Historic Hantucket Spring 2015

SPRING / SUMMER 2015 | VOLUME 65, NO. 1

Nantucket H I S TO R I C

A PUBLICATION OF THE NANTUCKET HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION

BIG IDEAS ON A LIT TLE ISLAND

PETER EWER

CYRUS PEIRCE

LILLIAN GILBRETH

BILL KLEIN

SPRING / SUMMER 2015

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SPRING/SUMMER 2015 | VOLUME 65, NO. 1

Board of Trustees Janet L. Sherlund PRESIDENT

Kenneth L. Beaugrand VICE PRESIDENT

Kennedy P. Richardson VICE PRESIDENT

William J. Boardman TREASURER

Mary D. Malavase CLERK

collection of robert hellman

Receipt for two and a half shares in the Nantucket Marine Camel Co.

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Maureen F. Bousa Anne Marie Bratton William R. Camp Jr. FRIENDS OF THE NHA REPRESENTATIVE

Calvin R. Carver Jr. Olivia Charney Constance Cigarran Wylie Collins Michael Cozort

inside the nha

Ana Ericksen

An Island of Ideas

Whitney A. Gifford

by william j . tramposch

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Josette Blackmore

Peter Hoey Carl Jelleme

not a quadruped

The Nantucket Camels

William Little

by robert hellman

Victoria McManus Franci Neely

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live to the truth

Cyrus Peirce: A Radical Thinker Leaves Nantucket Legacy

Christopher C. Quick FRIENDS OF THE NHA PRESIDENT

L. Dennis Shapiro Maria Spears

by barbara white

Jason Tilroe Phoebe Tudor

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Finn Wentworth

an educated woman

Lillian Moller Gilbreth

Kelly Williams

by jane lancaster

Alisa Wood David D. Worth Jr.

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bill klein ’ s big idea

The Nantucket Islands Land Bank

Ex Officio

by kathrina marques

William J. Tramposch GOSNELL EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

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summer exhibitions

antiques and design show

and more

News Notes

Historic Nantucket Betsy Tyler EDITOR

Elizabeth Oldham HISTORIC NANTUCKET (ISSN 0439-2248) is published by the Nantucket Historical Association, 15 Broad Street, Nantucket, Massachusetts. Periodical postage paid at Nantucket, MA, and additional entry offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Historic Nantucket, P.O. Box 1016, Nantucket, MA 02554–1016; (508) 228–1894; fax: (508) 228–5618, info@nha.org. For information visit www.nha.org. ©2015 by the Nantucket Historical Association.

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HISTORIC NANTUCKET

COPY EDITOR

Eileen Powers/Javatime Design DESIGN AND ART DIRECTION

INSIDE THE NHA » from

the gosnell executive director

An Island of Ideas WE AT THE Nantucket Historical Association

seum that would house new and engaging ex-

are fortunate to be surrounded by ideas. During

hibitions and programs. Today, we are all about

the course of a day, there seem to be scores of

telling the inspiring stories of Nantucketers.

them swirling around. I think it is a characteris-

This issue of Historic Nantucket is about some

tic of a dynamic workplace, and I know that it is

big ideas that emerged from the creative heads

a by-product of museums.

of four island residents. Although a museum

Museums are places that encourage ideas.

seems to be an incubator for new ideas, an is-

They awaken curiosity by prompting us to imag-

land seems—too—to promote creative thinking.

ine other times and other people. The other

Is it the air, the perspective, the need we have to

evening, at one of our Fourth Grade sleepovers,

be inventive away off shore? As you read of four

an actor who played the role of Frederick Doug-

fellow Nantucketers, think about what it is about

lass spoke with our young guests about the idea

island life that stimulates such open thought.

and the terrible realities of slavery. Toward the

Cyrus Peirce (pronounced “purse,” by the

end of the session, one student simply couldn’t

way), was one of our country’s most enlightened

wait any longer to ask, “And what happened to

educational reformers; Peter Folger Ewer figured

you, Mr. Douglass?” After a pause, Douglass

out ways to lift our increasingly heavy-laden

said, “Me? Well I gained my freedom.” Elated,

whale ships over the sandbar. Then there is Bill

the child yanked his young elbow back enthu-

Klein, who thought up the idea of the Nantucket

siastically and exclaimed, “Yes!”

Land Bank. What a difference that idea has made

Museums are safe places for unconven-

to the identity of our “elbow of sand.” Finally,

tional thinking. Their galleries are removed

there is Lillian Gilbreth, whom many remember

just enough from the world’s push and pull to

as the mother in Frank Gilbreth’s Cheaper by the

afford us a regular diet of fresh new ideas. As I

Dozen. Well, brace yourselves: Lillian was also a

think about our museum today, our renowned

Doctor of Industrial Engineering who invent-

research library, and our array of iconic sites, I

ed what we now call time/motion studies. As if

believe that one of the best ideas of all was the

that isn’t enough, in between motherhood and

one our forebears had in 1894: to create an as-

mechanics, she was also an advisor on women’s

sociation that would keep the treasures and

issues to five U.S. Presidents!

the stories of our past on island. Another stunning idea was the one our trustees had about

Enjoy this issue of Historic Nantucket, and thank you for your support!

ten years ago when they decided that, after a hundred years of that first good idea, the island needed a new, expanded, state-of-the-art mu-

ON THE COVER: Digitally processed background image of Miacomet Beach by Eric Savetsky. See original image on page 25.

Four headshots from left: Portrait of Peter Folger Ewer (1800–55), attributed to William Swain, circa 1828, 1986.3.1; Sketch of

Cyrus Peirce (1790–1860), P14428; Lillian Gilbreth, Frank and Lillian Gilbreth Collection, courtesy of Purdue University Libraries; and Bill Klein, courtesy of Bill Klein.

SPRING / SUMMER 2015

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BY ROBERT HELLMAN

Steamer Telegraph and the Camels, drawing attributed to James Walter Folger, late nineteenth century P20780

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HISTORIC NANTUCKET

photograph: eileen powers

/

j a v at i m e d e s i g n

What were the Nantucket Camels?

Working model of the Camels built by Thurber & Crosby in 1840, on display in the Whaling Museum in 2015 (left) and in the Atheneum Museum, circa 1880

P3032

THEY WERE NOT one- or two-humped quadrupeds that

in length, and 15 feet in width. The westernmost of those

lumbered across the sands of our little island. They were

piers, which we now call the “West Jetty” was not started

watercraft that had the ability to take in large quantities of

until April of 1881, and the “East Jetty” was not complet-

seawater so that they could nestle under large sailing ships

ed until early in the twentieth century— about a hundred

and then pump that water back out to buoy up those ves-

years after they were first suggested and thirty years after

sels and enable them to be towed through extremely shal-

the cessation of whaling from the island. It is remarkable

low water so they could then sail on their way. The island’s

that Nantucket achieved the preeminence it did in whal-

maritime traffic has always had tremendous problems

ing, in spite of this natural impediment.

overcoming the sandbar that made harbor access and

Whaling vessels increased in size as voyages lasted lon-

egress extremely challenging. As early as 1803, the peo-

ger, and the problem was exacerbated. Departing whaling

ple of Nantucket appealed to the fledgling United States

ships were usually sailed over the bar unladen, then an-

Congress for help to solve the problem, and although a

chored to await their supplies brought out to them in re-

survey of the harbor and shoals was approved, no solu-

peated trips by small vessels called “lighters”—at a great

tion was offered or funded. The bar allowed a maximum of

increase in time and cost. Heavily laden returning vessels,

about nine feet of water at high tide, and the larger whal-

with hundreds of casks filled with crude sperm or whale oil

ing vessels drew more than that when loaded. In 1804, an

had to do the same. In addition to monetary losses, light-

article about the Nantucket harbor problem appeared in

ering presented dangers to life and limb. Numerous losses

the Washington, D.C., newspaper National Intelligencer.

