset (hereinafter ’Sconset) as a summer retreat spread throughout the cities of the eastern seaboard, and even to the wealthy enclaves of the Midwest, the demand for summer homes spurred the development of Plainfield, the area north and west of the village. Beginning in the late 1880s, houses were built along the north bluff and on both sides of Sankaty Road. Hedged About, situated just beyond the north end of the village of ’Sconset, was built by Thomas S. Clifton at 18 Lindberg Avenue in 1909 and moved to 10 Sankaty Road in 1919. It was enlarged by architect Frederick P. Hill in 1921 for Frank and William Jefferson of New York City, who were the first of the three owners of the iconic property known for years as the Beinecke house, and since 1976 as the summer home of the Mathey family, who named it Hedged About. 3

A View of Siasconset a Fishing Village on Nantucket, 1797, color engraving by David Augustus Leonard

Plainfield

rom the early days of Nantucket’s settlement by English colonists, the land north and west of the village of ’Sconset was known as Plainfield. The term may have been chosen because it described both the topography and the use of the area. When J. Hector St. Jean de Crèvecoeur, author of Letters from an American Farmer, visited the little fishing village in 1772, he remarked that “the plough has not dared yet to disturb the parched surface of the neighbouring plain.” ’Sconset was a long way by horse and cart from the town of Nantucket, and although the village had a busy spring and fall fishing season, and was a favorite spot for summer recreation, there was not much of a year-round population there until decades after Crèvecoeur’s visit. The War of 1812 spurred the development of the village, as more people became interested in local fishing when whaling and other maritime ventures were stalled and food supplies were scarce. Scattered private farms and commonly held land, used primarily for grazing sheep, filled the seven-mile distance between the bustling Great Harbor of the town of Nantucket and the diminutive fishing village on the eastern shore. As ’Sconset evolved from a fishing village to a seasonal resort in the late nineteenth century, Plainfield became the site of several developments of house lots that offered space for grander homes and gardens than in the village. Following the success of the Sunset Heights development south of the village in the 1870s, Plainfield was developed for seasonal residents in the 1880s.

Map of Plainfield, 1814

Plan of Aurora Heights, 1887

Aurora Heights Robert B. Coffin

ne of the men who invested in land in Plainfield, creating subdivisions on both sides of Sankaty Road, was Robert B. Coffin (1831–1910), a native Nantucketer. When he was fourteen years old, Coffin moved with his family to a cottage on New Lane in ’Sconset, after the Great Fire of 1846 destroyed their home in town. He was the second of eight children, the oldest of whom was Phebe Ann Coffin (later Hanaford), who became a well-known Universalist minister and author. Coffin spent most of his life in ’Sconset where he followed the village trade and became a fisherman. He married Adeline Folger in 1856, and they were parents of three daughters: Ellen Hanaford (b. 1857), Emily Ruggles (b. 1868), and Mary Jane (b. 1871). The family lived year-round in ’Sconset until 1885, when Coffin purchased a house on Pearl (now India) Street in town.

Robert B. Coffin, circa 1860s

Robert B. Coffin began acquiring land in Plainfield in 1856, when he bought six and a half acres south of Clifton Street and west of what is now Sankaty Road. More than a decade later, when ’Sconset was beginning to be a popular seasonal resort, he purchased ten more acres in Plainfield. His first ’Sconset development was a joint venture with Abraham Rice of Detroit, Michigan—builder of Idlemoor at 11 Baxter Road— who sold Coffin a half interest in his land in Plainfield in 1885. Coffin, with Emily Rice, Abraham’s widow, created Aurora Heights, a thirty-nine-lot subdivision on the east side of Sankaty Road, bordered by Rosaly’s Lane on the south and extending along the north bluff, with fifteen ocean-view lots on the east side of Atlantic Street and the other twenty-four lots between Atlantic Street and Sankaty Road. The lots on the bluff sold for $500 each. In 1892, Coffin recorded a Plan of Addition No. 1 to Aurora Heights, an eighteen-lot subdivision on the west side of Sankaty Road, where the house at 10 Sankaty Road now stands.

Aurora Heights was a fashionable resort area for both wealthy industrialists and well-known actors—the well-heeled class who could escape the demands of their busy urban lives in the summer and enjoy the isolation and simplicity of ’Sconset. John C. Spooner, U. S. Senator from Wisconsin, built two houses in Aurora Heights and sold one to actress Bertha Galland; William H. Thompson and his wife, Isabel Irving, both Broadway stars, bought a house in the new development, as did author Thomas Beer. Although most of the new North Bluff houses were not ostentatious by any standard, they were large and gracious and surrounded by wide lawns—in marked contrast to the little cottages of the village that nestled against one another as if bracing for yet another winter storm. When Robert B. Coffin died in 1910, he left numerous parcels of land in and around the village of ’Sconset, and in other areas of the island, to his wife, Adaline. She died in 1916, and the property descended to two of the Coffin daughters, Mary Jane Coffin Quinn and Ellen Hanaford Coffin Burgess. In 1918, in a land swap, Quinn transferred eleven parcels of ’Sconset land to her sister, and Burgess transferred ten parcels of land in ’Sconset, Madaket, Surfside, and elsewhere to Quinn. The sixth parcel that Quinn transferred to Burgess comprised Lots 5 and 6, shown on Plan of Addition No. 1 to Aurora Heights. Burgess sold those lots to three men—Henry B. Worth, Roland B. Hussey, and Albert G. Brock—who were described in the deed as Trustees under the will of William Hosier. Hosier, popular owner of a small hardware store on Federal Street, died single in 1899, and left a large estate to the management of his three friends, who were to keep the money invested and “to expend the income therefrom for the support and assistance, according to their discretion, of the widows and orphans and the worthy poor generally of Nantucket.” The trustees wisely invested in real estate; the original Hosier estate of $50,000 grew to more than $120,000 three decades later.

William Hosier, circa 1880s

Lots 4,5, and 6 are the site of 10 Sankaty 9

Trustees under the Will of William Hosier:

Henry B. Worth, Roland B. Hussey, and Albert G. Brock

n enlightening piece of information relating to the origin of the house at 10 Sankaty Road appears in the “’Sconset Notes” column of the Inquirer and Mirror, October 25, 1919: We understand that Mrs. Ellen C. Burgess has sold to Albert G. Brock et al., trustees, three lots on the west side of Sankaty Avenue, adjoining the estate of George M. Cassidy on the north, to which the so-called Clifton house will be moved.

