Historic Nantucket, Summer 1990, Vol. 38 No. 2

SUMMER 1990

V O L UME 38

No. 2

New Life in the Oldest House

From The Director

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Helen Winslow Chase, Editor Diane Ucci, Associate Editor Bruce A. Courson, Curator of Interpretation Photos: NHA collections unless otherwise credited

Piecing it back together Research, expertise, technology and dedication give the Oldest House new life.

By Mark Fortenberry and Diane Ucci

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t is hard not to feel proud of the Jethro Coffin House these days, but my balloon deflated when someone asked me recently, "What have you done on Sunset Hi!P It doesn't look like the Oldest House any more?"

This person was reacting to the new shingles, but thirty-five years ago, the Oldest House looked exactly the same. Even without lightning damage, we would have had to replace them by now. The illusion of age will return.

There's a deeper significance to the person's ques­ tion, however, that many people do not understand. The structure does not look like the Oldest House; as much as possible, it is the Oldest House. What has taken endless research, almost three years and nearly a million dollars is not a reconstruction. It is a restoration, and the difference is significant.

Think of what happens to a damaged art work. When a lunatic smashed Michelangelo's Pieta, the Vatican did not replace it with a copy. Instead, curators vacuumed the area for every bit of marble dust. Then they reassembled the stricken masterpiece and replaced only what was irre­ trievably lost.

We have done the same thing on a larger scale. What you see on Sunset Hill today contains every molecule of structural "fabric" that modern technology could salvage.

What we pass along to future Nantucketers is not a Disneyland representation of our most cherished building. No mir­ rors, no tricks - just the real thing, the genuine article.

Frankly, we're proud as punch.

-W 1111 Lee y

"It was bedlam... " A personal reflection on that stormy day in October 1987.

By H. Flint Ranney

New Interpretation of the Oldest House

Once again open to the public, the house tells its story to visitors in a different

way.

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By Bruce Courson

Departments What's News at the NHA We couldn't do it without you ...

Events of interest Browsing at the Museum Shop 18

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THE NANTUCKET HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION BOARD OF TRUSTEES H. Flint Ranney, President Robert Mooney, Vice President Mrs. Carl Mueller, Vice President Mrs. Walker Groetzinger, Secretary Max N. Berry. Treasurer Wynn Lee, Executive Director Mrs. C. Marshall Beale Mrs. Dwight Beman Mrs. Richard Brecker Charles C. Butt Kimberly Corkran-Miller John W. Eckman Nancy Martin Evans Mrs. H. Crowell Freeman Erwin L. Greenberg Mrs. Hamilton Heard, Jr.

Mrs. Arthur Jacobsen Reginald E. Levine Mrs. Earle MacAusland Mrs. William B. Macomber Joseph Mclaughlin Philip C. Murray David M. Ogden Richard S. Silvia Susan Spring Whistler Mrs. Jane D. Woodruff

ADVISORY BOARD Mrs. Robert Bailey Mrs. Thomas Loring Mrs. Charles Balas William B. Macomber Mrs. Donna Beasley Paul H. Madden Patricia A. Butler Mrs. William Pullman Mrs. James F. Chase F. Blair Reeves Mrs. Herbert Guuerson Susan Tate William A. Hance Donald E. Terry Mrs. Robert Hellman Mrs. Mark White Mrs. John Husted John S. Winter Andrew J. Leddy Mrs. Joseph C. Woodle EDITORIAL BOARD Mrs. Dwight Beman Robert F. Mooney H. Flint Ranney

Susan &egel Tiffney Mrs. Jane D. Woodruff Mrs. Bracebridge H. Young

WHAT'S NEWS AT THE NHA

Flint Ranney, NHA President; John Welch, Janner NHA Administrator; Mar/1 Fortenberry, NHA Curator of Structures; Victoria Hawkins, Janner NHA Curator of Collections; Ryan Patterson, youngest donor; Bruce Watts, Nantucket Fire Chief; Helen Winslow Chase, NHA Historian and direct descendant of the Coffin and Gardner families; and).

Jad1son Walter, President of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, cut the ribbon at the Ole/est House opening.

THE OLDEST HOUSE REOPENED! JUNE 23, 1990 SPRING TRAINING

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ach spring, about thirty-five island residents on the NHA staff and sev­ eral new staff members become students again as they participate in the Associa­ tion's pre-season training program.

To give our summer staff, both veterans and those new to Nantucket, an over­ view of their jobs and our historic sites, we conduct three intensive days of "docent e d ucation."

Training provides our staff the in­ formation and skills necessary to com­ municate Nantucket's history to summer visitors.