occurred at the Bar, most notably the total loss of the near-

It stated, in effect, that dredging would probably not work

ly new whaleship Joseph Starbuck, in a storm at the Bar in

without the building of two “piers,” each some 8,500 feet

1842. As an alternative, many Nantucket whaling vessels SPRING / SUMMER 2015

5

Ewer would be considered a genius by modern standards—a man shrewd in business life, generous in association with his friends, and an advocate of applying one’s talents in a practical sense.

ject and decided to pursue it seriously. According to historian Edouard Stackpole, Ewer would be considered a genius by modern standards—a man shrewd in business life, generous in association with his friends, and an advocate of applying one’s talents in a practical sense. Born on Nantucket in 1800, he became a shipping merchant on the island and extended his successful business interests to Providence, R. I., and New York. In Portrait of Peter Folger Ewer (1800–55), attributed to

1840, Ewer was ready to retire from a busy career, and he and

William Swain, circa 1828

his family returned to Nantucket, where he was soon looking

1986.3.1

for new challenges. Ewer energetically embraced the idea of the started their journeys from Martha’s Vineyard or Tarpau-

Camels, hiring boat builders with a shop near the head of Com-

lin Cove, an excellent anchorage on Naushon Island, just

mercial Wharf, Thurber & Crosby, to build a large working mod-

across the narrow part of Vineyard Sound from the village

el so that potential investors could see what the vessel would

of Holmes Hole on Martha’s Vineyard (now known as Vine-

look like, and how it would “work,” and in 1841 he formed a

yard Haven).

company called the Nantucket Marine Camel Company. On

Something had to be done. In 1827 and 1828, articles

February 27, 1841, the Inquirer featured both an advertisement

appeared in our local newspaper, the Nantucket Inquirer,

and an article describing the Camels, comparing in detail the

discussing modern designs for a seventeenth-century in-

cost advantages of “cameling” over lightering or fitting out at

vention, developed by a Hollander named M. M. Bakker,

Edgartown. The savings with Camels was said to be more than

called Dutch Camels, a sort of floating dry dock that was

thirty percent. Another article, which appeared in the Inquirer

used to lift vessels over sand bars in the Zuider Zee (and

one week later, stated that the model functioned beautifully in a

later in Venice and in Russia on the river Neva). In 1828,

working demonstration witnessed by “hundreds of spectators.”

designs and drawings for proposed Camels were circulated around town by the inventor, whaleman, and marine

BY 1842, SEVENTY-SEVEN STOCKHOLDERS had invested in

artist William W. Morris, but no further developments oc-

the Camel Company, many, if not all, involved in the whaling

curred then. Instead, in 1828 and 1829, the U.S. Army made

business. Credited with the design and development of the

two attempts at cutting through the appropriately named

Camels, Peter F. Ewer certainly relied heavily on a technical

“Nantucket Bar” with a dredging machine, but both end-

treatise written by John Lenthall of Philadelphia, an important

ed in complete failure, as the sand refilled the trenches as

naval architect and ship builder. A twelve-page document dat-

quickly as it was removed.

ed 1835 and signed by Lenthall is in the Peter F. Ewer papers at

The Camels idea resurfaced in 1840, a dozen years

6

the NHA Research Library. It describes in great detail the prin-

after Morris initially proposed them, when whaling en-

ciples and history of Camels and their construction, including

trepreneur Peter Folger Ewer again brought up the sub-

some specific dimensions of various wooden elements, and sug-

HISTORIC NANTUCKET

j a v at i m e d e s i g n

/ photographs: eileen powers receipt collection of robert hellman

Top left and below: Details of the Camels model Top right: Blacksmith Samuel B. Folger’s receipt for shares in the Nantucket Marine Camel Co,

gestions for types of wood to use for different purposes, with

consists of two nearly identical hulls, each seven feet eight

reference to drawings that must have once accompanied it

inches in length that flank the hull of a whaleship. On the

but are no longer present. Ewer may have employed Lenthall

ship model’s taffrail is painted “BUILT BY THURBER &

to design them, or comment on his own designs, but there is

CROSBY” (John G. Thurber and Jesse Crosby). On the star-

no mention in the treatise of Nantucket, probably the only

board side of one Camel hull there is an old paper label

American port known to eventually use Camels.

reading ATHENEUM. Lower down on the hull’s transom is

Amazingly, the NHA is in possession of the original

the ship’s name board, reading WM. H. HARRISON NAN-

model, which is currently on display in the Whaling Mu-

TUCKET. There are also name boards located on the Head

seum. This great model was acquired from the Nantuck-

Boards on each side at the bow. The model was probably

et Atheneum, which, when it closed its museum in 1905,

built in late 1840, shortly after William Henry Harrison

transferred the collection to the NHA. A photograph taken

(of Tippecanoe Indian wars and the War of 1812 fame)

by the Nantucket photographer Henry S. Wyer in the 1880s

was elected President of the United States, and the model

shows a portion of the Atheneum’s museum, where among

builders probably wanted to honor him by naming their

many other artifacts can be seen one hull of this original

vessel after him, as there was no Nantucket ship with that

Camel model and the ship it was to buoy up. The model

name. On the stern quarter of each camel hull is painted SPRING / SUMMER 2015

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gift of robert r. covell

92.125.1

Side-wheel steamer Massachusetts towing a whaleship in the Camels, circa 1850

8

BAKKERS CAMELS, giving credit to the original Dutch de-

bly was raised by pumping the water out of the hulls, and

signer. This is an absolutely beautiful and important his-

the combined Camel assembly and the fully loaded whale-

toric Nantucket artifact.

ship would draw no more than seven feet of water, a depth

The actual Camels were built in late 1841 and early

where it could easily be towed across the Bar at high tide by

1842, at a cost of about $26,000, and they were launched,

a steamboat. The newly acquired powerful steamer Massa-

probably at Brant Point, in the spring of 1842. From an

chusetts would do most of the towing.

account book in the Ewer Business Papers, it appears

Strangely enough, the Camel idea was derided by many

that they were constructed by the Camel Company itself,

of the townspeople, during construction and after the

which paid all the costs of labor and materials, and it ap-

launching, and many criticized Ewer as a man pursuing a

pears that John G. Thurber may have been in charge of the

foolish idea. Once launched, it was difficult for him to find

construction. (The partnership of Thurber & Crosby was

a ship owner willing to risk his whaleship for the first tri-

dissolved in July 1841, with Jesse Crosby continuing alone

als. Finally, Christopher Mitchell & Co., a Camel Company

at the same location on Commercial Wharf.) The Cam-

stockholder and owner of the Ship Phebe, which was ready

els consisted of two odd-looking, somewhat asymmet-

to sail on a whaling voyage, agreed in August 1842 to allow

ric hulls, each 135 feet long, 20 feet in beam at the deck

her to be used in the first trials. They were dismal failures.

and 29 feet at the bottom, and they drew only 2 feet, 10

On the first attempt, a plank in one of the water rooms

inches when empty. According to historian Edouard A.

burst while the Camel hull was being flooded, putting out

Stackpole, they looked a great deal like the 1828 designs

the steam-making fire and ending the test immediately.