Roland B. Hussey

Henry B. Worth

Although the newspaper article is incorrect in stating that three lots were sold to Brock and friends by Burgess (it was in fact two lots), the location described as “north of the estate of George M. Cassidy” is correct. Cassidy’s house at 6 Sankaty Road was built by Edward R. Smith between 1892 and 1897, and purchased by Cassidy in 1901. The trustees then sold lots five and six to William W. Jefferson and Frank Jefferson, brothers, of NewYork City, and Burgess sold the third lot, number four, to the brothers the next day, August 25, 1921.

Albert G. Brock 10

Clifton House

he mysterious “so-called Clifton house” mentioned in the 1919 newspaper article appears to have been the house belonging to Thomas S. Clifton, which was under construction on the corner of Clifton and Lindberg Avenues, at what is now 18 Lindberg, when Clifton purchased the lot from Robert B. Coffin in 1908. The property is described in the deed as: A certain tract of land with the dwelling-house in course of erection and all other buildings thereon situated. Clifton mortgaged the property the next day to Henry B. Worth, Roland B. Hussey, and Albert G. Brock, Trustees under the will of William Hosier, the same trustees who sold the lots on Sankaty Road to the Jefferson brothers thirteen years later. Clifton’s mortgage deed to the trustees included “all materials that may be now or at any future time on said land for the erection of said unfinished dwelling.” Clifton must have suffered financial reversals: his ’Sconset property was seized by the Deputy Sheriff for Nantucket County in 1911, because Clifton owed money to Henry C. Phillips. The property, which included a finished dwelling, was sold at auction to Arthur W. Phillips for $150. In 1915, he and his wife, Sarah E. Phillips, sold the lot and dwelling back to the three aforementioned trustees. When the trustees sold the same property at the corner of Clifton and Lindberg to Mabel F. Eldridge in 1920, it was described as “a certain tract of land”; no dwelling is mentioned in the deed, which leads to the conclusion that the Clifton house was on the property when the trustees purchased it in 1915, but the trustees moved it to other land of theirs on Sankaty Road in 1919. Although not corroborated by any documents found to date, circumstantial evidence—and the observation in the Inquirer and Mirror—support the proposed scenario. Inquirer and Mirror, 1911 11

Jefferson house, 1921

William W. Jefferson and Frank Jefferson 1921–1934

he three lots on Sankaty Road—numbers four, five, and six—created 225 feet of frontage on the street and were 120 feet deep; they are the site of the subject house in this history. The 1921 Valuation and Tax List of the Town of Nantucket lists William and Frank Jefferson as owners of 27,000 square feet of land, a dwelling, a garage, and a water plant on Sankaty Road. A Sanborn Insurance Company map of ’Sconset dated 1923 depicts the two-story house with a twostory porch and one-story wings on the north and west sides of the house. A one-story garage is adjacent to the south property line. Undated plans in the collection of the Nantucket Historical Association prove that ’Sconset architect Frederick P. Hill made alterations to the “Clifton House” for the Jefferson brothers. The only extant sheet of his blueprints, labeled “Plan of the Second Floor,” shows the enclosed sun room, three bedrooms, and a bath. It is not clear what parts of the house existed, and what exactly Hill contributed, but it is likely that he added the twostory porch and the one-story wings of the house. There are records for a similar project that Hill undertook for Marie M. Barry at One Baxter Road in 1920. A house was moved to that location, where it was placed on a new foundation, a kitchen was added, a porch was built on the east side, various alterations were made to the interior, and the house was plastered inside and shingled outside. John C. Ring was the mason on the project, and James A. Holmes Jr. the contractor. That entire project cost $8,700; one would expect a similar scope and cost for Hill’s improvements to 10 Sankaty Road.

Sanborn Insurance Company map, 1923 13

Blueprints by Frederick P. Hill

Frederick P. Hill was a noted architect, working for the well-known New York firm of McKim, Mead & White for seventeen years. He first came to Nantucket in 1896 after his engagement to Florence Merriam, whose grandparents were Matthew and Catharine Starbuck, of the Middle Brick. Hill and his wife spent many summers at the family home in â&#x20AC;&#x2122;Sconset at 19 Main Street, a property purchased by Matthew Starbuck in 1856. Hill was a fixture of the village for decades, active in the Casino and busily employed with building and renovation projects in and around the village. He designed the clubhouse of the Sankaty Golf Course in 1921 and made improvements to the Casino in 1923, including the patterned latticework in the main hall. His design work in â&#x20AC;&#x2122;Sconset is unfortunately not well-documented, but it is likely that he made many contributions to the architectural landscape. In 1929, the Jefferson brothers acquired the three lots behind the house, bordered on the west by what is now called Lindberg Avenue, doubling the size of their property and allowing for a convenient entrance to the rear of the house. They also added the cottage situated behind the garage; although its exact date of construction is not known, it shows up on a 1933 aerial view, so was built during the time the Jeffersons owned the property.

Aerial view, 1926

Aerial view, 1933

Jefferson brothers on the porch

Mrs. Jefferson, mother of William and Frank William Jefferson

William and Frank Jefferson were the youngest sons of noted comedic actor Joseph Jefferson (1829–1905), famous in the theatrical world for his interpretation of Rip Van Winkle. When Nantucketer Susan Emma Brock visited Boston in 1878, she saw the actor perform his signature role and commented: “Isn’t Jefferson splendid? It was the best thing I ever saw.” Joseph Jefferson’s summer home, Crow’s Nest, in Buzzards Bay, was described in The Ladies Home Journal in 1898 as a family compound, with the cottages of his three oldest sons—Charles, Joseph Jr., and Thomas— and those of his four daughters nearby. His two youngest sons—William and Frank—lived with their father in the “manor house”; William was twenty-one years old at the time and Frank was thirteen. They were sons of Joseph’s second wife, Sarah, who died in 1924. William, like his father and older brother, Joseph Jr., was an actor, appearing in seven plays on Broadway from 1900 to 1920. His film career began in 1913, in an adaptation of Richard Sheridan’s play The Rivals, directed by Theodore Marston. In the following six years William Jefferson appeared in thirty-two silent movies; his last role was in Wild Oats, the ninetyseventh, and final, movie directed by C. J. Williams, in 1919. William Jefferson was married first to Christie MacDonald, a singer of the comic opera stage, in 1901. They were divorced about ten years later, and Jefferson married actress Vivian Martin in 1913. She had quite a lively career for a time, and was considered a rival of Mary Pickford. 19