Interpreters must make the museum experience "come ali ve" for v1s1tors: they employ all the skills of an entertainer, an educator and sometimes a policeman, so a portion of our indoc­ t ri nation necessarily deals with rules, regulations and safety.

In the three short days of our train­ ing program, interpreters come away with background information on each prop­ erty and the major themes of Nantucket's past, including Native Americans, Quak-

ers, whaling and "summering." This basis helps them develop a broader view of each site in the larger context of Nan­ tucket's rich and varied history.

Naturally, all this hard work does not go unrewarded: the week concludes with a celebratory cookout to start the NHA's season off with a bang!

Summe r 1990 staff ar_e actively involved in fire safety training.

Photo: Rick Morcom

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Research, expertise, technology and dedication give the Oldest House new life.

Piecing It Back Together

By Mark Fortenberry and Diane Ucci

A

fter lightning struck the Jethro Coffin House, the extent of the damage seemed almost overwhelming.

Once the house was stabilized and its contents re­ moved, many people pondered the build­ ing's future. There were those who felt it was unfortunate that the house had not been completely destroyed so it could be recon­ structed from the ground up! Among histo­ rians and preservation technologists, how­ ever, restoration and architectural conserva­ tion were the prevailing attitudes.

Going about that restoration would be a complicated matter. Victoria Hawkins, then Curator of Collections, was knowledgeable about the Oldest House because she had initiated the research studies done in prepa­ ration for its tercentennial celebration in

1986. It was she who was made respon­ sible for convening from the community a group of concerned individuals with vari­ ous kinds of expertise. Included in the "Oldest House Think Tank" were: Pat Butler, Administrator of the Historic Dis­ trict Commission; Helen Chase, local historian; Mark Fortenberry, restoration carpenter (and now the NHA Curator of Structures); Martha Groetzinger, then Chairperson, NHA House Committee; Nathan McMullen and Lyman Perry, archi­ tects; and Katherine Walker, then the NHA's Assistant Curator of Collections. As they wrestled with differing restoration phi­ losophies and approaches to site-specific problems of the Oldest House, the Think Tank also consulted nationally recognized

specialists - among them, Abbott Lowell Cummings, an expert in seventeenth-cen­ tury construction and author of The Framed Houses of Massachusetts Bay, 1625-1725; F. Blair Reeves, then Director of the Preserva­ tion Institute: Nantucket and Professor of Architecture at the University of Florida; William Murtaugh, former keeper of the National Register of Historic Places; and Nicholas Pappas, architect for Colonial Williamsburg.

After on-site visits these individuals stressed that, in addition to its importance locally, restoration of the Old­ est House offered an excellent vehicle for telling the full story of preservation to a national audience.

With this additional motivation, the NHA embarked on restor­ ing the historical fabric of this national landmark and island treasure.

One thing was clear from the start: the cost of this restoration project would undoubtedly be high.

Fortunately, John Welch, then NHA Administrator, had reevalu­ ated the insurance on all the properties when he joined the staff. His prudence meant that the appropriate coverage was in place against this disaster. The carrier, New Hampshire Insurance Company, dis­ patched Kris Larsen to do an extensive on­ site investigation of the damage. The com­ bined efforts of Larsen and John Welch set the funding mechanism in motion.

The Massachusetts Historical Commission sub­ sequently provided a $50,000 matching grant. Victoria Hawkins persuaded Nan-

Men on the job/1927:28 restoration. Left to right: Fletcher Ross; Arthur Williams, mason; William King; Archibald Cartwright, carpenter and _ builder; and (unidentified), are standrng before the west end of the south wall. Nole the replacement studs behind them salvaged from the Paddack House and marked Paddock.

Photo: SPNEA collection

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tucket's Board of Selectmen to designate August 8-14, 1988, as Oldest House Week, during which many individuals and groups organized fund-raising events on behalf of the stricken building.

As people gathered the wherewithal to restore the Oldest House, the Think Tank and others refined the philosophy which would direct the operation. Highest priority went to maintaining the Oldest House's historical integrity. It was critical to retain as much original material as pos­ sible while stabilizing the building and guaranteeing its safety for the visiting public.

These goals required discussion of many alternatives at each phase of this almost three-year process. Repair of badly dam­ aged timbers was among the first decisions that had to be made, and two very different approaches presented themselves immedi­ a tely.

Jack Sobon, historic architect from Adams, MA, and coauthor of Timber Frame Construction, recommended removal of the damaged structural members and installa­ tion of new beams. Pursuing this line of thought, Think Tank members spoke to a group in England that proposed a means of exactly reproducing the original, damaged beams with new materials. This method proved complicated and expensive.