of William Morris, although he proposed modified wind-

The next afternoon, during the second trial, a mistake in

mills for pumping power, while the actual Camels pumped

orders caused one of the hulls to badly lean over, threat-

with steam engines. Unfortunately, no images or descrip-

ening damage to the ship, and the second attempt came to

tion of the Morris Camel design have yet been found. The

a most abrupt and unhappy end. It wasn’t until four days

hulls were each self-propelled by steam power, and steam

later that the owners would allow a third test, which turned

was said to be used to operate the fifteen windlasses that

out to be the worst of all. It was said that the chains ordered

pulled the two hulls together after seawater was pumped

for pulling the two Camel hulls together had not yet arrived,

into them to allow them to conform with the ship’s under-

so Ewer performed this test with substandard chains bor-

sides. The tension was provided by ten 1⅜ inch and five

rowed from other vessels. As pressures were applied, these

1½ inch-diameter chains. Once together, the entire assem-

chains broke one after another, with explosions sounding

HISTORIC NANTUCKET

like cannon fire. The Phebe’s coppering was reported damaged, and she had to be hauled out for repairs. Although prospects for the Camels were about as low as they could get, the well-known whaling firm of Charles G. & Henry Coffin, both investors in the Camel Company, agreed to allow their whaleship Constitution to be “camelled” for its upcoming voyage. Everything worked perfectly! Only forty-two minutes elapsed from its raising at Brant Point on September 23, 1842, until it was beyond the Bar. The first ship brought in by the Camels was the Bark Peru, from the coast of Africa with 1,340 barrels of sperm oil. On October 14, 1842, she was towed from Edgartown to Nantucket by the steamer Telegraph, then raised by the Camels and towed over the Bar and into the harbor by the Steamer Massachusetts. An eyewitness to that homecoming wrote: “With the Peru embraced in the Camels, more than 1,000 people had assembled to view the novel scene. . . . [Ewer] stood proudly forth upon the Camels, and they continued to cheer for the realization of his fondest dreams.”

Six whalers were cameled in 1842; in 1843, fourteen of thirty-three whaling vessels were carried over the Bar by the Camels; in 1844, eleven out of thirty-four; and in 1845, the biggest year, forty-five of fifty-seven vessels were

s m i t h s o n i a n i n s t i t u t i o n , 90-7410

cameled. Then, in 1846, the whaling business of Nantucket took a sharp turn downward. On July 13, the Great Fire took out most of the heart of the town along with four of the five whaling wharves. The Camels continued operating until the last whaler, the ship Martha, was brought over on June 8, 1849, but they came too late to save the whaling industry on Nantucket. With easily accessible harbors and nearby railroads to distribute the products of the fishery, New Bedford and other mainland ports made deep inroads into the business. The decade of the 1850s

President Lincoln’s

“Camel”

In 1849, when Abraham Lincoln was still a congressman, he submitted and received Patent No. 6469 from the

was the biggest decade of New Bedford whaling, with 912

U. S. Patent Office in Washington, D. C., for a device to

voyages recorded for those ten years. Although Nantucket

lift boats across shallows or shoals—a sort of Camel.

continued whaling until 1869, there was a steep decline in

There is no evidence that it was ever built and put into

voyages departing the island. The Camels were broken up in 1854. Several researchers have suggested that if Camels had been successfully launched when they were the sub-

service. It has been said that President Lincoln visited the Patent Office to view his patent model, which is now

ject of much discussion in the late 1820s, Nantucket may

in the collection of the Smithsonian’s National Museum

have continued as a major player until the end of “Yankee

of American History, but is not on display.

Whaling” in the early twentieth century.

BOB HELLMAN is an NHA Research Fellow and Whaling Museum Interpreter.

SPRING / SUMMER 2015

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BY BARBARA WHITE

A Radical Thinker Leaves a Nantucket Legacy CYRUS PEIRCE DEVOTED his life to the belief that, without adequate public education, the United States would fail to live up to its declared ideals. Born shortly after the American Revolution, Peirce believed that it was up to his generation to finish the job of establishing a truly democratic country based on principles of equality and justice. Nothing was more important or critical.

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HISTORIC NANTUCKET

The right to a public education is not a founding principle of our country.

But to Peirce, it was the right to public education that was fundamental if the other rights promised in the Bill of Rights were to be secured. During his era, public schooling was in a pitiable state.

Peirce had a vision of a future United States in which slavery was not only abolished, but one in which all people were equal. He believed that a day would come when the mentally ill, the physically handicapped, and those in prison received humane treatment. He believed poverty and crime would diminish if every child had access to a good education and the opportunity to pursue well-paying jobs. He believed that it was only a matter of time before alcohol was prohibited. And, he believed that war would become a thing of the past, that countries would submit their grievances to a world court of arbitration, and that nations would eliminate military spending and divert that money to the public welfare.

Those goals sound naïve and idealistic today, but Peirce was not a Utopian or a fanciful dreamer. He considered himself a rational and pragmatic man with achievable goals. The key was public education. He passionately p h o t o g r a p h : p e t e r j o h n r o b e r t s , 2014

believed that well-informed citizens would make wise decisions. To be well informed, they had to be well educated.

Opposite page: Sketch of Cyrus Peirce (1790–1860)

P14428

Above: One panel of a triptych stained-glass window in the First Unitarian Society church in Newton, Massachusetts, depicting Cyrus Peirce and students Right: Cyrus Peirce School, 1940s

PH46-5-2

SPRING / SUMMER 2015

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CYRUS PEIRCE

It was a tall task.

The state of public education was abysmal.

Nothing was standardized, neither the length of the school terms, nor the school day, nor curriculum. Materials were scarce and much depended on rote memorization.

Students of all ages were crammed into poorly ventilated, poorly heated oneroom schools. The pay was poor and teachers had little status. Men resorted to teaching as a last resort, many of them itinerant drunkards unable to hold other jobs. Women could teach only if they were unmarried, resulting in short careers. Thus, turnover was a problem. Discipline depended on photograph: mark white

fear, and beatings were commonplace. Furthermore, such conditions were considered to be character-building. Peirce eventually took on the entire educational establishment.

Cyrus Peirce was not a native Nantucketer, although he considered himself an islander and is buried in Prospect Hill Cemetery next to his wife, Harriet Coffin Peirce. Nantucket came to embrace Peirce as one of its own, the proof being that his name was chosen for the only named public school on the island. It

Left: Harriet Coffin Peirce (1791–1884), circa 1860

is a middle school, but Cyrus Peirce was the first principal of

Above: Cyrus Peirce’s globe, in the Henry Whittemore Library at Framingham State University

Nantucket High School.

CDV1418

Examining Peirce’s background, it does not seem likely that he would become a radical thinker, one destined to leave a lasting mark on American education as well as the history of Nan-

dragged through the headlines in the Boston papers; he

tucket. He hailed from a family of yeoman farmers in Waltham,

was portrayed as a blasphemous and licentious devil

Massachusetts, his grandfather a veteran of the Revolutionary

intent on destroying civil order in his quest to improve

War. Raised in the Congregational Church, there is little in his

the training of schoolteachers and to create classrooms

background to suggest that he would spend much of his life up-

based on the needs of pupils.

setting the status quo. But upset the status quo he did. In fact,

Peirce arrived at his so-called dangerous and radical

for a few years in the 1840s, Peirce’s name and reputation were

ideas gradually. While a student at Harvard, he was ex-

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HISTORIC NANTUCKET

posed to the major Unitarian thinkers of the day, especially in the classes of Henry Ware. It was Unitarianism that gave rise to Peirce’s commitment to reform. But those ideas threatened the established order of the day. Congregationalists who controlled the Commonwealth believed in an angry, punitive God, and they regarded mankind as corrupt, believing that only a select few would be chosen for eternal salvation. Unitarians believed directly the opposite. To them, God was benevolent and they were optimistic about the potential of mankind. This positive and hopeful attitude guided Peirce throughout his life and gave rise to his certainty that society could be bettered if they had the facts presented to them.

