As the long, sun-drenched days of late spring stretch across Nantucket, the island hums with the energy of change. The wind, softer now, carries the scent of salt and lilac, the ocean glints under a sapphire sky, and the islanders and visitors alike turn their attention to two distinct yet intertwined celebrations: the indulgence of the Nantucket Wine & Food Festival and the solemn ref lection of Memorial Day. These twin pillars of the season, one brimming with the joy of taste and tradition, the other steeped in the quiet reverence of remembrance, ask us to embrace life’s beautiful contradictions. How do we balance celebration with honoring the past? Perhaps, as with all things on this storied island, the answer lies in the land itself. Our gardens, whether brimming with heirloom vegetables or wild with native blooms, are a reflection of this delicate dance, offering us both sustenance and symbolism, abundance and solace.
Tag: Memorial Day
Memorial Day Memories
by Maryjane Mojer Bartlett’s Ocean View Farm When I was growing up on Nantucket, Memorial Day was not just a sign that school was almost over (it was) or that summer was just beginning (because at 8, summer actually was, I believed, Memorial Day to Labor Day). Memorial Day was […]
The Start of Memorial Day
~ by Amy Jenness ~ In the days following the Confederate Army’s attack and capture of North Carolina’s Fort Sumter in 1861, island residents worried that the South would also target Nantucket. In April a voluntary group of men called the “Island Guards” met at Mill Hill each day to […]
Fire and Rain
~ by Robert P. Barsanti ~ I was lucky enough to sit on the back porch of the Nantucket Hotel on Saturday evening, well out of the passing rain showers and white shirted winos on the street. Instead, I looked into the bottom of glass of bourbon and heard “Fire […]
A Weekend to Remember
• by Leah Mojer • Decorating soldiers’ graves with flowers is an ancient custom. The first Memorial Day observance went by another name: Decoration Day. In the south, people would gather on the designated day and put flowers on graves and renew contacts with relatives, neighborsm and friends. There was […]
Remembering Who Earned This
• by Robert P. Barsanti • This year, Boxed Water is the new thing. On Sunday morning, the beautiful ones drifted down to the ferries wearing Vineyard Vines, loafers, sunglasses, and carrying white and black boxes of Boxed Water. They swirled it, sipped it, set it back on the tables, […]
A Weekend of Firsts
• by Leah Mojer • Memorial Day Weekend is the most glorious and anticipated of all weekends here on Nantucket as it is in many places in New England. It is the official kick-off to Summer, the best season, and boy do we celebrate. Between the Figawi Boat Race & […]
An Islander Remembers WWII
• by Sarah Teach • Eighty-nine-year-old WWII veteran Karl Lindquist is lucky to be alive. It was 1944, and Lindquist had just turned 18 when the Nantucket Draft Board gave orders for him and two other young Nantucket men to report for U.S. Army Infantry duty in Boston. The town […]