Conor Power, President of Structural Technology, Inc., represented the other viewpoint. Having accomplished the ini­ tial bracing of the nearly collapsing struc-

ture, he introduced the concept of a steel framework to avoid replacing the damaged timbers. While Victoria Hawkins and other members of the Think Tank found the concept of the steel cage acceptable, they felt the visibility of the support columns it required would interfere with future interpretation of the house as a period piece. Moreover, in 1986, Morgan W. Phillips, architectural conservator for the Society for the Preser­ vation of New England Antiquities (SPNEA), had done elevation drawings for a struc­ tural survey of the Oldest House. Victoria and Mark Fortenberry color-coded them by age of wood and ascertained that more than sixty percent of what survived was origi­ nal, three-hundred-year-old timber.

This discovery reinforced the decision not to disturb this material and to pursue some other method.

A key decision in the restoration was the choice of professional oversight for the work. The NHA selected John Milner Asso­ ciates, historical architects from Chadds Ford, PA, on the basis of their expertise and sensitivity to the organization's concerns about minimum disruption of the house's historic fabric. Responding to the problem of intrusive steel columns, John Milner consulted structural engineer Gary Gredell, Gredell and Paul, Inc., who designed a system that eliminated them and still al­ lowed the timber framework to be used.

Over the next several months, Milner's firm assembled plans and specifications

necessary for the restoration.

Christina Henry, one of Milner's associates, was the architect who maintained the project's specifications. Once the plans and specs were in place, the NHA hired Kris Larsen as general contractor. In addition to the usual qualifications, Larsen, who was now in private practice, had an intimate familiar­ ity with the site from his insurance investi­ gation.

A long list of specs subsequently went out to bid: they ranged from the project sign and photo-documentation to required archeological work, wood and plaster con­ solidation and the chimney restoration. Al­ though the bidding process was "blind," it happily brought the NI-IA to select local contractors, Perkins/Lafrance, Inc., for all carpentry and the installation of the steel overlay system on the roof.

They also performed the structural epoxy consolidation which was of para­ mount importance to the Oldest House res­ toration. Morgan W. Phillips of SPNEA had done extensive research on this method and recommended the epoxy consolidation technique as the least intrusive and most historically acceptable.

It was an espe­ cially desirable option because it could be used while the existing members were in place. Perkins/Lafrance injected epoxy to make the timbers sound and inserted fiber­ glass rods only when additional strength was needed. While this process was under­ way, SPNEA performed precipitation con-

Men on the job/1988-90 restoration. Left to right: Robert Kusler; Jeffrey Ross; Alan H. Perkins; Michael Girvin; Allan La France; Frank Pecararo; Daniel Rosenthal; Mark Fortenberry; missing, Will Wilson and David Yacus.

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solidation, treating in their lab in Waltham, MA, those original timbers that were easily removed. The technique arrests surface powdering and other forms of disintegra­ tion and is as intricate as some surgical procedures. Wrapped in a silicone rubber blanket, the timber is immersed in a chemi­ cal solution and exposed to various tem­ peratures. This invisible means of consoli­ dation leaves the beams with no darkening or glossy effects, and when returned to their original position, they look undis­ turbed.

Wood epoxy reinforcement (WER) strengthened other weakened timbers as well. Workers had to remove floorboards, for example, to reach the tops of some of the beams so they reinforced them at the same time. Slotting the backs, they in­ serted steel plates embedded in epoxy be­ fore replacing the boards. The flooring no longer vibrates when visitors walk over it.

The erection of the steel frame worked in harmony with these consolidation tech­ When the structural engineers, niques.

Gredell and Paul, Inc., surveyed the site, they indicated that the roof might not sur­ vive the repairs that were necessary for other parts of the structure. An invisible steel cage would remove stress from the timber frame and simultaneously provide a space for insulation, a vapor barrier and air movement to keep the house cool in

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(Above) The steel overlay is installed on the roof's south face.

(Below) Steve Striebel works on the lean-to flue where it connects into the main chimney mass.

warmer temperatures.

The NHA discovered another envi­ ronmental issue, unrelated to lightning damage, during the course of the restora­ tion -- improper site drainage and moisture penetration into the Oldest House's foun-

dation. In view of the long-term benefits it would provide, the budget expanded to include an improved drainage system as part of the project. Because this improve­ ment would disrupt the earth surrounding the house, however, the Massachusetts Historical Commission now required an arche­ ological survey of the property. The Office of Public Archaeology at Boston University was the successful bidder; and although Ricardo J. Elia, their Principal Investigator, and Sara F. Mascia, the Project Archeolo­ gist, uncovered interesting material, they saw no reason to oppose the drainage sys­ tem on archeological grounds. Betty Little, the NHA's Archeology Committee Chair­ person, reviewed all the survey reports and concurred in their judgment.