Vivian Martin

efferson married actress Vivian Martin in 1913. She had quite a lively career for a time, and was considered a rival of Mary Pickford. 20

The reputation of ’Sconset among the thespians of New York was well established by the 1920s. Edward F. Underhill’s rental cottages on Pochick, Evelyn, and Lily Streets were the unofficial site of the early “Actors Colony” in the late 1800s, and some of the more successful Broadway luminaries purchased or built large homes around the turn of the century. The village became a veritable enclave of celebrities in the early twentieth century, and William Jefferson, a seasoned actor from one of the leading stage families of the country, naturally gravitated to the island, bringing his younger brother with him. William and Frank are occasionally mentioned in the Inquirer and Mirror’s “’Sconset Notes” column. In July 1921, it was noted that “William Jefferson and family are here for the summer.” The high jinks of some of the members of the actors colony are commented on in August 1921: William and others were filmed playing leapfrog, and later “the movie man filmed William Jefferson dragging a party of his friends down Broadway in a two-wheel cart.” Photographs from the era support the descriptions of the playful actor, hamming it up for the camera. It appears that William was divorced a second time either just before, or soon after, he and Frank acquired their summer home. In the “’Sconset Notes” column July 7, 1923, it was noted that “Willie Jefferson and Ed Bulkley, the Island Romeos, arrived in ’Sconset last Saturday.” Vivian Martin married again in 1926, according to an announcement in The NewYork Times: “the actress, now at the head of the cast of “Puppy Love,” was married at noon yesterday to Arthur W. Samuels, composer and advertising man.” William made Honolulu his winter home in 1928, and married third wife, Mary Meryl Scott, there in 1936. 21

Frank Jefferson, who was less extroverted than his older brother, was in the insurance business, a member of the firm Vanderpool, Posner & Jefferson in New York City. He became involved in the â&#x20AC;&#x2122;Sconset Casino soon after his arrival in the village, and served as the fifth president of the organization from 1924 to 1930. The Jefferson brothers owned the house at 10 Sankaty Road until 1934; William relocated to Honolulu permanently, but Frank returned to New York after his brother died in 1946. He reconnected with â&#x20AC;&#x2122;Sconset in 1949, when he purchased a house off Sankaty Road at what is now 9 Meeting House Lane. Frank transferred that property to his nephew Warren Jefferson, and his wife, Gertrude, who owned the house until 1963. Frank died in New York in 1963 at the age of seventy-seven.

Winter scene, circa 1920s 22

Houses in the Neighborhood

he house at 10 Sankaty Road is one of six houses in the block defined by Sankaty Road on the east, Clifton Street on the north, Lindberg Avenue on the west, and Coffin Street on the south. The first house built in this newer section of Aurora Heights was constructed between 1892 and 1897 by Edward R. Smith at 6 Sankaty Road. In 1923, according to the Sanborn map delineated that year, it was called The Hollow by the Flare. A little one-story cottage called Tiny Tim was southwest of the main house. The owner of 6 Sankaty Road in 1923 was Caroline M. Cassidy, widow of George. She had purchased the narrow two-story house at 4 Sankaty Road in 1908, and that was part of her compound. It had belonged at one time to Georgine F. Judkins, the niece of William J. Flagg, who once owned most of the North Bluff of ’Sconset. Mary J. Quinn, daughter of Aurora Heights developer Robert B. Coffin, built the cottage at 2 Sankaty Road in 1921. “’Sconset Notes” reported in the spring of 1920 that “Mrs. John Quinn is preparing to erect a bungalow on her land corner of Sankaty Road and the recently laid-out highway running west, at Plainfield corner.” A year later, in May 1921, it was reported that “Mrs. John Quinn’s cottage, Sankaty Road, is fast approaching completion.”

2 Sankaty Road

North of the Jeffersons’ property is the house built in the late 1920s by artist Mary Cowles Clark and her husband, Harlow, at 18 Sankaty Road. The last house in the block, built by Virginia Webb in the 1950s, is behind 2 Sankaty Road, at the corner of Lindberg Avenue and Coffin Street. Eighteen houses might have been built on the lots that Robert B. Coffin laid out in 1892, but fortunately the neighborhood evolved differently. 23

4 Sankaty Road

6 Sankaty Road

5 Coffin Street

18 Sankaty Road 25

Aerial view, circa 1930s 26

Katherine S. Beinecke and Walter Beinecke Sr. 1934–1976

n 1917, Katherine Sperry of Cranford, New Jersey, married Walter Beinecke of New York City. Beinecke, a 1910 graduate of Yale University, was an employee of John C. Paige & Company, an insurance firm that he later directed. Katherine’s father was a founder of Sperry & Hutchinson Company, creator of S&H Green Stamps, a oncepopular buyers-reward program whose heyday in the 1960s kept thousands of green stamp collectors busy pasting their stamps in booklets that could be traded for rewards—household goods like kitchenware, linens, and small appliances. Walter Beinecke joined that company in 1922, five years after his marriage. The young couple had two children,Walter Jr. (known as Bud), born in 1918, and Betsy, born in 1919. The Beineckes met William and Frank Jefferson at a party in New York, and upon offering to drive them home learned that not only did they all live in the same building, but had facing back doors. The Jefferson brothers introduced the Beineckes to ’Sconset, renting their house to the young family for the first time in 1923, and for fifteen years thereafter, finally selling the property to them in 1934. Longtime Nantucket resident Joan Pennock Craig, whose mother was a friend of Katherine Beinecke, began to visit Nantucket at the same time, and was a lifelong friend of Betsy Beinecke, her contemporary. Joan and her family stayed at Ocean Park (now the site of the Wade Cottages) each summer until 1927, when her mother purchased the house at 19 Sankaty Road. Joan has happy memories of her ’Sconset summers, which closely involved the Beinecke family.

