Nantucket has a long history of empowering women. Because the Quaker population here valued equality and education, islanders educated their girls as well as their boys at a time that was not common. Nantucket women were independent, intelligent, curious, creative, and industrious. They were poets, artists, scientists, adventurers, writers, businesswomen, physicians—several of them world-renowned. Nantucket women were in the forefront in the fight for abolition and equal rights. On our island, women could express themselves.
Author: Taryn McBryde
For the Love of a Caterpillar
Spring seems to have finally arrived on the island. The Spring Equinox on March 19 officially marked the start of spring, but we all know not to be suckered in by those arbitrary dates. Traditionally, spring is marked more by the indicators of the changing season. It could be the Daffodil Festival which holds to the calendar date of the last weekend of April. Or it could be something more attuned to the spring climate: blooming forsythia, calling of spring peepers, and migratory birds arriving from their winter stays.
Do you have a favorite sign of spring?
Festive December Events in the Nantucket Whaling Museum
The Nantucket Historical Association (NHA) is hosting their 30th annual Festival of Trees Monday- Saturday from 10 am to 4 pm during the month of December (closed on Christmas Day, December 25). This festive display is presented in the Whaling Museum. Admission is free for island residents, underscoring the NHA’s […]
TWN Brings Beloved Books to the Stage
Every November and December, Theatre Workshop of Nantucket brings warm feelings of joy and happiness to audiences during their annual holiday production. This month, the TWN curtain goes up on the first-ever adaptation for stage of Elin Hilderbrand Christmas novels. TWN’s Producing Artistic Director Justin Cerne put his prodigious talent to work in creating a 90-minute stage production based on Hilderbrand’s Winter Street series, published from 2014 to 2017.
The First Rule of “Fish Club”
The cross-examination was withering: question after question, each one seemingly a tripwire cleverly placed to snare my plodding steps. The law yer pressed me relentlessly, stepping up his attack by the slightest degree, sensing that I was a moment away from falling apart. And he was right—my confidence was waning, and I was f loundering. I couldn’t play his game any longer. I reverted to what I did best, what had gotten me this far, what has always been the key to my survival I counterpunched.
Everyone Knows
Around ten this evening, my boon companion rests his heavy head on my knee. He knows nothing of the Bruins or the British Baking Show; he only knows the call of the wild. If I don’t move for him and his needs, he puts one paw up on that leg. If I somehow have failed to hear his silent cry, both legs come up along with eighty pounds of golden retriever to fill my lap.
Fighting the SPB
With our changing climate, one impact we are currently experiencing is our island is becoming hospitable to new and different species. Warmer winters, fewer cold snaps, and hotter, drier summers are welcoming a suite of new species. As some species expand their ranges into new territories, they may have little effect on the surrounding ecosystem. Other species have the potential to cause ecological and economic harm – a true invasive. The Southern Pine Beetle (SPB) is our newest Nantucket visitor wreaking havoc and causing harm to our native pitch pine stands.
Enter Stroll & Winter Photos
Nantucket Island is as beautiful during the Quiet Season as it is during the heyday of summer. Share your autumn, holiday, and winter photos by entering our 2024 Nantucket Photo Contest. To participate, email your high resolution photos of Nantucket that depict our island and island life to ackphotocontest@gmail.com. Enter […]
So Many Nantucket Stories to Share
Nantucket Island—the community here, the pristine beaches, the drama of the sea—it has a way of capturing hearts and filling souls. For many who live here, it can be difficult to leave, even when life events, family, and work makes a departure seem practical. Islanders label this “getting sand in your shoes,” and Niles Parker responded to the call when he returned in 2022 to retake the helm at the Nantucket Historical Association as Gosnell Executive Director.