As restoration work progressed, craftspeople encountered problems normally unknown in regular house construction.

Shaped by the elements over time, the roof had, for example, developed its own topog­ raphy. In creating the new steel frame­ work, Perkins/Lafrance had to replicate these peaks and valleys, maintaining the slopes of the original roof. The crew first stripped the shingles off the roofboards and ran string lines both horizontally and vertically above each rafter location. They pulled the strings taut and then measured from string to roofboards. Using this information to conform the new roof even more closely to

the old, Perkins/Lafrance ordered steel I­ beams that had to be bent to specification.

Where strength was not as critical, such as in the lean-to section of the building, fiber­ glass beams replaced the steel.

Perhaps the most visible element in the project was the horseshoe chimney, shattered by the lightning blast.

Steve Striebel, the mason whom SPNEA had rec­ ommended to do the emergency stabiliza­ tion of the chimney, was the successful bidder on the repairs. In rebuilding the stack, he was able to salvage some four hundred bricks found after the strike. For the remaining brickwork, the Morin Brick Company in Maine made new bricks by the same method used to make the originals.

Interior plastering presented another challenge to the restorationists.

Research produced an original seventeenth-century recipe for plaster, composed of lime, horse­ hair, cement and sand. Available horsehair proved a difficult ingredient to locate be­ cause pig's hair is more often used today.

The new mixture eventually contained all the original ingredients plus a bonding agent to stabilize the solution. Tom DeCosta, a plasterer from Marion, MA, performed the new plastering with historically appro­ priate techniques. Andrew Ladygo stabi­ lized the plaster that survived the lightning strike by using SPNEA's acrylic adhesive process.

As part of his investigation in 1987, Morgan Phillips of SPNEA had done an interior paint color investigation and found decorative graining on the underside of the In one of the last joists in the parlor. touches to the restoration, Julie Rabin of Warwick, MA, duplicated this graining.

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Andrew Ladygo Jrom SPNEA stabilizes the existing plaster.

Phillips's greatest contribution to the work, however, was surely his legacy of architec­ tural drawings. They recorded in fine de­ tail the many particulars that were espe­ cially important to the interior phase of the project.

Although the 192 7 restoration effort did not benefit from such extensive docu­ mentation, neither did it have to deal with the devastation left by the lightning strike.

Nor was that yearlong project as extensive as the present one. It repaired the chimney, rebuilt the lean-to and constructed a new foundation under the walls of the entire house. The work was not without its con­ troversy, though. Casement windows, for example, replaced the old double-hung sash

Julie Rabin applies decorative graining in the west parlor.

windows, and their diamond-shaped panes caused talk among Nantucketers of the time.

At the completion of the 1927-28 restoration, Mr. William F. Macy, NHA President, addressed some of the contro­ versy and criticism at the rededication ceremony: "And now the job is done, what do we think of it? We expected criticism, and we have had it - plenty of it." He continued, But who are we to criticize those who have made a life study of the subject? All that can be done is to study the few surviving examples of the period and such illustrations, plans and descriptions as are available, and leave the matter to experts who have made such researches their life work.

Such experts, fortunately, we have had, and we are safe in assuming that the restoration is as nearly correct as it is humanly possible to make it.

We have done as much in the 19881990 restoration.

Having consulted the wisdom of experts in the field, we listened, learned and proceeded with a well-planned course of action. The Oldest House retains its place in the ranks of our nation's land­ marks with as much of its historical integ­ rity intact as "humanly possible." We have made any changes only to update its evolv­ ing story for future visitors. One such al­ teration occurred for obvious reasons: Boston Lightning Rod has connected the entire steel framework of the building to a light­ ning protection system that equals that of any New York City skyscraper.

Mark Fortenberry is the NHA's Curator of Structures, and the staff member who became respon­ sible for overseeing and documenting the restoration project. Diane Ucci is the Associate Editor of His­

toric Nantucket.

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OLDEST HOUSE

1881

1928

. H. Flint Ranney, President of the NHA, has a "modest summer cottage" on Cliff Road that is not far from the Oldest House. He arrived on Sunset Hill shortly after lightning struck on October 1, 1987.

II

" It was bedlam. • • Text and photos by H. Flint Ranney

The Fire Department extends a ladder toward the opening as the roof is covered with a tarpaulin.