Walter Beinecke Sr. on golf course, 1926 27

Joan Pennock and Betsy Beinecke in costume for the â&#x20AC;&#x2122;Sconset Casino Masquerade, 1930 28

The girls spent a lot of time at the Casino playing tennis and badminton and attending movies and other activities. They rode horses, swam, and generally had the run of the neighborhood. Joan remembers Frank Jefferson, president of the Casino when she was a young girl, as a tall, thin, stately gentleman, as opposed to his shorter, rounder, and more vivacious brother, William. According to Craig, Katherine Beinecke was not a tennis-playing, horseback-riding sportswoman like many of her contemporaries, but a very feminine lady who played mah jong with her friends every afternoon on the second-floor porch at 10 Sankaty Road. The game table was on the north side of the porch, and a bar (with ginger beer for the children) and hanging swing were on the south side. The house was always referred to as High Porch, according to Betsy Michel, a granddaughter of Walter and Katherine, and the center window of the porch was the site of a signature arrangement of red gladioli. It was a friendly, welcoming place, where neighbors often stopped to visit. Walter Sr., a charming and jovial man, played golf and served as president of Sankaty Head Golf Club for a time. An avid gamesman, he was an excellent card player, ranked as one of the top ten bridge players in the country in the 1920s. The Beinecke household included a governess when the children were young, and she and the children occupied the two bedrooms on the first floor. Their chauffeur also accompanied the family to â&#x20AC;&#x2122;Sconset, and resided in a room off the garage. There were two tiny cottages behind the garage for household help; they were later joined to make a larger Lshaped cottage. Beinecke house, circa 1950s

In 1936, Katherine Beinecke purchased the two lots north of the house from Mary Cowles Clark; they are numbered seven and sixteen on the “Plan of Addition No. 1, Aurora Heights, Siasconset, Nantucket, Mass.,” expanding the property to its current extent. Gardens surrounded the house during the Beinecke era, and were described in an article written for the Town Crier in 1953, providing a historical record of the early plantings: A garden borders the house and is itself framed in white sweet alyssum. Between the white border and the house background, and the background of privet which continues to a gateway west of the grounds, there is a gay and beautiful bed of color. Hydrangeas in the pastel blues, pinks and white, yellow violas, purple ageratum and lobelia, petunias in varied shades, double and single hollyhocks, a deep red phlox as vivid as a rose, the yellow and brown rudbeckia and zinnias in all the colors imaginable are there. For daintiness balloon flowers of white and blue and the little purple bells of campanula. The writer describes in detail the beauty of the extensive grounds, which Mr. Beinecke attributed to the expert eye of Mrs. William Voorneveld. The Voornevelds were well-known owners of a nursery, with a flower shop in town on Centre Street. They provided the expertise for the garden design, and ’Sconseter Earl Coffin mowed and tended the grounds.

10 Sankaty Road, circa 1970s

Ten Sankaty Road was the Beinecke summer home for more than fifty years (they rented for eleven years before purchasing the property in 1934). Betsy and Bud Beinecke spent their youthful summers there, and both remained strongly connected to the island. Betsy and her husband, Carl Shirley, bought the house at One Baxter Road (the same house that Frederick P. Hill had designed in 1920 for the Barrys) and continued to summer in ’Sconset. Walter Jr., as all students of twentieth-century Nantucket know, was responsible for a major renovation of Nantucket’s waterfront and commercial center in the 1960s, demolishing the ice plant and coal bins, creating a marina, and buying virtually all of the commercial buildings in town. The high rents he charged for shop space encouraged the sale of high-end goods designed to appeal to a moneyed crowd, and according to some, spurred the rampant development of the island. It was Beinecke, however, who preserved the Jared Coffin House and other important buildings through the creation of the Nantucket Historical Trust, and he was one of the founding members of the Nantucket Conservation Foundation. His legacy is complex, but he had a vision for Nantucket that would ultimately help to preserve its historic character, which he recognized as its unique appeal as a vacation destination. Walter Sr. died in 1958, and Katherine began spending her time in ’Sconset with her daughter at One Baxter Road. When MacDonald and Charlotte Mathey purchased the Beinecke summer home in 1976, it had been uninhabited for more than a decade.

Walter “Bud” Beinecke Jr.

MacDonald and Charlotte Mathey

1976–

harlotte Mathey’s introduction to Nantucket was through her parents, Roderic M. Cross and Charlotte Elton Cross, who built a house in Tom Nevers in 1969. Charlotte’s mother had often visited the island in the 1930s when her father, John P. Elton, sailed there to visit with Phoebe Beadle, who lived in the Charles G. Coffin house on Nantucket’s Main Street. Before her marriage to Mr. Cross, Charlotte Elton had been one of the members of the dance company of Ruth St. Denis, and on one occasion gave a solo dance concert in the garden of the Coffin house. When in the 1950s the island in the Thimble Islands that Mr. Elton had owned was sold, the Crosses thought Nantucket might be the place to relocate their summer residence. John Cross, brother of Charlotte Mathey, now owns a house in Tom Nevers called Nevers End. When Charlotte was a young girl she would often ride her bike from Tom Nevers to ’Sconset; she remembers the house at 10 Sankaty Road as appearing “hideously ugly” to her at that time. Later, however, when she was newly married and the mother of two small children, the idea of purchasing a Nantucket home for her family brought her back to the house on Sankaty Road, which had become neglected after Walter Beinecke Sr.’s death. She and her husband bought the house in 1976, when daughter Heidi was a newborn and son Roderic a toddler. They completed some basic structural repairs, but other than removing a chimney in the kitchen, they did little to alter the vintage dwelling. On the north side of the house, on the first and second floors, interior walls had been added by a previous owner, dividing the north front rooms; the Matheys removed the walls, restoring what appears to be the original floor plan. Opposite: Heidi, MacDonald, Roderic, and Charlotte Mathey with English babysitter Linda Daly

Opposite: South faรงade, 1976 Right: Plot plan, 1976 35

Moving day, 1976 36

Main entry with staircase

Sitting room, first floor

Dining room

Second-floor porch 37

It was the challenge of the extensive grounds that appealed to Charlotte particularly. When the Matheys purchased the house, they named it Hedged About, in honor of the hedges that were barely shin-high in a 1922 photograph of William Jefferson (see p. 18), but had grown more than four feet vertically, forming a solid wall around the property in the intervening half century. Charlotte’s first garden project involved enlarging and replanting the south-facing flower garden; that garden was expanded further in 1990. In 1983, with the assistance of landscape designer Lucinda Young, a garden was added on the north side of the house, hidden in a “nook” behind a wall of hedges. The area was completely cleared of overgrown shrubbery, and a small park was created. In its earliest incarnation a hedge maze designed by Charlotte, with a fountain in the center, filled the west side of the enclosed space, and a gazebo was built at the east end. Beds of trees, shrubs, and perennial plants add color, texture, and shade to the garden and form a living tapestry of intricate design. The gardens of Hedged About were featured in Nantucket Magazine in 1994, in an article written by horticultural consultant Lucy Leske, who described them as “ … part Secret Garden, part Alice inWonderland, and all Charlotte.”

