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Nantucket Voices

British Invasion

Now don’t let the history books fool you: the real British Invasion happened in the early 1960s, and there was nary a Redcoat to be found. The American music scene had been floating along with mediocre pop music for quite long enough, thank you. Exactly how much Fabian and Bobby Vinton can one nation stand, right? So the stars were aligned for a quantum shift. And here came the Beatles, just in time to fill that vacuum which nature abhors. The flood gates opened, the American population went gaga for everything British, and things were never the same.

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Featured Articles

Risking Lives to Save Lives

For several months, Egan Maritime has explored island responses to the many sailing ship-era shipwrecks near Nantucket. Virtually all these disasters happened during one of New England’s infamous nor’easters or other seasonal storms. Even the US Lifesaving Service (USLSS) on Nantucket took the summer off: they only worked from September 1 until the end of April. We, too, can pause now and reflect on why Nantucketers successfully rescued mariners facing the dangers of the sea.

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Harmful Algal Blooms
Island Science

Danger in the Blooms

When I was a kid, the first movie I ever saw in 3D was The Creature from the Black Lagoon. The movie was from 1954, but in the 1980s the VHS tape was released, and we all had the special glasses. It was fun in the watching and seemed sort of ridiculous. However, as a 7-year-old, it instilled a fear of freshwater in me that was hard to shake. I wouldn’t go into a pool or lake for the rest of the summer without thinking about the swamp man.

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An Island Point of View, Nantucket Essays

Siasconset Ghosts

She had come down to open the house for the summer, again.

When the boys were younger, they had all come down over spring break to take the shrouds off of the chairs, stock the pantry, and restart the water and the electricity. Her husband, Benjamin, was a marvelous Professor of Economics and a force to be dealt with in the Faculty Senate, but he was not particularly handy. A degree in economics and a hand full of thumbs meant that he tried to turn the water on himself, broke something, and she always called a plumber to make sure it was done right.

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Nantucket Events

Geschke Series Inspires Discussion & Thought

The Nantucket Atheneum has a long history of bringing distinguished people to Nantucket Island to speak. Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Horace Greeley, Lucretia Mott, and Frederick Douglass are among those who lectured in the Great Hall of the Atheneum during years long past. Around the turn of this […]

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Dune
Featured Restaurants

Choose Your Own Adventure

Those who like to go down a road less traveled should make reservations to dine at Dune, in the heart of downtown Nantucket at 20 Broad Street.

When chef-owner Michael Getter opened Dune in 2009, after working for decades in the Nantucket culinary scene and as a wine pro, word quickly spread about his superb, innovative cuisine featuring fresh seasonal ingredients. Now, 15 years later, Chef Getter and his talented team are still serving some of the best food on Nantucket in preparations that make every meal a fun culinary adventure.

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Nantucket Events, Nantucket History & People

The Magical Realism of Katherine Howe

Every June, the Nantucket Book Festival brings together readers and authors in a celebration of the written word. Over the years, this weekend event has welcomed to our island hundreds of well-known authors including Alice Hoffman, Dennis Lehane, Tiya Miles, Marlon James, Jodi Picoult, Sebastian Junger, Imani Perry, Hernan Diaz, Jennifer Weiner, Charles Graeber, Isabel Wilkerson, James McBride, Alex Marzano-Lesnevich, and Azar Nafisi. The Book Fest also showcases Nantucket writers: Nathaniel Philbrick, Elin Hilderbrand, James Sulzer, Nancy Thayer, Steve Sheppard, and Gabrielle Burnham have made appearances. Kwame Alexander, Margaret Atwood, Erik Larson are among the more than 20 authors who will speak at the 2024 Festival held this Thursday through Sunday.

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Theatre Workshop of Nantucket Cast of Sense & Sensibility
Nantucket Arts, Nantucket Entertaining, Nantucket Events

Sensational Adaptation

Lively and entertaining with a dash of lunacy: Theatre Workshop of Nantucket’s current production is playwright Kate Hamill’s playful version of Sense and Sensibility.

This theatrical adaptation of Jane Austen’s classic novel is a contemporary take on navigating love, loss, and societal expectations in 18th-century England. Hamill’s script gets to the heart of the story while bringing a fresh and energetic perspective to this very well-known comedy of manners.

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Stand by Me
Nantucket Essays, Nantucket Voices

Stand by Me

There’s a scene at the start of the fantastic 1986 movie “Stand By Me” where Richard Dreyfuss is sitting in his car, trying to come to terms with the death of one of his childhood buddies. As this character looks up from the newspaper article that had delivered the bad news, he sees two kids who look about thirteen pedaling by on their bikes. We see the Dreyfuss character immediately taken back in time, back to that age, back with his neighborhood gang. It’s a poignant moment that starts this brilliant coming-of-age movie (based on the Stephen King novella The Body).

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