PEIRCE CAME TO NANTUCKET AT the age of twenty after graduating from Harvard in 1810. He accepted a teaching job at a private school, probably due to his friendship with Seth Swift,

Cyrus and Harriet Peirce lived at 15 Orange Street (first dwelling

a fellow graduate. Swift was the first ordained minister of Nan-

of Folger Block ) and ran a school there.

gpn-shute-6

tucket’s Second Congregational Church, a liberal-leaning spinoff. (The official schism of the Unitarians and the Congregationalists did not occur until 1825.) Peirce stayed for two years, returning to Harvard to continue his divinity studies, intent on

delivered a sermon that declared his support for three radi-

becoming a minister. However, after he completed his studies,

cal reforms that would not become part of mainstream dis-

he returned to the island and married Harriet Coffin. He had

course for at least another decade. He called for “improved

met Harriet when he had boarded with her family on his pre-

condition of the female sex,” for an end to slavery, and for

vious stay. The young couple opened a private school noted for

an end to warfare. He professed his belief in God’s kindness

its progressive practices: boys and girls sat together and learned

and the rationality of man, leaving no doubt that he was a

the same subjects, including Latin and Greek, a departure from

Unitarian. Attendance at the church dropped off, and he

the norm in which boys were exposed to more classical subjects

was eventually asked to resign. He never returned to the

and girls to more domestic subjects.

ministry.

Peirce was quickly accepted in the community in no small

Peirce concluded that he was a better teacher than a

part due to his marriage into the large and influential Coffin

preacher and had come to believe that the classroom was

family. He joined Samuel H. Jenks, editor of the Nantucket In-

the place to effect social reform. He accepted a teaching

quirer in Jenks’s campaign to establish a public-school system

position at a private academy in Andover, but clashed with

on the island, which was out of compliance with state law man-

the school’s director over the role of corporal punishment,

dating public education. Well-to-do islanders enrolled their

a practice he fiercely opposed. He resigned and returned to

children in the island’s many private schools and saw little need

Nantucket, optimistic that he would be able to establish a

to establish free schools for the poor.

school where he could implement his new ideas about the

After several years of teaching, the couple left the island for

best way to teach.

eleven years. Peirce had not given up his dream of becoming

It was a good move. The Peirces were welcomed back

a minister and accepted a job at a church in North Reading,

with open arms and absorbed into the life of the island.

Massachusetts. But the division between the Unitarian-leaning

Nantucket was in its golden age, a prosperous and intel-

faction and the rest of the congregation impacted his job there.

lectual community based on the bounty of whaling. The

It wasn’t long before it was clear that Peirce was out of step with

couple found groups of like-minded people, a relief after

the majority of his parishioners. On Christmas Day 1824, Peirce

their harrowing years off island. They opened a private SPRING / SUMMER 2015

13

CYRUS PEIRCE

Lexington Normal School building, now known as the Simon W. Robinson Masonic Lodge, in Lexington, Massachusetts

cation in the nation, had observed Peirce’s teaching when he inspected schools in the state and was impressed by his progressive techniques. Although reluctant to leave Nantucket, it was an opportunity that Peirce could not refuse— the opportunity to develop a professional teaching corps. photograph: mark white

AT THE SCHOOL IN LEXINGTON, Peirce singlehandedly

14

school in their home on Orange Street where they imple-

created a curriculum for teacher training, a model copied

mented their commitment to women’s education, once

throughout the country. Normal schools formed the basis

again offering girls and boys the same rigorous curriculum,

of many of our great state schools, including the University

side by side. Discipline was maintained without resorting

of Massachusetts system. It is Peirce’s most lasting and im-

to bodily punishment or public humiliation. One of their

portant legacy. Some early graduates were Nantucketers,

assistants was sixteen-year-old Maria Mitchell who went

including Mary Swift, who went on to teach at the Perkins

on to become the first woman elected to the Academy of

School for the Blind, and Susan Burdick, the principal of

Arts and Sciences for her work in astronomy. The school

several schools in New Bedford and who returned to the

prospered, and the Peirces were eventually able to move

island and helped to found the Nantucket Historical So-

the school out of their home.

ciety, a precursor of the Nantucket Historical Association.

The Nantucket Atheneum opened its doors in 1834 and

Losing the first principal of Nantucket High School,

became the intellectual heart of the island. Peirce lectured

however, was unfortunate for the island. The year that

there often on a wide variety of topics, including the princi-

Peirce left, Eunice Ross, a seventeen-year-old Afri-

ples of pneumatics, the art of reading, and the importance

can-American was denied admission to the high school by

of temperance. He and Harriet were founding members of

a vote of town meeting solely because she was black.

the Nantucket chapter of the American Anti-Slavery Soci-

After two years in Lexington, Peirce was back on Nan-

ety, founded by William Lloyd Garrison. But it was the issue

tucket trying to regain his health, damaged by the long

of public education with which Peirce was most associated.

hours of running the normal school singlehandedly, al-

Nantucket had been disregarding the state law that man-

though Harriet did as much as she could in an unpaid

dated towns to provide public high schools. Peirce became

role. Peirce taught all seventeen courses; supervised twen-

the secretary of the Education Society, formed to persuade

ty-five prospective women teachers who boarded at the

Nantucket to comply with the law. In 1838, with three other

school, most of them teenagers; and served as the princi-

men, he wrote a small book in which they stated: “Every

pal of a town school designated as an experimental school

patriot, every friend of virtue and well-regulated society,

for budding teachers to practice their techniques.

must therefore, be the friend of education, and of the sys-

Although in frail health, Peirce threw himself into the

tem of free schools.” Their hard work and commitment led

battle to integrate Nantucket’s schools. In 1843, he was

the town to create a high school the next year, and Peirce

elected to the school committee with fellow abolitionists

was selected as its first principal. He gave up his lucrative

such as Nathaniel and Obed Barney. The committee defied

private school to head the new program.

the vote of town meeting to keep the schools segregated

After Peirce had been less than two years at the helm,

and integrated the schools. White students were assigned

Horace Mann asked him to direct the Lexington Normal

to the African School on York Street, and Peirce became

School, the first publicly funded teacher-training school

principal of the integrated West Grammar School (gram-

in the United States. Mann, the first state Secretary of Edu-

mar schools were a step below high school).

HISTORIC NANTUCKET

School integration lasted less than a year, because at the next town meeting in January 1844, most of the abolitionists, including Peirce, were not re-elected. The new committee ordered the schools segregated. Rather than witness the black students in his school expelled, discouraged, and disheartened, Peirce resigned. Fortunately for him, he was asked by Mann to return to the normal school, which had outgrown its facility in Lexington and was moving to West Newton. The crisis in the Nantucket schools was not resolved for several more years, years marked by protest and bitter debate. Because of pressure by Nantucket activists, Massachusetts passed a law ensuring equal educational opportunities, first in the nation.

Peirce moved to West Newton, never to live on the island again. It was during his years at the helm of the West Newton Normal School that he was embroiled in the biggest battle of his career. Conservatives accused him of subverting society and and the graduates of normal schools. Reverend Matthew Hale Smith made shocking and unfounded accusations about depravity and licentiousness against Peirce and the school. Unrelenting and persistent allegations in the newspapers led to an investigation of Peirce by the legislature that led to his exoneration. But the controversy had taken its toll and Peirce soon

photographs: mark white

of promoting a Unitarian agenda through the public schools

retired from the normal school.