The head gardener

Charlotte took a wonderful aerial photograph of the grounds while perched on a cherry picker graciously loaned by Chief Bruce Watts of the Nantucket Fire Department.

Looking at the nook garden from Lindberg Avenue 38

Cleared space for the nook garden 42

Beds of trees, shrubs, and perennial plants add color, texture,and shade to the garden and form a living tapestry of intricate design.

The maze was removed in 1997, and a tiny garden shed was added in the midst of new plantings.

The maze was removed in 1997, and a tiny garden shed was added in the midst of new plantings. Working to expand and improve the landscape over the years inspired Charlotte to complete work for a Certificate of Landscape Design from the New York Botanical Garden in 2006. Her work and that of her skilled gardeners have been admired and appreciated by untold numbers of passersby, and led to the inclusion of Hedged About in the 1990 Nantucket Garden Club House Tour, when tea was served in the garden. In 2007, the garden was featured in the Garden Conservancyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Open Days Program, an annual event that opens to the public the best private gardens in the country. A small cottage on the south side of the property, previously occupied by household help, was remodeled in 1988 as a guest cottage, and dubbed No Doubt. A large Siberian elm, planted by Walter Beinecke Jr. when he was six years old, fell on the cottage in 2005, providing impetus for more alterations to the structure, including a west-facing porch overlooking a cottage garden designed by Charlotte.

A small cottage on the south side of the property, previously occupied by household help, was remodeled in 1988 as a guest cottage, and dubbed No Doubt.

Other charming additions to the grounds include the herb garden in the center of the driveway circle and a fenced-in kitchen garden bordered on one side by a row of blueberry bushes enclosed in a little house whose walls and roof are made of wire. Each feature of the grounds, from herb garden to nook, has been carefully considered and painstakingly maintained, creating an old-fashioned, unpretentious, and harmonious landscape that perfectly complements the hundred-year-old summer house. The house that the Jefferson brothers purchased in 1921 was large, comfortable, and well situated close to the village on a plot of land that expanded in 1929, and again in 1936. Although the house has remained much as it was when the brothers owned it, the surrounding lawn and gardens have literally blossomed within the framework of the hedges, creating outdoor rooms that are extensions of the dwelling. Roses climb up the front faรงade and soften it with color, the south flower bed splashes color against the shingled canvas of the house, and the hedges enclose it all in a dark green frame.

Herb garden

Kitchen garden 47

Northeast faรงade, 2009 48

East faรงade, 2009

As-built survey, 2005 50

South garden in bloom

South garden in the early stages 52

South garden as it appears today 53

Timeline

1602 1620 1630–48 1641 1659 1660 1663

Bartholomew Gosnold sights Nantucket from the bark Concord Plimoth Plantation Taj Mahal, Agra, India Nantucket deeded to Mayhew and Son by Lord Sterling Nantucket deeded by Mayhew for thirty pounds and two beaver hats to the original purchasers First group of settlers arrive West end of island bought from the Indians Peter Foulger and other tradesmen move to the island; fishing and farming are main occupations 1673 Whaling commenced in boats from the shore 1675 Auld Lang Syne, 6 Broadway, Siasconset 1686 Jethro Coffin House (lean-to house) 1 Sunset Hill 1690 Christopher Starbuck House (lean-to house) 105 Main Street 1693 Nantucket transferred from New York to Massachusetts 1696–1708 St. Paul’s Cathedral, London, Sir Christopher Wren 1704 Society of Friends is formally organized on Nantucket 1719 White population, 721 1722 Rotch Counting House (Georgian style) Foot of Main Street 1722–24 Captain Richard Gardner 111 House (lean-to style) 34 West Chester Street 1723 Straight Wharf built Old North Church, Boston, William Price 1725 North Shore Meeting House, later moved to 62 Centre Street 1726 Thomas Starbuck House (typical Nantucket house) 11 Milk Street White population, 917 1730 Quanaty Bank dug away to make land from Union Street to the present shore 1746 Windmill, built by Nathan Wilbur, South Mill Street 1763–64 White population, 3,220 Indian population, 358 (Indian plague results in 222 deaths, leaving only 136 Indians) 1765 Shore whaling ceased North Shore Meeting House moved from site near No Bottom Pond to present site at 62 Centre Street (Old North Vestry of First Congregational Church) 1767 Silas Paddock House (gambrel-roof house) 18 India Street 1770–1800 Monticello, Charlottesville, Virginia, Thomas Jefferson 56

1774 1775–81 1784 1790 1791 1792 1800 1809 1815–23 1818 c.1820s 1821 1822–23 1829–34 1830 1834 1837 1836–38 1837 1838 1840 1841 1844 1846

Population, 4,545 including one clergyman, two doctors, and one lawyer Approximately 1,600 Nantucketers lost their lives during the American Revolution Population, 4,269 Lighthouse erected at Great Point Hezekiah Swain House (typical Nantucket house) also known as Maria Mitchell House, 1 Vestal Street First whaling ship sails from Nantucket to the Pacific Ocean Capital of United States, Washington, D.C., Thornton, Bulfinch, Latrobe, Mills, and Walter Population, 5,617 Joseph Starbuck House (federal style) 4 New Dollar Lane Second Congregational Meeting House, 11 Orange Street Royal Pavilion, Brighton, England, John Nash Pacific National Bank (federal style) 61 Main Street The African Meeting House (Greek Revival style) 29 York Street Nantucket Inquirer begins publication Methodist Church (Greek Revival style) 2 Centre Street, modified in 1840 Moors End, built for Jared Coffin (Federal style) 19 Pleasant Street State House, Boston, Bulfinch and Upjohn First Congregational Church (Gothic Revival style) 62 Centre Street Atheneum incorporated Capt. Levi Starbuck House (Greek Revival style) 14 Orange Street The Three Bricks (Federal-Greek Revival style) 93, 95, and 97 Main Street William H. Crosby House (Greek Revival style) 1 Pleasant Street Quaker Meeting House, 7 Fair Street Atheneum acquires Universalist Church building (1825) Lower India Street Population, 9,712 Baptist Church (Greek Revival style) 1 Summer Street Frederick Douglass speaks at the Atheneum William Hadwen Houses (Greek Revival style) 94 and 96 Main Street Great Fire, July 13 and 14

1847 1849–61 1851 1852–54 1855 1865 1872 1875 1881 1882 1884 1888 1889 1894 1897 1900 1901 1909 1916 1931 1955 1957 1964 1966 1984 1997

