Recent Posts

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.

Eye on Style: Rainbow Fleet
Featured Entrepreneur, Nantucket Style

A New Adventure in Vintage Clothing

You can spot Rainbow Fleet from the array of colorful clothing displayed outside: this island consignment shop has rooms filled with everything from Gucci to Forever 21. Kristen Hull started Rainbow Fleet four years ago, in July 2019, with the mission of trying to “really help people be mindful when they are shopping and to think about the environment.” The store is constantly stocked with new styles and timeless pieces: handbags, designer shoes, boots, fur jackets, jean

Patti Callahan Henry
Nantucket Arts, Nantucket Events

An Astonishing Novel & Author Talk Tuesday

Join New York Times bestselling author Patti Callahan Henry on Nantucket this coming week. Patti will be in conversation with Tim Ehrenberg of Tim Talks Books and Nantucket Book Partners this Tuesday, August 22 from 6 to 7 pm in the Nantucket Atheneum’s Great Hall. This event is free, with seating first come, first served and a book signing to follow. You can also meet Patti the following day for a book signing with Nantucket’s own best-selling writer Elin Hilderbrand on Wednesday, August 23 from 11 am to 12 noon at Mitchell’s Book Corner on Main Street.

Spotted Lanternfly
Island Science

Spotted Lanternfly Found on Nantucket

by Dr. Sarah Treanor Bois, PhDDirector of Reseach & Education at the Linda Loring Nature Foundation Sometimes finding a new species on the island is a welcome site; a new bird to add to a life list or a plant long forgotten and rediscovered. This is not one of those […]

Rainbow Parade
Nantucket Arts, Nantucket Events, Nantucket History & People

This Sunday Is for Rainbows

This Sunday morning, August 20, hundreds will trek to the beach at Brant Point to watch a beautiful and joyful spectacle that has been a part of summer on Nantucket for half a century: the Rainbow Parade.
Artist G.S. Hill is usually among them. “I do a lot of on-location sketches during Opera Cup,” he explained. “The first year we were here, 1979, was the first year that I painted the Rainbow Fleet…it’s one of my favorite subjects. They’re so colorful!”

R. Simantov
Nantucket Arts, Nantucket Style

Artistry in Gold & Gems

Estate jewelry has a timeless beauty with details and expert craftsmanship that is rarely seen today… unless you discover R. Simantov’s Nantucket shop along Easy Street at 1 Old North Wharf.
In this charming location, jewelry designer Reubin Simantov offers a carefully curated collection of unique vintage pieces. Jewelry like an Art Deco yachting sail brooch sparkling with diamonds of many cuts, shapes, and sizes. It’s a wearable piece of artwork with exquisite details that include a curved sail, a waving burgee, a sailor on deck, and even waves in front of the hull.

Whale’s Way
Nantucket Essays

Gifts We Give, Gifts We Leave Behind

Changeover day lurks in the middle of the summer. One set of guests leaves and their presence must be eliminated before the next set of guests arrives. Sometimes they leave ghosts behind.
We were asked to help clean a brand new house in Tom Nevers after a week’s rental. A crew of landscapers had come by, fluffed up the hydrangeas and the roses, then buzzed the incandescent grass into a military haircut. The pool people came out, ran a robot over the bottom of the pool, scooped out whatever was floating, then hosed down the deck.

Smith’s Point
Exploring Nantucket, Nantucket Essays

Wild, Wild West

We humans tend to be territorial. People hang out in areas that they like, staying in their comfort zones. Also, we generally stick to routines and, thus, can be fairly predictable. For example, my wife and I have our favorite spot where we sit for church every Sunday. We would be all out of sorts if we had to move to a different location. Doesn’t make a lot of sense, does it? No, but that’s how humans are. And all of these strange traits are directly applicable to us fishing folks, to be sure.