Author: yi_302qo9y0

Sundial at Maria Mitchell Association | Nantucket
Island Science

What Is This? A Sundial!

~ by Katherine Brooks, Maria Mitchell Association ~ Sundial or Sun d’Isle, as so cleverly named and crafted by Robert A. diCurcio (Bob), was designed as a piece of functional art and commissioned for the Maria Mitchell Association in 1989. The sundial is designed based on the latitude (41 degrees, […]

Brant Point, Nantucket
Nantucket Essays

Keeping Time

~ by Robert P. Barsanti ~ On Friday afternoon, just around quitting time, I stood in a line at Old South Liquors with a dozen cold beverages in my hands. It was a good time to quit; the air was warm, the fog distant, and the winds favorable. The men […]

Maria Mitchell Association | Nantucket, MA
Island Science

What Is This? – Wood Fern

The Maria Mitchell Association (MMA) biological collections’ oldest specimen is the Wood Fern (pictured above). Maria Louisa Owen, an expert in mosses and moss-like plants, collected this fern in 1879. This was during the height of “Pteridomania” – also known as the Victo- rian fern craze – which was sweeping […]