E. F. Easton House (Easton-Joy House) (Gothic style) 4 North Water Street Maria Mitchell discovers the first telescopic comet, named after her Atheneum (Greek Revival style) rebuilt after Great Fire, Lower India Street Population declines due to California Gold Rush and the Civil War Crystal Palace, Great Exhibition, Hyde Park, London, J. Paxton Admiral Sir Isaac Coffin Lancasterian School (Greek Revival style) 4 Winter Street Abram Quary, reputed last Indian, dies Population, 4,748 Nantucket Inquirer and Nantucket Weekly Mirror merge to form Inquirer and Mirror Nantucket economy begins to revive with tourist trade Eliza Starbuck Barney House (Victorian style) 73 Main Street Population, 3,201 Innishail (Shingle style) 11 Cliff Road Nantucket Railroad constructed to Surfside Union Chapel, 18 New Street, Siasconset Nantucket Railroad extended to Siasconset Eiffel Tower, Paris, Gustav Eiffel Electric lighting introduced to Nantucket Nantucket Historical Association established The Mayflower (American Shingle style) Baxter Road, Siasconset St. Mary’s Church (Queen Anne style) Federal Street Siasconset Casino (Shingle style) New Street, Siasconset St. Paul’s Church (Richardsonian Romanesque) 16 Fair Street Robie House, Chicago, Frank Lloyd Wright First telephone transmission from Nantucket to mainland Empire State Building, New York City, Shreve, Lamb, and Harmon Historic District Commission created Sydney Opera House, Sydney, Australia, Jorn Utzon Sherburne Associates formed Island of Nantucket designated a National Historic Landmark Nantucket Island Land Bank established Nantucket Preservation Trust established 58

Photos by Lisa Hubbard

Illustrations

p. 1 p. 2 p. 4 p. 5 p. 6 p. 7 p. 8 p. 9 p. 10 p. 11 p. 12 p. 13 pp. 14-15 p. 16 p. 17 p. 18 p. 19 p. 20 p. 21 p. 22 p. 23 p. 24 p. 25 p. 26 p. 27 p. 28

The garden at Hedged About, courtesy of Lisa Hubbard. Hedged About, courtesy of Charlotte Mathey. AView of Siasconset a FishingVillage on Nantucket, 1797, color engraving by David Augustus Leonard: 1933.22.1, courtesy of the Nantucket Historical Association. Plainfield map, 1814, Nantucket Registry of Deeds, Book 1, page 5. Aurora Heights, 1887, Nantucket Registry of Deeds, Book Robert B. Coffin, c. 1860s: C48, courtesy of the Nantucket Historical Association. William Hosier, c. 1880s: P479, courtesy of the Nantucket Historical Association. Plan of Addition No. 1 to Aurora Heights, Nantucket Registry of Deeds, Book 5, page 50. Roland B. Hussey: GPN71b; Henry B. Worth: CDV15-5; Albert G. Brock: P132; courtesy of the Nantucket Historical Association. Sheriffâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Sale, I&M, February 4, 1911 10 Sankaty exterior, 1921: SC612-324, courtesy of the Nantucket Historical Association. Sanborn Insurance Company Map, 1923, courtesy of the Nantucket Historical Association. Blueprints, Frederick P. Hill: NHARL MS 2000, no. 76, courtesy of the Nantucket Historical Association. Aerial view by Henry Lang, 1926: RBNAN 917.4497L25a, courtesy of the Nantucket Historical Association. Aerial view, 1933: P8000, courtesy of the Nantucket Historical Association. Jefferson brothers on porch: P21067; William Jefferson: P21069; Mrs. Joseph Jefferson: P21089, courtesy of the Nantucket Historical Association. Joseph Jefferson as Rip Van Winkle: www.nationaltheatre.org/location/inmemoriam.htm Vivian Martin: image1.findagrave.com/photoThumbnails/photos/2 Jeffersons at play: P21075, courtesy of the Nantucket Historical Association. 10 Sankaty in snow: P21066, courtesy of the Nantucket Historical Association. 2 Sankaty Road, courtesy of Betsy Tyler, 2009. 4 Sankaty Road, 6 Sankaty Road, courtesy of Betsy Tyler, 2009. 5 Coffin Street, 18 Sankaty Road, courtesy of Betsy Tyler, 2009. Aerial view, c. 1930s: PH23-46, courtesy of the Nantucket Historical Association. Walter Beinecke Sr., courtesy of Joan Craig. Joan Pennock and Betsy Beinecke in costume: SC663-8, courtesy of the Nantucket Historical Association. 62

p. 29 p. 30 p. 31 p. 32 p. 34 p. 35 p. 36 p. 37 p. 38 pp. 39-40 p. 41 p. 42 p. 43 p. 44 p. 45 p. 46 p. 47 p. 48 p. 49 p. 50 p. 51 p. 52 p. 53 p. 54 p. 59 p. 60 p. 67 p. 70 p. 72

Views of 10 Sankaty, 1950s: S9800, SC688-2-5, courtesy of the Nantucket Historical Association. View of 10 Sankaty façade with roses: P9989, courtesy of the Nantucket Historical Association. Walter "Bud" Beinecke Jr. on beach: A97-34d, courtesy of the Nantucket Historical Association. Mathey family photo, 1980, courtesy of Charlotte Mathey. View of south façade, 1976, courtesy of Charlotte Mathey. Plot plan, 1976, Nantucket Registry of Deeds Book 19, page 97. Moving day, 1976, courtesy of Charlotte Mathey. Interior photos of entry hall, sitting room, and dining room, courtesy of Charlotte Mathey; second-floor porch, courtesy of Betsy Tyler, 2009. Head gardener, courtesy of Charlotte Mathey; nook seen from Lindberg Avenue, courtesy of Betsy Tyler, 2009. Nantucket Magazine, Mid-summer, 1994. Aerial view, courtesy of Charlotte Mathey. Cleared land, courtesy of Charlotte Mathey. Nook garden “before,” courtesy of Charlotte Mathey; nook garden “after,” courtesy of Betsy Tyler, 2009. Gazebo courtesy of Charlotte Mathey; garden shed, courtesy of Betsy Tyler, 2009. Siberian elm views, courtesy of Charlotte Mathey. Cottage “before,” courtesy of Charlotte Mathey; cottage “after,” courtesy of Betsy Tyler, 2009. Herb garden courtesy of Charlotte Mathey; kitchen garden, courtesy of Betsy Tyler, 2009. Northeast façade, courtesy of Betsy Tyler, 2009. East façade, courtesy of Betsy Tyler, 2009. As-built survey prepared by Nantucket Surveyors Inc., 2005. South garden, courtesy of Charlotte Mathey. Early-stage south garden, courtesy of Charlotte Mathey. Current south garden, courtesy of Charlotte Mathey. South façade and garden, courtesy of Charlotte Mathey. View of house and grounds from cottage, courtesy of Charlotte Mathey. Views of south garden, courtesy of Lisa Hubbard. Entrance to the nook, courtesy of Charlotte Mathey. Blueberry house, courtesy of Betsy Tyler, 2009. Wisteria arbor with roses, courtesy of Charlotte Mathey. 63