Left: Peirce’s signature on an 1842 petition Top: West Newton English and Classical School Bottom: Headstones of Cyrus and Harriet Peirce in Prospect Hill Cemetery

among the first women in the state to vote in school comHe lived the rest of his days in West Newton, continuing

mittee elections. In her will, she left money for the edu-

to be active in abolition, temperance, and women’s rights. He

cation of women, both on and off island, many of whom

attended an international peace conference in Paris in 1849,

became teachers.

wrote a book about crime, and was co-principal of a progres-

Peirce accomplished many things in his life, yet he has

sive private school. He died in 1860 at the age of seventy. His

somehow been forgotten both on Nantucket, and more

normal school students raised money to erect a plinth in Pros-

puzzling, in the history of American education. He was

pect Hill Cemetery engraved with his motto “Live to the Truth,”

involved in all the worthy issues of his time—particular-

with which he ended his classes every day. It is still the motto

ly peace, abolition, women’s rights, and national reform.

of Framingham State University. (The school in West Newton

More than anyone else, he is responsible for professional-

moved to Framingham in 1853.)

izing teaching.

After her husband’s death, Harriet Peirce returned to Nantucket where she lived until her death in 1884 at the age of

Barbara White is the author of Live to the Truth: The Life and Times of

ninety. She was active in Nantucket’s politics and in 1879 was

Cyrus Peirce (2014). She is an NHA Research Fellow.

SPRING / SUMMER 2015

15

BY JANE LANCASTER

A Nantucket summer resident, Lillian Moller Gilbreth was a working mother on a heroic scale.

She lived from 1878 to 1972 and raised eleven children, for many years as a single mother.

A pioneer in the application of psychology to management, she loved her work and continued as a globe-trotting “first lady of engineering� until she finally retired at age ninety.

Lillie Moller on Sutro Beach, California, December 26, 1903

16

HISTORIC NANTUCKET

frank and lillian gilbreth collection, courtesy of purdue university libraries

She was in some ways a role model for “having it all,” advising women that a career, children, and marriage was not only possible but desirable—providing you went about it efficiently. Few women, however, would want to emulate thirteen pregnancies over seventeen years. In 1918, she and her husband, Frank Bunker Gilbreth, purchased a pair of Nantucket bug lights (small navigational towers) and an accompanying cottage that was soon nicknamed The Shoe—but unlike the old woman who had so many children, Lillian did know what to do—she worked, and used her children as research assistants. When the children were not learning to swim or sail, they were helping to organize a soap-packing station or experimenting with efficient methods to pick blueberries.

The Gilbreths’ large family was partly due to their love of children, partly due to reticence about contraception (there were no religious reasons, as both were secular Protestants) and partly as an exercise in positive eugenics. Before the Nazis applied eugenic theories to genocidal ends, many thinking people worried about the consequences of highly educated women either never marrying or having only one or two children. The Gilbreth experiment was, in part, designed to demonstrate that you could, indeed, have it all and that large families were manageable. Both parents also used the family as advertising for their management-consulting business, as journalists were eager to find human-interest stories in industrial engineering projects.

Lillian’s family life was only part of the story, however: She was also a pioneer in the application of psychology to industrial management, and when she was described as “The World’s Greatest Woman Engineer” in 1952, the reasons included “her impact on management, her innovations in industrial design, her methodological contributions to time and motion studies, her humanization

Bug Lights near Jetties Beach, 1924

PH13-6

of management principles, and her role in inSPRING / SUMMER 2015

17

Life, she argued, must be judged by its practical results, and one should “refuse to lead narrow, one-sided lives.” tegrating the principles of science and man-

University of California, where she was one of

agement.”

three hundred freshmen in 1896.

Two of her children wrote a humorous

A top student, she was not awarded a Phi

memoir of life with their efficiency-mad fa-

Beta Kappa key, being told it would be more

ther Frank Gilbreth, calling it Cheaper by the

useful to a man, but in 1900 she was chosen as

Dozen; in it their mother was a calm presence

the university’s first female commencement

in the background, coming to the fore only

speaker. She was warned to wear a soft, ruffled

after Frank died. In fact, Lillian had a doctor-

dress and not try to imitate a man—”speak as a

ate in educational psychology from Brown

woman.” Her speech gives us the first glimpse

University, had been advising Frank on his

of her beliefs, which reflect two strands of ear-

business from the moment they became en-

ly-twentieth-century American thought—the

gaged, wrote most of his books, and later be-

pragmatism of philosopher William James and

came an equal partner in their management consultancy

the “strenuous life” notions of President Theodore Roo-

firm.

sevelt. Life, she argued, must be judged by its practical

Lillie Moller (she later changed her name to Lillian,

results, and one should “refuse to lead narrow, one-sided

which, she thought, sounded more serious) was the oldest

lives. Let us push forward in the path of progress by living

survivor of ten children in a wealthy German-American

out each day as it should be lived.” Not interested in the

family in Oakland, California. She was a timid child, but

afterlife, she concluded, “Life is its own end.”

prevailed on her parents to let her attend college, though SHE MET BOSTON-BASED high school graduate Frank

for women who might need to earn a living. She rode the

Gilbreth three years later, married him in 1904, and they

streetcar up Telegraph Avenue to the raw and unfinished

worked together until his death in 1924. Frank owned a

Left: Lillian Moller at University of California commencement, 1900 Right: Lillian and Frank on their wedding day, 1904 18

HISTORIC NANTUCKET

frank and lillian gilbreth collection, courtesy of purdue university libraries

her father thought a college education was only necessary

Gilbreth family on Nantucket in front of one of their bug lights, 1922, from Frank and Lillian Gilbreth: Partners for Life,

by Edna Yost, 1949

SPRING / SUMMER 2015

19

the eve of a visit to Europe. Five days

mous for his speed-work: he had

later, Lillian went there alone, leaving

built a new laboratory at the Massa-

the children in Nantucket in the care of

chusetts Institute of Technology in a

nineteen-year-old Anne. She believed

record eleven weeks. He introduced

she had to go, if the work (and the in-

bricklaying experiments—how could

come) was to continue, for she would

stooping, searching, and finding be

be meeting European engineers and

minimized? Frank met Frederick

business leaders, all of whom were in-

Winslow Taylor, the “father of sci-

terested in scientific management. On

entific management,” in 1907, and

her return to the United States, some

became a passionate follower of

of the Gilbreths’ industrial contracts

Taylor’s stopwatch time-study meth-

were not renewed, as manufacturers

ods. There was a parting of the ways,

were leery about hiring a female effi-

however, partly influenced by Lillian’s

Lillian with daughters, 1909

readings in psychology—she stressed

20

ciency expert, so she made the most of a difficult situation by turning to

“the human element,” which she thought was overlooked

“women’s work.” She ran a management school in her

in Taylor’s reliance on economic incentives. Moving to

home; she reorganized the offices at Macy’s; she tried to

Providence, Rhode Island, in 1912 to introduce scientific

systematize the teaching at the Katharine Gibbs secretari-

management at an engineering firm, Frank involved the

al schools, and she designed fatigue-minimizing kitchens,

workers in decision making and filmed them perform-

including the novel idea of an apron-clad man in promo-

ing various tasks, which he and Lillian analyzed frame by

tional literature for the “Kitchen Practical.” Ever the utili-

frame. They became proponents of motion study, the idea

tarian, she declared, “Efficiency is doing the thing in the

that movement could be broken down into its constitu-

best way to get the best results. And these, we must never

ent parts (Frank called them Therbligs, which is Gilbreth

forget, are the largest number of happiness minutes to the

spelled backwards, almost). Lillian added psychology,

largest number of people.” She also tried to professional-

learned through graduate training at Columbia, the Univer-

ize housekeeping, suggesting that an efficient homemaker

sity of California, and finally at Brown, where she received

could free herself from what she called “the unimportant

her doctorate in 1915, between her seventh and eighth ba-

routine things of everyday life” and allow her time for “the

bies. In it she aligned herself decisively with the new behav-

things worth consideration” whatever they were.

iorist school of psychology, trying to establish how students’

Her attitudes to feminism evolved over time. She fre-

behavior was influenced by different physical conditions

quently spoke of the “fifty-fifty marriage” and claimed any-

such as heat, light, and clothing, insights that she was later

one could do as she did with a husband like hers—though

to apply to industrial environments.

