Nantucket is not just a stepping stone of the way to Nova Scotia, it is a destination in itself. Having dined out on our first night here, we dined aboard the last two. Lene was a whirling dervish of cleaning and cooking some delicious food including the one pot meal for our next two dinners, underway. We did have coffee and I had pizza and ice cream for lunch on our last day here. I usually eat with a more nutritious viewpoint. Not everything is expensive on Nantucket. Two people told Lene to check out the Hospital Thrift Shop on India Street for a pot she wanted, to replace the thin light compact one which scorched her rice. We found an excellent one there and she bought me a huge padded flannel over shirt, both for $14!
We thought about bike riding, which we have done in the past, but threatening weather plus Lene's lack of confidence in here diminished vision, had us opt for historical sightseeing instead. Having read Nathaniel Philbrick's "Away Off Shore", I knew a lot more about the history of this place than the average tourist, which enhanced the experience.
The Atheneum, named after Athena, the Greek Goddess of wisdom, is what they call their public library. My own goddess, Ilene, is in front. Like New York City's library, which was created originally by the merger of the private libraries of Tilden, Astor and Lenox, The Atheneum, (the first building rebuilt after the great fire in the mid nineteenth century that burned most of the town of Nantucket) was created by the donations of several Quaker businessmen.
"The Three Bricks" is the nickname of three identical large red brick homes that successful whaler Joseph Starbuck built for his three sons. Across the street is "Hadwen House", built by a Starbuck relative, to be even grander, in the Greek Revival style. Lene, sitting on the front steps, shows the scale of the place. Due to the lack of an endowment, this grand home is not furnished in the opulent manner that it's original owners experienced.
A walking tour of historic sites, is operated by the Whaling Museum. It was well led by docent McNab.
The Hadwen House has just a few things to suggest its former glory. I would have expected this painting over the mantle to show a
whaling ship, but I think not: no tryworks (to boil the oil from the blubber) nor whaleboats at the ready. The icebergs to the left suggest Arctic or Antarctic waters, where the whalers went in their search for the commercially valuable sperm whale. But no recognizable national flag is shown and the name on the pennant atop the highest mast made no sense either. It seems a good painting, but just one that the foundation acquired to suggest the type of art that Mr. Hadwen would have had. Maybe this one is a clipper ship, sleek.
Here is our docent in front of the Quaker Meeting House, Rows of plain totally unadorned benches are inside without the slightest hint of ornamentation. Though made of wood, this church was spared in the great fire because it was far away enough from the wharfs, where the fire started.
I met a nice couple from Australia on the tour.
The Whaling Museum itself is the third that I have seen in the past two summers after the smaller one in Cold Spring Harbor and the larger one in New Bedford. The museum in Provincetown has much information about whaling but that industry is not its focus. Each museum is excellent in its own way. This one features a video on Nantucket, narrated by Ken Burns to which Philbrick contributed and a presentation of the details of the process of whaling that was Melvillian in its detail. It also detailed the process by which oil was "pressed" out of blubber by huge commercial presses (like olive oil is pressed) and how candles were made.
Nantucket is different from most all of the other New England villages we have visited. They have signage on all the old houses to the effect built by (name of first owner) in (year) and the builder's profession. Not in Nantucket.
The next two days we will be underway, bound for Nova Scotia, putting more miles under our keel than in all of the prior passages of this cruise combined.
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