Notes and Sources

Abbreviations: HN I&M MS NA NHARL NRD NYT

Historic Nantucket Inquirer and Mirror Manuscript Nantucket Atheneum Nantucket Historical Association Research Library Nantucket Registry of Deeds The New York Times

Plainfield

For his description of ’Sconset, see J. Hector St. Jean de Crèvecoeur’s Letters From an American Farmer and Sketches of Eighteenth-Century America (reprint edited with an introduction by Albert E. Stone, New York, Penguin Books, 1986) pp. 163–65. Letters was first published in 1782, Sketches in 1925.

Aurora Heights: Robert B. Coffin

NRD Book 52/p. 470: John Elkins, guardian of the children of Charles Elkins, to Robert B. Coffin, Lots 9 and 11 on Plainfield map recorded in NRD Book 36, p. 455, 6.5 acres, 1856. NRD Book 65/p. 241: devisees of Matthew Crosby to Robert B. Coffin, 5.25 acres, 1878. NRD Book 62/p. 303: Anne Swain to Robert B. Coffin, 5.27 acres, 1873 NRD Book 69/p. 378: Abraham Rice to Robert B. Coffin, one-half part of a tract of land in Plainfield, 1885. See “’Sconset’s North Bluff,” by Michael May, in ’Sconset: A History, edited by Ben Simons and written by Betsy Tyler and other contributors, NHA, 2008. NRD Book 97/pp. 333-36: Mary J. C. Quinn to Ellen H. C. Burgess, eleven parcels of land in ’Sconset, 1918. NRD Book 97/pp. 336-339: Ellen H. C. Burgess to Mary J. C. Quinn, ten parcels of land, 1918. NRD Book 98/pp. 223-24: Ellen H. C. Burgess to Henry B. Worth, Roland B. Hussey, and Albert G. Brock, Trustees under the will of William Hosier, lots 5 and 6 on Plan of Addition No. 1 to Aurora Heights, 1919. An unidentified newspaper clipping about William Hosier’s will, including the text of the document, is in NHARL MS 335/folder 382.

Trustees under the Will of William Hosier: Henry B. Worth, Roland B. Hussey, and Albert G. Brock

NRD Book 99/p. 277: Henry B. Worth, Roland B. Hussey, and Albert G. Brock, Trustees under the will of William Hosier to William W. Jefferson and Frank Jefferson, lots 5 and 6 on Plan of Addition No. 1 to Aurora Heights, 1921. NRD Book 99/pp. 278: Ellen H. C. Burgess to William W. Jefferson and Frank Jefferson, lot 4 on Plan of Addition No. 1 to Aurora Heights, 1921.

Clifton House

NRD Book 89/p. 325: Robert B. Coffin to Thomas H. Clifton, land and unfinished dwelling, 1908. NRD Book 89/p326-26: Thomas H. Clifton to Henry B. Worth, Roland B. Hussey, and Albert G. Brock, Trustees under the will of William Hosier, mortgage deed, 1908.

NRD Book 94/pp. 492-3: George E. Mooers, Deputy Sheriff for the County of Nantucket, to Arthur W. Phillips, auction sale of land and dwelling, 1911. NRD Book 96/pp. 296-97: Arthur W. Phillips to Henry B. Worth, Roland B. Hussey, and Albert G. Brock, Trustees under the will of William Hosier, land and dwelling, 1915. NRD Book 98/pp. 476-77: Henry B. Worth, Roland B. Hussey, and Albert G. Brock, Trustees under the will of William Hosier, to Mabel Eldridge, land at 18 Lindberg Avenue, 1920.

William W. Jefferson and Frank Jefferson

Valuation and Tax List of the Town of Nantucket, 1921, p. 169. The first Sanborn Insurance Company map of ’Sconset was published in 1898; it does not depict the property on the west side of Sankaty Road, nor do the maps dated 1904 and 1909. The 1923 map is the first to show the houses at 2, 4, 6, and 10 Sankaty Road. Frederick P. Hill’s blueprints for the second-floor alterations of the Jefferson house are in NHARL MS 2000, no. 76. His notes for the Barry House project at One Baxter Road are in NHARL MS 352. An obituary notice of Frederick P. Hill is in the I&M, June 6, 1957. For more details of his life, see “Frederick Parcel Hill, Architect,” by John C. Lathrop in HN, vol. 33, no. 1, July 1985. NRD Book 103/p. 402: John A. Quinn, guardian of Mary J. Quinn, non compos, to William Jefferson, Lots 13, 14, 15, 1929. Letter from Susan E. Brock to Benjamin Sharp, May 7, 1878, in NHARL MS 270/folder 4.5, mentions Joseph Jefferson’s performance. An excerpt from The Ladies Home Journal titled “Joseph Jefferson’s Family” appeared in the NYT, May 1, 1898. The stage and film career of William Jefferson is archived by the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com) and the Internet Broadway Database (www. Ibdb.com). An obituary notice is in the NYT February 14, 1946. I&M “’Sconset Notes”: July 9, 1921; August 6, 1921; July 7, 1923; July 28, 1923. “Vivian Martin Marries,” NYT March 1, 1926. An obituary notice, “William Jefferson, Son of Famous Actor, Dies Here,” is in the Honolulu Advertiser, February 12, 1946. An obituary notice of Frank Jefferson is in the Honolulu Advertiser, June 12, 1963. An obituary notice of Sarah A. Jefferson, mother of William and Frank, in the NYT September 11, 1924, mentions Frank’s occupation, and notes a bequest to her grandson, Warren Jefferson, and his wife. Frank Jefferson deeded the cottage he bought in 1949 to Warren and Gertrude Jefferson in 1963; see NRD 112/p. 397 and NRD 112/p. 414. See Mary Wheeler Heller’s A Casino Album 1899–1974: A Seventy-Fifth Anniversary History of the Siasconset Casino Association (Siasconset, MA: Casino Association, 1974) for a list of presidents of the organization.