she neglected to mention the contribution of her resident

Lillian worked with her husband throughout their

mother-in-law, and later of live-in staff. In the mid-1920s,

marriage, and gradually emerged from his shadow. She

she was on an advisory committee to the Women’s Bureau

wrote most of their publications, usually under Frank’s

of the U.S. Department of Labor, which supported pro-

name, but as early as 1911 she was recognized as working

tective legislation for women, but in the mid-1930s she

in an entirely new field, the psychology of management,

told a journalist “Sex divisions are idiotic anyway. . . . We

and in 1914 she had her own individual entry in Who’s Who

are judged as individuals if we prove we have something

and was speaking at engineering conferences. Colleges

to contribute, rather than as men or women.” This change

invited her to speak, and she ran the consulting business

in attitude reflected her recent experiences, first as a del-

alone while Frank was traveling or when he was in the army

egate to the World Engineering Congress in Tokyo in 1929

during the Great War.

and second as head of the women’s section of President

Frank’s heart was weakened by an illness contracted

Herbert Hoover’s Emergency Committee for Employment

when he was in the army, and he died suddenly in 1924 on

(PECE) from 1931 to 1932. In Japan, she started to think

HISTORIC NANTUCKET

frank and lillian gilbreth collection, courtesy of purdue university libraries

construction company and was fa-

“Sex divisions are idiotic anyway. . . .

We are judged as individuals if we prove we have something to contribute, rather than as men or women.”

Great American Series postage stamp issued in 1984

about the problem of unemployment, and how technolog-

war ended, she was not ready to retire, and applied her

ical change benefited women. Jobs involving heavy labor

work-simplification methods to hospitals and to the so-

or long training were sometimes replaced by machines,

called “Handicapped Housewives”—women injured in

managed by women, which she approved, until she real-

automobile accidents or weakened by polio—by lower-

ized that women were often badly paid, so she began ad-

ing work surfaces so women in wheelchairs could cook a

vocating equal pay for equal work. During the Depression,

dinner, and analyzing movements so a one-armed woman

she was adamant that firing women workers was not the

could make a bed or bathe a baby. This built on work she

answer to unemployment, saying that “the proper mea-

and Frank had done after the Great War on “Crippled Sol-

suring sticks are efficiency and then need and that no sex

diers,” where they adapted tasks so that injured veterans

lines or other discrimination should be made.” At PECE,

could be productive and financially independent.

she mobilized nearly three million middle-class women

In the 1950s and 1960s she was traveling the world, ad-

through organizations such as the General Federation of

vising on scientific management projects and mentoring

Women’s Clubs, the National Parent-Teacher Association,

young engineers, male and female. Meanwhile, she was

and the YWCA to generate data on local prices, job pro-

getting honorary degrees (twenty-two in all), and dozens of

grams, and unemployment levels (data that did not exist

medals and awards ranging from Mother of the Year to the

on a national level) and in her “Spruce Up Your Home”

Hoover Medal from all the American engineering societies.

campaign to find work for the local unemployed. Although

She was having the time of her life, and a journalist who in-

those measures were insufficient to combat the Great De-

terviewed her in 1966 described her as “a real swinger at 88.”

pression, when Eleanor Roosevelt was First Lady she con-

Her intellectual development evolved from the prag-

tinued to mobilize women’s organizations in an effort to

matism she exhibited in her speech at the University of

alleviate women’s unemployment, while not mentioning

California in 1900, through Deweyite education, through

the idea had been tried before.

behaviorist psychology, feminism, and utilitarianism. Unlike her husband, who always tried to find “the One Best

AFTER HER STINT AS A “dollar-a-year” woman in Wash-

Way,” she acknowledged that individual differences meant

ington, Lillian needed to earn money. In addition to well-

that there were many best ways. She pondered questions

paid consultancies with utility companies, she was also

that concern us all: How can women find work that satis-

a professor at the School of Management at Purdue in

fied them, while raising a family and having time for their

Indiana, where one of her colleagues was aviatrix Ame-

own interests? How can work be made more productive

lia Earhart. They were a mutual-admiration society, and

without dehumanizing the worker? How can people with

when Earhart disappeared in 1937, Lillian replaced her

disabilities become useful members of society?

for a while as a career counselor for women. During World War II, she served on various manpower committees and

She did not have all the answers, but she spent a long and strenuous life looking for them.

worked at the Arma plant at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, where she helped plan work for disabled servicemen and exercise

JANE LANCASTER holds a Ph.D. in history from Brown University,

programs for women workers.

where Lillian Gilbreth also earned her doctorate. She is currently a

Although Lillian was sixty-seven years old when the

Visiting Scholar in History at Brown.

SPRING / SUMMER 2015

21

BY KATHRINA MARQUES PHOTOGRAPHY BY ERIC SAVETSKY

22

HISTORIC NANTUCKET

head of the plains

BILL KLEIN’S BIG IDEA…

WAS ALREADY WELL established and bearing fruit when he made the following remark at a growth-management and preservation conference in March of 1989: Nantucket is a dramatic illustration of a community that thought it could never come to an agreement about what kind of a place it wanted to be and which suddenly reached agreement on a very bold notion.

The bold notion, the creation of a Nantucket Islands Land Bank, the first of its kind in the nation, was Klein’s. The agreement on that notion came at Town Meeting in April 1983, when attendees voted in favor of filing a bill with the state legislature to establish a land bank for Nantucket. Although Klein and his supporters had spent many months selling the idea of

SPRING / SUMMER 2015

23

LA N D B A N K

a land bank at the local and state level, and felt confident

done to protect more of the remaining undeveloped land

that the Nantucket community was ready to embrace it, he

before it was lost forever. The time for a big idea had come,

may not have been prepared for the spectacular fashion in

before time ran out. Tom Giffin, in an Inquirer and Mirror

which it did so. The vote in favor of the Land Bank Article

editorial, urged Town Meeting voters to endorse the land

was 446 to 1. “I nearly fell over,” Bill Klein was reported as

bank article, tapping into just this sense of urgency. “The

saying.

island began to slip out of our hands in the late Sixties, and

Klein was Nantucket’s first Planning Director (specif-

now it is being bought out from under us at a phenomenal

ically, director of the Nantucket Planning and Econom-

rate,” he wrote. And, if islanders lamented these losses—

ic Development Commission), a position he held from

the ongoing erosion of the characteristics of landscape

1974 to 1991. His idea developed from a “think tank” for

and space that made the place so special—then it was time

planning and growth-management professionals held on

for islanders to do something about it:

Nantucket in 1982. Its basic premise was that of a transfer tax on real estate transactions on Nantucket, money that would go directly toward acquiring open space on the island, to be held in the public trust, for public use.