I

t was just after 5:00 p.m. when I got home from the office in a heavy thun­ derstorm. I had been in the house for only a couple of minutes when there was a very loud crack - almost a snapping sound and an immediate, blinding flash of light­ ning. I knew that something nearby had been struck and began walking around the house to see if it was us - either the house, or the flagpole, or a tree out front. Before I could finish, the telephone rang, and Merle Orleans ordered me in an excited voice to go up to the Oldest House because it had been struck and was burning.

My son Will and I jumped in the car and drove over to Sunset Hill. We went up the hill the wrong way off West Chester Street and parked in a woman's driveway.

She was looking distraught because the gutter and downspout of her house were hanging at an odd angle, and there were tree branches on the ground. For a moment, I thought that this was where the lightning had hit.

We ran out of the car and up the cobble­ stones in the pouring rain toward the Old­ est House. I had my camera inside my raincoat to keep it dry.

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The scene before us was bedlam. The horseshoe chimney was completely gone, and the southeast section of roof had been blown loose. One end was touching the ground, and the second floor was open to the rain. Several firemen were inside look­ ing out through the opening. The fire de-

partment had been there for a few minutes and had extended a ladder toward the house from one of the trucks. There was no fire, but the house was obviously in distress.

The gable ends had separated, and the windows were blown out.

The Fire Department s pent at least three hours shoring up timbers and cover­ ing the open roof with a tarpaulin. There is no question in my mind that their work saved the house from total disaster.

The next day, Bill Fantom, the Asso­ ciation's maintenance director, was able to begin stabilizing the structure. The day dawned bright and sunny, and I helped pick up bricks and pieces of brick from the shattered chimney. We stored these in the shed behind the house where they were sorted according to the side of the building they fell on, north or south. l also helpe d Victoria Hawkins (Curator of Collections) and Bruce Courson (Curator of Interpreta­ tion) remove furnishings from the house and load them for transporting to storage in the Peter Foulger Museum. As we worked, we had plenty of time to consider the sad state of one of Nantucket's favorite land­ marks and to wonder about its future.

Fire Chief Bruce Watts directs operations inside the house.

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WE COULDN'T DO IT WITHOUT YOU ... arbuck Portrait atcd

othing connects today's island com­ munity more effectively to the leg­ acy of its past than a well-chosen object. A striking portrait, for example, can quickly bring to life a particular aspect of Nan­ tucket's heritage, and such a work is the likeness of well-known Nantucket resident, George Starbuck, graciously donated to the Association by his great, great granddaugh­ ter, Shirley Starbuck, of West Palm Beach, Florida.

Calmly seated on a couch, Starbuck scarcely seems a successful businessman and owner of three ships - the Hero, the Three Brothers and the Norman. After work­ ing with their father, Joseph, George and his younger brother, Matthew, formed a

Portrait of George Starbuck by James Hathaway whale oil and candle manufacturing com­ pany. Starbuck proved quite adept, and in 1852 Names and Sketches of the Richest Men of Massachusetts notes that he "[b]egan with small means," and was "[v]ery enterpris­ ing." The publication estimates his wealth at $60,000; and although this was less than the $100,000 net worth of his neighbor, William Hadwen, he was a man of substan­ tial resources by mid-nineteenth century standards.

Starbuck's portraitist, James Hatha­ way, also painted many other famous Nan­ tucketers - among them, George's brother

1

and their father.

Hathaway worked on Nantucket primarily during the 1840s and was known for his ability to capture facial details with great skill, especially his sub­ ject's eyes.

George Starbuck's home, the "West Brick," where the portrait originally hung, is one of three late-Federal houses which stand side-by-side at the upper, or "court," end of Main Street. Built in the years 18361839, these brick mansions, as they were called then, attest to father Joseph Star­ buck's desire to provide exemplary, and identical, houses for each of his three sons.

They stand today, like George Starbuck's portrait, as a testament to Nantucket's pros­ perous whaling era.

I..ocal History reserved he collected papers of Nantucket or­ ganizations reveal much of our his­ tory: their minutes record local events; mem­ bership lists identify individuals' activi­ ties; and involvement in national projects indicates Nantucket's influence elsewhere.

Such records recently placed in the Re­ search Center include those of the Nan­ tucket Garden Club, Methodist Episcopal Church, Abiah Folger Franklin Chapter of the D.A.R., Miacomet Raceway Association and the First Congregational Church. We are grateful to all who have entrusted the NHA with their papers and hope their ex­ ample will encourage others to deposit institutional records with our Research Center where they can be carefully preserved and still made available for scholarly research.