Katherine Sperry Beinecke and Walter Beinecke Sr.

Thanks to Joan Craig for details about her youth in ’Sconset, her recollections of the Beinecke family, and her photo album. NRD Book 108/p. 311: Mary Cowles Clark to Katherine Beinecke, lots 7 and 16, 1936. Emily Goode, “Beinecke Garden in ’Sconset Praised as Beautiful Bed of Color,” Town Crier, August 21, 1953. Obituary notices of Walter Beinecke, dated September 5, 1958, are in the NA People File. Much has been written about Walter Beinecke Jr.: see “Trading Up Nantucket.” Time, July 26, 1968; Willard, L. F. “Fifty Years as an Outsider.” Yankee, June 1974, pp. 98–107; Loth, Renée. “Beinecke’s Island.” New England Monthly, May 1984, pp. 37–47, in NHARL MS 373.

Charlotte and MacDonald Mathey

Special thanks to Charlotte and Heidi Mathey for a tour of the house and gardens, and an informative conversation about their time in Hedged About. 66

Deed Trail

10 Sankaty Road

BOOK 98/PAGE 223 1919 Ellen H. C. Burgess to Henry B. Worth, Roland B. Hussey, and Albert G. Brock, of Nantucket Massachusetts, Trustees under the will of William Hosier The land in that part of said Nantucket called “Plainfield,” and being lots numbered Five (5) and Six (6) shown on a plan entitled “Plan of Addition No. 1 to Aurora Heights, Siasconset, Nantucket, Mass.” BOOK 99/PAGES 277–78 1921 Henry B. Worth, Roland B. Hussey, and Albert G. Brock, Trustees under the will of William Hosier, to William W. Jefferson and Frank Jefferson The land in that part of said Nantucket called “Plainfield,” and being lots numbered Five (5) and Six (6) shown on a plan entitled “Plan of Addition No. 1 to Aurora Heights, Siasconset, Nantucket, Mass. BOOK 99/PAGES 278–79 1921 Ellen H. C. Burgess to William W. Jefferson and Frank Jefferson The land in that part of said Nantucket called “Plainfield,” and being lot no. Four (4) shown a plan entitled “Plan of Addition No. 1 to Aurora Heights, Siasconset, Nantucket, Mass. BOOK 103/PAGE 402 1927 John A. Quinn, husband of Mary J. C. Quinn, to William W. Jefferson The land in that part of said Nantucket called Plainfield, near the village of Siasconset, and being lots numbered Thirteen (13), Fourteen (14), and Fifteen (15), shown on a plan entitled “Plan of Addition No. 1, Aurora Heights, Siasconset, Nantucket, Mass.” BOOK 107/PAGES 202–03 1934 William W. Jefferson of Honolulu to Frank Jefferson of Honolulu One-half undivided interest in the land in that part of the Town and County of Nantucket, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, called Plainfield, near the village of Siasconset, and being lots numbered Thirteen (13), Fourteen (14), and Fifteen (15), shown on a plan entitled “Plan of Addition No. 1, Aurora Heights, Siasconset, Nantucket, Mass.”

Blueberry house

BOOK 107/PAGES 203–04 1934 William W. Jefferson and Frank Jefferson to Katherine Sperry Beinecke First: The land, with all buildings thereon, in that part of the town and county of Nantucket, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, called “Plainfield,” near the village of Siasconset, and being lots numbered Five (5) and Six (6) shown on a plan entitled “Plan of addition No. l to Aurora Heights, Siasconset, Nantucket, Mass.” Second: the land, with all buildings thereon, in that part of the Town and County of Nantucket called “Plainfield,” near the village of Siasconset, and being Lot no. Four (4) shown on a plan entitled “Plan of Addition No. 1 Aurora Heights, Siasconset, Nantucket, Mass.” BOOK 109/PAGE 311 1936 Mary Cowles Clarke to Katherine S. Beinecke Lots numbered 16 and 7 on a plan entitled “Plan of Addition No. 1, Aurora Heights, Siasconset, Nantucket, Mass.” BOOK 153/PAGE 55 1976 Katherine S. Beinecke to Walter Beinecke Jr. All my right, title, power and interest which I may have in any capacity in and to the land in that part of the Island of Nantucket known as Siasconset, together with the dwelling house and all other buildings thereon . . . being shown as Lots No. 4, 5, 6, 7, 13, 14, 15, and 16 on plan entitled “Plan of Addition No. 1, Aurora Heights, Siasconset, Nantucket, Mass.” BOOK 156/PAGE 348 1976 Walter Beinecke Jr. to MacDonald Mathey and Charlotte C. Mathey The land in Siasconset . . . together with the dwelling house and all other buildings thereon, situate on Sankaty Avenue . . . being shown on plan recorded in Book of Plans 19, Page 97 at the Nantucket Registry of Deeds. BOOK 941/PAGES 69–70 2004 MacDonald Mathey and Charlotte C. Mathey to Charlotte C. Mathey That certain parcel of land in Siasconset . . . together with the dwelling house and all other buildings and improvements thereon, situate on Sankaty Avenue, and bounded and described as follows: Northerly, by land now or formerly of William N. Tuach et al., 239.58 feet; Westerly by Lindberg Road, 300 feet; Southerly by land now or formerly of Edgard and Geraldine Feder, 240.28 feet; Easterly by Sankaty Avenue, 300 feet.

Acknowledgments With special thanks to

Susan Boardman, Director Emerita of the Nantucket Preservation Trust, for her inspiration in initiating the House History Program and her dedication to its ongoing success. Elizabeth Oldham, Nantucket Historical Association Library Research Associate, for her keen eye in the editing of this book. Marie Henke, Nantucket Historical Association Photo Archivist, for her assistance with historic images and maps.

Nantucket Preservation Trust Advocates, Educates, and Celebrates the Preservation of Nantucket’s Historic Architecture

his comprehensive history is an important contribution to the island’s architectural record. Documentation is one of the ways the Nantucket Preservation Trust celebrates the more than 2,400 historic homes, farms, and workplaces that contributed to the island’s designation as a National Historic Landmark in 1966. By providing owners of historic houses, island residents, schoolchildren, and visitors a broad spectrum of programs and projects, we encourage the preservation of irreplaceable structures, architectural features, and cultural landscapes. Lectures, walking tours, house markers, special events, and publications—including the house histories and neighborhood histories— define our unique work on Nantucket. We hope you enjoy the history of this house, its past owners, and its place in Nantucket’s remarkable architectural heritage.