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The J. Butler Collection
Nantucket Style

Effortlessly Elegant

Eye on Style: The J. Butler Collection
It takes a sophisticated sense of style and a special connection to the people you work with to be successful in design across different states, in both city and country, and for both primary residences and vacation escapes. Since 1984, designer Jeffrey Butler Haines has become known for setting new standards by pushing the boundaries of traditional interior design. He’s built a very loyal client base, many of whom credit him with enhancing their lives with his comfortable and effortlessly elegant interiors.

false albacore
Featured Articles

When Mr. Albert Shows Up

How old am I? Man, I’m so old that I’ve attended about a dozen Jimmy Buffett concerts. Brother Jimmy has a particular appeal to those of us who spend a lot of time on islands. He gets us. A great example of Mr. Buffett’s understanding of island life is his song “Coconut Telegraph,” a song that accurately describes the speed at which news spreads around an island community. Yes indeed, island gossip is faster than, well, a false albacore. And there’s not much out there that’s faster than Mr. Albert.

puss moth caterpillar
Island Science

Cute and Fuzzy and Very Toxic

Back in 2005, when I was a field assistant with the Nantucket Conservation Foundation, I spent many days in the heathlands on my hands and knees recording vegetation—an integral part of our research. One early fall day, as I placed my hand on the ground, a severe pain generating from the palm of my hand pulsed up through my arm. Looking back at the spot where my hand had been I expected to see a shard of glass or a giant rose thorn. None of the above. I had just squished a puss moth caterpillar with my palm.

Nantucket High School
Nantucket Essays

Hoping They’ll Come Home Again

The easiest thing to give up is hope. The engines that power Nantucket are far off and implacable. They don’t respond to picketing, petitions, or letters to the editor. Those engines no longer get their feet wet on-island. We sold them off to live on a winning lottery ticket and a one-way boat ride. We converted our homes into asset instruments.

Nantucket Events

Win Fame, Glory, & Cash

For more than a quarter century, we have encouraged our readers to share their views of Nantucket Island by entering our annual Nantucket Photo Contest. Every year we get hundreds of fun photos that make us smile as they help us remember fun days in the sun, kids jumping in […]

Wizard of Fishing Rods
Insider Tips, Nantucket Voices

Visiting the Wizard

Unsinkability. Is that a real term? Well, I’m going to say yes, seeing how my spellcheck feature didn’t draw a red line under the word. But what does it really mean to be unsinkable? It’s not always a positive term, of course. The Titanic was said to be unsinkable, and that didn’t go so well. But in my lexicon, if I feel that someone is considered unsinkable, it’s high praise.

Time Well Spent
Nantucket Essays

Time Well Spent

In August, if you catch the weather right, you can enjoy Billionaire Beach Day. Last week, at Fisherman’s Beach, the sky glowed, the ocean glistened, and the parking was available. After several days of a pretty heavy southerly wind, the waves wobbled in from the horizon until the hit the shallows, when they climbed to head high and collapsed into a rolling tube. Above the wind and waves, the Bombardiers, the G-7s, and the commercial jets landed and took off over Nobadeer. The people came.