Ihank you to ldest House olunteers nlike Humpty Dumpty, the Oldest House is back together again, and now is the time to share the credit among all those who made its extraordinary reha­ bilitation possible. As we compiled the in­ vitation list for the official reopening on June 23, we realized once again how many individuals and businesses had volunteered their time, materials, money and labor in support of those directly responsible for the restoration.

Immediately following the lightning strike on October 1, 1987, the community rallied with our staff in the wind and pour­ ing rain to protect the house from further storm damage and to pick up the rubble.

With the help of island carpenters, the Fire Department had the roof and damaged exterior walls covered with tarps in record time. If they had not been at the house almost immediately and worked quickly to sup­ port the second floor beams, the roof would have given way completely; and there would not have been enough of the house left standing to restore. Marine Lumber and Is­ land Lumber stayed open late to provide necessary materials, and by that evening the house was weatherproofed and braced.

Once the house was shored up, vol­ unteers and staff ventured inside to assess the situation. Although most of the con­ tents of the house escaped damage, they had to be moved to a storage facility. Sun Island Delivery stood by with containers to

receive furniture and other artifacts and transport them to a secure area. In the following weeks, volunteers spent hours tagging and cataloging reusable materials, and Bill Fantom and John Gilbert battened down the house so it would survive the Nantucket winter.

Offers of help continued to pour in from concerned individuals and groups, and many people were already planning ways to raise money for the restoration.

Ryan Paterson, who was then eight years old, turned over his lawn-mowing money; the Nantucket Island Chamber of Com­ merce gave everyone who contributed more than $50.00 a poster of a Thomas E. Irving photograph of the Oldest House; Carolyn Walsh of Sailor's Valentine Gallery pro­ duced postcards from Lowell Herrera's painting of the Oldest House, and they donated profits from the sales of the cards; and the Campfire Girls not only helped to clean up, but collected contributions for the Oldest House Fund. Even the Elemen­ tary School raised funds by organizing a read-a-th on.

We cannot begin to list every name, and, in truth, words would not adequately convey our heartfelt gratitude to everyone who gave unstintingly to restore the Oldest House. All the King's horses and all the King's men couldn't put Humpty together again, but with the Nantucket community on his side, he might have had a different fate!

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Once again open to the public, the house tells its story to visitors in a different way.

New Interpretation of the Oldest House 0

By Bruce Courson

n cold January days earlier this year, NHA staff members were trudging through the snow at Old Stur­ bridge Village and Historic Deerfield in search of ideas that would help present the Oldest House effectively when it reopened to the public in June. All agreed that the interpretation of the site had to match the quality of its physical restoration.

At OSV I found the interpretive phi­ losophy largely unchanged since 1971 when

I was a staff interpreter: it is a careful blend of education and entertainment.

An ex­ ample which impressed us all was the Towne House kitchen. As we entered, the inter­ preter invited us to warm ourselves on benches in front of the fire, something we were all anxious to do. There was no lec­ ture: she chatted informally, yet informa­ tively, as she prepared cheese toast and poured cider for each of us. Reaching into the fire for a poker, she handed it to Peter

Jane Jones brings the west parlor to life as she demonstrates weaving to a group of visitors.

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MacGlashan, our audiovisual librarian, with instructions lo dip it in the cups. A sizzling sound accompanied the cloud of steam from the "mulled" cider in each mug, and the odor of caramelized sugar filled the air.

While we sipped our hot drinks, the inter­ preter answered our questions and told us more about the kitchen and the people who had used it. Today, none of us remembers the dates of the pewter vessels in the room; but we will never forget that 1830 kitchen because we not only saw it, we experienced i l.

We left Old Sturbridge Village with the conviction that some of their interpre­ tive techniques would work well al NHA properties.

But Sturbridge is not Nan­ tucket. It is an artificial museum village, currently interpreted to a specific date, 1830. Nantucket is a real town with re­ corded history that began in 1659 when the English settled here to raise sheep and farm the land. Within a hundred years the is­ land's economy had shifted to whaling, and a century after that, Nantucket was a lead­ ing summer resort. The NHA is fortunate to own historic structures which represent each of these periods, but several, such as the Oldest House, cover hundreds of years.

Interpreting large spans of time in a single building without confusing the public is a challenge.

Elizabeth Codding, Assistant Cura­ tor of Collections al the NHA, had seen a possible response at the Wells-Thorne House in Historic Deerfield. The town of Deer­ field resembles Nantucket in that its his-

(Left) The earliest known interpretation of the Oldest House, 1875, may have been arranged by the Turner family. Their efforts were meant to coincide with the United States Centennial.

(Above) The same room as it appeared in the 1950s. The fireplace has been reopened and the wallpaper removed, probably during the 1927 restoration. The seated "dummy" in the left-hand photograph has been replaced by several well-informed staff members for the 1990 reopening.

tory spans many historical periods, and Historic Deerfield does not attempt to fo­ cus its interpretation on a particular date.