The idea was radical as well as simple. Radical in that it would ask the state to allow a municipality (Nantucket) to create a new form of taxation (likened to “a sales tax on real estate” by one commentator); and also that the funds generated through this transfer tax would be solely dedicated to the acquisition and preservation of open space. Simple, too, in that the very same forces that were causing loss of resources essential to the island’s identity would be tapped into, to provide a stream of funding to protect at least some

“We have never had this power to protect our land before. The power of selfdefense is long overdue and the Land Bank legislation will give it to us.”

of those resources. A 2% transfer fee, paid by the buyer on

24

most real estate transactions, would be used by the Land

The legwork by Klein and other planning professionals,

Bank to protect the type of land that Bill Klein, and others,

along with the rhetoric and exchange of ideas, paid off. The

felt was crucially important to what it meant to live here. A

Nantucket Islands Land Bank was established by a special

major issue at the time was potential loss of public access

act of the state legislature in December 1983, introducing

to beaches. This might sound somewhat absurd on an is-

another tool into Nantucket’s growth-management efforts,

land ringed by a flat, sandy shoreline but it was, in fact, a

and one with just such an element of local empowerment

real possibility. Although many people were not aware of

and responsibility. The 2% transfer fee applies to most,

it, Klein repeatedly pointed out that, of Nantucket’s eighty-

but not all real estate transactions. There are exemptions,

eight miles of beach, only one and a half miles were public.

including one for first-time homebuyers. This is not the

On Nantucket, in the early 1980s, more than a quarter

Land Bank’s only source of revenue: It can borrow mon-

of the island was already protected open space, made pos-

ey and can also accept contributions and appropriations

sible through the vision and efforts of various conserva-

by the town. The five-member elected Land Bank Com-

tion groups, most notably the privately funded Nantucket

mission uses these funds to acquire land for open space,

Conservation Foundation, which had been founded in

recreation, and agriculture. Commissioners serve five-year

1963. But many felt that this was not enough. In a high-

terms, and are unpaid, making their service truly a labor

ly speculative real estate market, and with development

of love. But beyond the logistics of why and how, the Land

tending toward sprawling rather than concentrated, a real

Bank concept prompted a fuller consideration of what it

sense of urgency prevailed over what, if anything, could be

means to purchase a home by establishing a connection be-

HISTORIC NANTUCKET

miacomet beach

SPRING / SUMMER 2015

25

the creeks

tween the actual home and the greater place in which it is

public-sector participation in open-space protection.

located and a responsibility to protect that place, especially

Overlapping in overall goals with other island conser-

one as finite and fragile as Nantucket. Not only developers,

vation groups, but differing in specifics and acquisition

or second-home owners, but everybody who purchases

strategies, and with an eye on public use and benefit, it

property on Nantucket pays something toward protecting

would deliver not just more land, but more land types to

what makes it a unique and desirable place to live.

Nantucket’s open-space acreage. The timing was right, the

But, as taxation is wont to do, this source of funding

community was behind it, and the results over a span of

for the Land Bank inevitably generated such opposition as

some thirty years have surely fulfilled Bill Klein’s vision of

there was to the proposal. Some denounced it as “exclu-

what such an organization could accomplish. Waterfront

sionary,” even “not the American way.” The lone dissenter

properties have always been high on the Land Bank Com-

at the 1983 Town Meeting likened it to a forced contribu-

mission’s priority list, and concerns over beach access have

tion, “a tax on a very small number of people for the ben-

been addressed with the acquisition of the island’s icon-

efit of a very large number of people.” The concept of land

ic “local” beach—the “40th Pole”—and a string of south

banks later fell out of favor at the state level during the

shore beach-access points. Acquisitions along Washington

Weld and Celluci administrations, Governor Paul Celluci

Street have opened up previously blocked views across

again bringing up the “exclusionary” and “elitist” labels.

Nantucket Harbor toward Monomoy, and a serenely beau-

Klein always held fast to the notion that the land bank was

tiful creek-side property just outside of downtown is now

anything but exclusionary, maintaining that it was, in fact,

banked for future public use. From large parcels adjoining

inclusionary—an attempt to guarantee public access to

Conservation Foundation land in Middle Moors and Ram

open spaces, ponds, and beaches before that access was

Pasture to tiny lots like the Fair Street park, from public

put out of reach by development or skyrocketing prices. It

golf courses to agricultural land supporting small farm ini-

was, ironically, during this difficult period, when the idea

tiatives and community gardening, the Land Bank boasts a

of land banks was in question, and Nantucket’s proposal

truly diverse collection of properties, from which everyone

to increase the fee from 2% to 4% was languishing in the

who lives or visits here benefits. And in combination with

state legislature’s Joint Committee on Taxation, that the

the island’s largest owner of open space (the Nantucket

first big idea begat another, and the Land Bank received

Conservation Foundation), and other groups, the Land

a much-needed boost. The island real estate community,

Bank’s approximately 3,000 acres (purchased with more

opposed to the increase, proposed instead that the town

than $200 million collected to date) have contributed to-

borrow $25 million for the land bank. The $25 million

ward fulfillment of another wish expressed by Klein when

Land Bank Bond, requiring a Proposition 2 ½ override, was

he first began sounding the alarm bells in the early eight-

passed by voters in May of 1997, an indication of the com-

ies, that 50% of the island might be protected open space.

munity’s continuing commitment to open-space protection and to making this land bank work.

The Land Bank idea offered a unique format for local, 26

HISTORIC NANTUCKET

KATHRINA MARQUES is the NHA’s Landscape and Gardening Manager.

sanford farm west

A Reflection on Land Bank Beginnings

BY BILL KLEIN

I became Nantucket’s first planning director at the age of twenty-seven. Although I had never set foot on the Island before my interview, it wasn’t long before I came to love the place. I was hooked.

Growing up on Long Island, I knew the perils of planned sprawl firsthand. The idea of a Land Bank based on a transfer tax grew in part from a number of experiences and concepts gathered during my earlier planning work in New York and Pennsylvania. I had learned that if communities are serious about guiding growth, a much stronger tool than zoning is needed—one that faces up to the takings clause of the U.S. Constitution.

It was heartbreaking during those early years to see the island slipping away from islanders, beginning to become like everywhere else. In 1972, the town had adopted a conventional large-lot zoning ordinance that wasn’t very innovative.

tion-minded legislators spon-

In 1974, the last best chance to lock in “forever wild” lands on

sored the measure. Getting

the Island—the Nantucket Sound Islands Trust Bill (the Kennedy

support from Nantucketers was

Bill)—had just gone down to a narrow defeat in Congress. By

an intensive two-year consen-

the late 1970s, we were subdividing about five hundred lots and

sus-building effort. With almost

building about a hundred homes a year. This meant that some

four hundred real estate bro-

four hundred vacant lots were being put into inventory annu-

kers and twenty-five percent of

ally, much of it in outlying areas. Nantucket was rapidly locking

the workforce involved in con-

in its future settlement pattern; it wasn’t a pretty picture. While

struction, this was a daunting

the Nantucket Conservation Foundation had done a terrific job

task. Backed by the Nantucket

of conserving large expanses of open space, there was still an

Planning & Economic Develop-

alarming amount of shorefront and habitat up for grabs.

ment Commission, I spent an

That’s about the time a year-rounder remarked to me, “You

inordinate amount of time in conversation with islanders and

know, Bill, Nantucket doesn’t like to do things the way they do

summer people. In 1982, we brought in off-island experts to

on the mainland.” This was the “aha” moment. It was a green

brainstorm about “Nantucket in the Year 2002,” followed by the

light. What would it cost to purchase the development rights

Goals and Objectives for Balanced Growth document, in which

to needed shorefront and critical habitat? I figured about $100

the Land Bank concept is mentioned. In the end, the brokers

million. That’s when I began musing about a real estate transfer

and contractors were enthusiastic about the measure, which is

tax, but instead of raising general revenues, the proceeds would

what legislators wanted to see.

be dedicated to open-space preservation.

I drafted the bill, hardly daring to believe it could become a reality. State environmental officials gave advice; conserva-

Much to our surprise, the bill passed that first year. Two months later, buyers were delivering Land Bank forms and writing checks—a dream come true.

SPRING / SUMMER 2015

27

News Notes & Highlights 2015 EXHIBITIONS

Stove by a Whale: 20 Men, 3 Boats, 96 Days In November 1820, the crew of the whaleship Essex took to their boats after an enraged sperm whale destroyed their ship. Explore the world of the Essex, trace the tragic journey of the crew, and examine retellings of the story, from Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick to the contemporary film In the Heart of the Sea in this stunning new exhibition. » Whaling Museum, 15 Broad Street

Characters and Collections: Island Novelties and the Early Years of Nantucket Tourism In the years following the Civil War, many Nantucketers turned to their history as whalers, Quakers, and world travelers to attract visitors and build a new tourist economy. Investigate the quirky characters, oddities, and treasures from the first flowering of Nantucket tourism at the NHA Research Library’s Whitney Gallery. » Whitney Gallery, 7 Fair Street

The Mighty Misty Monster: Moby-Dick Embroidered Narratives Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick inspires artist Susan Boardman’s latest series of embroidered narratives. Drawing on the tradition of illuminated manuscripts, Boardman has adapted the techniques of seventeenthcentury raised embroideries to depict richly animated scenes from this classic sea tale. » Whaling Museum, 15 Broad Street

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HISTORIC NANTUCKET

NEW IN 2015

Essex Walking Tour Based on the bestseller by Nat Philbrick

Inspired by Nathaniel Philbrick’s best-selling book In the Heart of the Sea, the NHA’s new ninety-minute walking tour visits historic downtown locations relating to the survivors of the ill-fated Essex and their lives on Nantucket in later years. Participants will also learn about the vital role that whaling played in the economy and social structure of nineteenthcentury Nantucket. » Tour departs from the Whaling Museum, 13 Broad Street.

NHA EVENT

Antiques & Design Show of Nantucket July 29–August 4, 2015 Don’t miss the Antiques & Design Show of Nantucket, the NHA’s premier fund-raising event, which this year is chaired by Jean Doyen de Montaillou and Michael A. Kovner, both longtime enthusiastic and

Jean Doyen de Montaillou and

generous supporters of the NHA and this event. And in recognition

Michael A. Kovner

of their generous support, Bill and Maria Spears have been named honorary chairs of ADSN 2015. Now in its thirty-eighth year, the weeklong series of events will feature world-class antiques while highlighting more design elements than ever. Special events include the Designer Luncheon, featuring keynote speaker Katie Ridder, as well as the Designer Panel, hosted by Susan Zises Green and featuring Suzanne Kasler, Amanda Lindroth, Charlotte Moss, Suzanne Tucker, and Matthew Patrick Smyth. Get a sneak peek under the tent at Bartlett’s Farm before the show opens at the Opening

Bill and Maria Spears

Night Party, one of Nantucket’s ultimate summer soirees.

Katie Ridder

» Information and tickets at nha.org.

SPRING / SUMMER 2015

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News Notes & Highlights News Notes & Highlights NHA PROPERTIES

New Hadwen House Fencing Good fences make good neighbors

The Hadwen House has new fences, thanks

to match. Period photographs reveal that this

to a grant from the Nantucket Community

fence, although built of wood, was at one time

Preservation Committee and a matching gift

faux painted to simulate granite. The rear fence

from an anonymous donor. The monumental

was quite plain, however, to preserve privacy

post-and-rail fence that frames the front of the

in the garden. Second owner Joseph S. Barney

house along Main Street has been reproduced

replaced the front fence with a modern iron-

by island carpenter Benjamin Moore, while

pipe rail in 1880. This survived for fifty years,

the new picket fence enclosing the rear garden

until the Satler family hired local architect

is the work of Denis Galvin and Nantucket

Alfred Shurrocks to recreate and improve upon

Fencing. A gate and arch have been added

the monumental fence. The Satlers may have

along Summer Street to simplify access to the

also built the first picket fence around the

upper garden.

garden. In 1988, the NHA rebuilt the fences,

In the nineteenth century, the house was a

simplifying away the more fanciful aspects of

showpiece for the wealth of William and Eunice

Shurrocks’s design. Today’s new construction is

Hadwen and had an impressive front fence

based on the 1988 design.

New NHA Housing Completed Barlett Road duplex will house NHA staffers

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HISTORIC NANTUCKET

The critical housing shortage on Nantucket

took possession of a newly built duplex that

for both year-rounders and seasonal workers

will greatly expand its housing capacity.

has made it difficult for island nonprofits

Manufactured in sections by Huntington

and local businesses to find adequate

Homes in Vermont, the building was installed

housing for their employees. The NHA

on its foundation adjacent to the Bartholomew

previously tackled this problem by creating

Gosnold Center on Bartlett Road. Interior

small apartments in several of its historic

finishing was completed in June, with

properties, but this spring the association

landscape improvements to follow.

NHA STAFF

The NHA Welcomes Director of Properties Catherine Taylor joins the NHA crew The Nantucket Historical Association is

of the California State Railroad Museum and

Catherine Taylor

pleased to announce the hiring of Catherine

executive director of its nonprofit support

joined the NHA

Taylor in the position of Director of Properties.

foundation. Ms. Taylor is a 1998 graduate of

this spring.

Taylor has more than twenty years of

the Museum Management Institute at the

experience as a senior manager charged with

University of California Berkeley, hosted by

the protection of some of California’s most

the Getty Leadership Institute. She holds

diverse cultural heritage sites, including the

a B.A. in History from California State

State Railroad Museum; the State Indian

University, Sacramento. Taylor will oversee the

Museum; the Leland Stanford Mansion, the

maintenance, preservation, and restoration

historic Governor’s Mansion; Sutter’s Fort;

of the NHA’s collection of properties, which

and Old Sacramento. During her service with

includes twenty-one sites ranging from the

California State Parks, she served as director

seventeenth to the twentieth century.

NHA PUBLICATION

NHA Historic Properties Guide is here!

A 116-page comprehensive, illustrated guide A new, thoroughly researched and beautifully illustrated guide to the NHA’s key properties and historic sites is now available. Presented chronologically, this publication tells the island’s story in a way that portrays our properties as key characters in our history.

The new NHA guide includes a properties map showing handy walking distances.

From the Oldest House on Sunset Hill to the opulent nineteenth-century mansion of whale-oil magnate William Hadwen on Main Street to eclectic Greater Light, the artsy studio home of Quaker sisters from Philadelphia, the diverse portfolio of NHA properties provides portals to other eras of our island history.

Written by Betsy Tyler, Obed Macy Research

Nantucket history. Enjoy it in your favorite

Chair, the Properties Guide provides rich

armchair, or take it along as you explore by

historical detail about each site and includes

foot, bike, or car.

a handy fold-out map and a timeline of

» Available at the NHA Museum Shop.

SPRING / SUMMER 2015

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PERIODICAL POSTAGE PAID AT NANTUCKET, MA AND ADDITIONAL ENTRY OFFICES

P.O. BOX 1016, NANTUCKET, MA 02554–1016

Planned Gifts Turn Ideas into Opportunities Nantucket is known for its creative thinkers, people whose big ideas led to innovation and opportunity.

Among them were the founders of the Nantucket Historical Association, who had the vision to begin preserving island history more than a century ago.

The Whaling Museum and historic sites, like the Old Mill and Greater Light, are places that inspire ideas and awaken our curiosity to imagine other times and other people.

Planned gifts, or legacy gifts, have helped sustain the NHA’s vision since the start—from adding important artifacts to the collections to providing the finances essential to preserve the properties and expand educational programs. There are many creative ways to make a planned gift—bequests of cash, artifacts, and real estate; gifts of life insurance policies, appreciated securities, and retirement plan assets; and trusts and other estate-planning methods.

We invite you to become a member of the Heritage Society with your planned gift to the NHA. Your vision and generosity will enable the NHA to continue to tell the inspiring stories of Nantucket island through its collections, properties, and programs.

The Heritage Society: Planning Today for the NHA’s Tomorrow To learn more about opportunities to join the Heritage Society, please contact the Development Office at (508) 228–1894 or plannedgiving@nha.org.

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HISTORIC NANTUCKET Printed in the USA on recycled paper, using vegetable-based inks