At the Wells-Thorne House the visitor enters through a 1725 kitchen. Moving through successive rooms, one progresses through history and exits the house from an 1850 bedroom. Skeptical at first, our staff found the approach a pleasing and effective ve­ hicle for portraying Deerfield's social his­ tory.

Could Historic Deerfield's techniques translate to the Oldest House' To some extent.

But with what date should. our interpretation end? The last family to live in the Sunset Hill dwelling moved out in 1867 but continued to use it as a hay barn for their cow.

We balked at filling the second floor with straw! After consulting the Oldest House Think Tank and the NHA Interpretation Committee, on whom we rely for frank assessments of our proposals, the

staff decided to interpret the Oldest House through the lives and occupations of only its first two families - the Coffins, who built the house and farmed the land around it, and the Paddacks who bought the dwell­ ing in 1708.

The latter family offers a happy means to depict Nantucket's evolv­ ing economy in the eighteenth century because Nathaniel Paddack was a registered weaver but died a mariner in 1756. Furthermore, such an interpretive plan meant the 1800 House and the Hadwen House could con­ tinue our presentation of the island's social history through the whaling era, and would

(Left) The east room as it appeared in 1960.

Although the furnishings are not of a similar period, it is an interesting arrangement. A limited number of seventeenth-century artifacts remains a problem in 1990.

(Below) The same room in 1953. Today it features a working fireplace and dampers or caps on all of the flues. Previously, with the chimney uncovered and poor drainage around the dwelling's exterior, the excessive dampness limited the exhibition of some collections.

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The Jethro Coffin House is shown with its outbuildings, ca. 1865, when it was owned by George Turner, a cooper. He removed the front entrance "porch" and used it as the chicken coop/coal shed at extreme right. finish with "summering" at Greater Light.

For at least the next few seasons, however, Nantucket's social history will share the spotlight with the extraordinary history of the building itself. First used as a museum in 1886 and acquired by the NHA in 1923, the Jethro Coffin House has undergone two extensive restorations, each of which uncovered new information about this increasingly rare seventeenth-century structure. Moreover, thanks to the NHA stafPs careful photographic documentation, we can offer fascinating insight into the state-of-the-art preservation techniques em­ On a ployed after the lightning strike. small panel in each room, we will describe the structural history of the space and show the damage incurred there as well as the so­ lutions applied to restore it. On the second floor, a more extensive exhibit will tie together the two principal restorations, the 1987 catastrophe and the house's architectural history. With the wealth of information at hand, it was an easy exhibit to prepare.

We will develop our long-range in­ terpretive plans for the house during the next few years, and the staff face some im­ portant choices. Furnishing the house, for example, is not going to be easy. Although no inventories of Coffin or Paddack fur-

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nishings survive, Elizabeth Codding found those of other families which give us an accurate account of household articles used on Nantucket from 1705 to 1725. In one parlor we have installed an eighteenth-century loom and a small bed, typical of how the Paddacks and their nine children used the This sparse arrangement concen­ room. trates household articles into the other parlor and lean-to kitchen where we tell the story of the Coffins and their eight children. Our inventory of late-seventeenth century fur­ nishings is only enough for a beginning, and completely furnishing the house will take time and money; but new additions such as a working fireplace, an operating loom and an extra interpreter on site will combine with new interpretive techniques to make the Jethro Coffin House an excit­ ing experience for visitors.

Should the story end here? With a well-restored house and expanded staff, what could be missing? For one thing, a garden for food, then pens for animals, out­ buildings to store corn, grain and hay the list goes on. Life in the seventeenth century depended not only on the shelter inside the house, but on what was pro­ duced around the house as well. The re­ cently uncovered cellar, now visible, would

have been filled with root vegetables from the Coffin house garden. There may have been a smokehouse for preserving meats, and a pig pen to keep it supplied. Caul­ drons for washing were probably in place beside the house, and a well-worn path from the well to the kitchen would have been evident. Features such as these were as common to seventeenth-century houses as a car parked in the driveway of a home Through archeological and docu­ today. mentary research we hope to expand on our interpretation of the site in the future, giving our members and visitors a better under­ standing of what life was like for those first inhabitants of the Oldest House.

For the rest of the summer we will observe visitors as they tour the house and will incorporate their comments and sug­ gestions to make further improvements.

We hope our members will also help us.

When you visit the house this summer, please note what you enjoy, what you do not like and your ideas for the future. The NHA staff is working hard to make all our historical sites enjoyable as well as educa­ tional. We value your observations.

Bruce Courson is the NHA Curator of Interpretation.

NHA collections in the Quaker Meetinghouse 1896-1904. Storage was a problem then, as it is now.

AUGUST ANTIQUES SHOW

T

his year we are hosting our Thirteenth Annual August Antiques Show. We hope to build on the success of last year's show, which generated $37,000 for the expansion of our Research Center on Board Street and the en­ hancement of environmental controls for our bibliographic, manuscript and audiovisual col­ lections.

Our l 990show will benefit a similar proj­ ect - the creation of a Museum Support Center for the storage, conservation and restoration of our vulnerable object collections. At present we do not have these facilities.

Almost by definition, a "Museum Support Center" is unglamorous: it is a purely functional, behind-the-scenes resource for our extensive and valuable collections. It will provide a physically and climatically secure environment for our most precious assets and give us the proper space to perform routine conservation and prepare ob­ jects for exhibition.

The 1990 Antiques Show begins with a lecture series, Monday, August 6, through Fri­ day, August 10, 4:00-5:30 p.m. each day at the Unitarian Church Vestry on Orange Street. Barry Greenlaw, former curator of Houston's Bayou Bend collection, returns to Nantucket for a series of talks entitled "The Room Outdoors." His topic covers the development of the landscape garden from the seventeenth to the mid-nineteenth century.

Tickets will be on sale in advance or at the door for $10.00 each day.

On Friday, August 10, the preview party kicks off the weekend show from 5:30 to 8:00 p.m. at the Elementary School Gym. This eve­ ning is a wonderful opportunity to view the exciting and diverse collections more than forty participating dealers bring to Nantucket. It is your chance to buy that piece you have been searching for before the show opens to the public on Saturday. You may purchase tickets in ad­ vance or at the door for $40.00 per person.

ANNUAL MEETING FEATURES NOBSKA PRESENTATION

B

usiness is business, even if you are a non­ profit corporation, and the State of Massa­ chusetts requires us each year to hold a business meeting. We at the NHA have always tried to

General admission to the show is Satur­ day, August 11, and Sunday, August 12, from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the Elementary School Gym. Tickets will be on sale there for $5.00 per person. We will be sending invitations to all of our members in June, so keep an eye out for yours; and reserve your tickets for this important summer event well ahead of time. For additional information contact Jo Sullivan at the NHA Development Office, (508)-228-1894.

NEW THIS YEAR!! Representatives from Skinner, Inc., antique appraisers and auction­ eers from Bolton, MA, will be at the show 12:004:00 p.m., Saturday, and 11:00-3:00 p.m., Sunday, to appraise your personal antiques. Don't forget to bring along that old vase you found in the attic: it might be more valuable than you imagine! The cost will be $5.00 for one item and $10.00 for three, and all proceeds go to the Nantucket Historical Association.

sweeten the pill of treasurer's reports and trustee elections with something of greater interest to our members.

This year's meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, July 17, 1990, at 4:00 p.m. in the Quaker Meeting­ house. At the close of the annual business ritual, representatives from the Friends of NdJska will offer The Grand New England Li1dy, a slide presentation on the much-loved steamship.

The Nobska was built by the Bath Ironworks, Bath, ME, and launched on March 25, 1925. It

served on various routes from the islands to the mainland until June 26, 1975, when the Steamship Authority sold it for use as a floating restaurant in Baltimore harbor. Since that time, the restaurant is no longer afloat, and efforts of the Friends of NdJska have reclaimed the ship. It is presently being rebuilt in Fall River. Cynthia Chase, director of volunteers for the Friends of Nobska, will lead a discussion of the group's plans for the steamship, which was named to the National Register of Historic Places in May 1974.

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BROWSING AT THE MUSEUM SHOP The Museum Shop welcomes you to another summer season on Nantucket. Featured below is a selection of Chippendale-style garden fur­ niture, made of solid teak and mahogany and unique to our shop.

The preservation of our environment is a concern the NHA shares with many others. All of the mahogany and teak used in our furniture is har­ vested from carefully controlled plantations.

Dutch colonists established these commercial tree farms in Indonesia in the mid-nineteenth century, and the government now allows the felling of only limited numbers of trees each year. This restric­ tion insures that an equal amount of reforestation takes place.

Stop by the Museum Shop and visit our adjoining garden where the furniture is displayed.

The Museum Shop Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Reproductions and Adaptations Featuring Fine China, Furniture, Brass and Silver Adjacent to the Whaling Museum, Nantucket

(508)-228-5785

Members of the Historical Association are entitled to a 10% discount upon presenting their membership card.