Icon: (Merriam-Webster): A person or thing widely admired, especially for having great influence or significance in a particular sphere.
When we think of Nantucket icons, more places and things than people – Elin Hilderbrand, queen of the beach reads, excepted – come to mind.
Our pristine beaches, most of them open at least in some way to the public. Our thousands of acres of protected open space stretching from one end of the island to the other. Our historic architecture, unlike Colonial Williamsburg, is real, and represents one of largest – if not the largest – collection of pre-Civil War buildings remaining in the nation.
And our lifestyle. While the pace of daily life has quickened over the past couple of decades, Nantucket still feels like a place you can slow down when you step off the boat, especially in the summer.
The June issue of Nantucket Today, our first of 2026, explores a few other Nantucket icons, the bricks and mortar in the foundation of what makes this place we call home – even for a small part of the year – so special.
There is perhaps no better example of an island-defining cultural icon than Cisco Brewers. The back-yard business that grew from a home-brew kit to international acclaim epitomizes the summer vibe for many, and its Bartlett Farm Road beer garden leads many a travel guide’s Nantucket must-visit lists. Inquirer and Mirror sports reporter and freelance writer Quinn Frankel jumps in the way-back machine on page 14 to take a look at the early days of the brewery and the evolution of a business that has truly captured the island zeitgeist and spread it across the country like a tipsy missionary.
Who hasn’t spent at least one rainy afternoon lost in the rabbit warren of shelves and clothing racks of the Hospital Thrift Ship on India Street? More than 100 years old, this not-so-hidden gem serves the double duty of offering great finds at cheap prices and raising money for Nantucket Cottage Hospital, and its loyal volunteers consider their colleagues a second family.
Former Inquirer and Mirror intern Anna Popnikolova reminisces about her days as a high-school student on the island on the hunt for the perfect thriftshop treasure. Check it out on page 22.
Sure, we’ve got beaches, but what’s a beach without the ocean? An underrated icon to be sure, our surfing waves when the conditions are right rival any on the East Coast, says Ryan Huckabee, a rising star on the professional surfing circuit who cut his teeth on the breaks off Nobadeer Beach as an instructor at Gary Kohner’s surf school. Frankel, a talented surfer herself, talked with Huckabee about his aspirations and the feel of surfing Pipeline in Hawaii. You can read all about it on page 30.
What would Nantucket be in the summer without a festival or two? And what better leisure-time activities to celebrate than books and movies? New Nantucket Book Festival executive director Adam Nee; and Mystelle Brabbée, longtime leader of the Nantucket Film Festival, share their picks and hidden gems waiting for festival-goers this month.
Another summer season is upon us. The pace of life for many of us has accelerated, while for the fortunate, it has hopefully slowed down. There’s seemingly more to do, both work and play, than hours in the day. Try to take some time to disengage, at least for a moment, and remember what makes this island iconic for you.
Joshua H. Balling Editor
CONTENTS: JUNE 2026
FEATURES
10 WHILE YOU WERE AWAY
Get caught up with the stories that made an impact on Nantucket last fall and winter. by Kaie Quigley
14 THE CISCO BREWERS MYSTIQUE
It started as a hobby and turned into a cultural icon. by Quinn Frankel
22 THRIFT SHOP FINDS
If you know, you know. There’s a hole in the wall on India Street where the best bargains are just around the corner.
by Anna Popnikolova
30 WAVE RIDER: FROM NANTUCKET SWELLS A SURFING PHENOM RISES
Ryan Huckabee cut his teeth on East Coast waves, and now he’s riding giants on the north shore of Hawaii. by Quinn Frankel
44 DAY OF THE DEAD: RITUAL AND MEZCAL IN OAXACA
World traveler Scott Thomas visited Oaxaca, Mexico, during one of the most sacred, and celebratory, times of the year. by Scott Thomas
52 GOOD READS
Adam Nee, executive director of the Nantucket Book Foundation, offers the inside scoop on this year’s Nantucket Book Festival. by Adam Nee
52 PEELING BACK LAYERS
Ruta Sepetys, a featured author at this year’s Nantucket Book Festival, discusses her passion for writing historical fiction. by
Anna Popnikolova
60 CAN’T MISS AT THE 2026 NANTUCKE T FILM FESTIVAL
Executive director Mystelle Brabbée shares the films and programs she’s most excited to see this year. by Mystelle Brabbée
64 TICKED OFF: NEW PESTS IN TOWN
Ticks . . . They may be little, but they pack a punch. But with precautions, we can still enjoy the outdoors. Learn the tricks of living around ticks. by Virginia Andrews
78 THE QUESTIONS:
Meet Adam Nee, the new executive director of the Nantucket Book Foundation. by Sarah Roberts
4 EDITOR’S NOTE 9
COVER PHOTO BY MARIAN SELL FEATURING RYAN HUCKABEE
BARTLETT’S FARM, 33 Bartlett Farm Rd
July 17th - July 20th
The Nantucket Show Preview Party Thursday, July 16th 5:30 - 7:30 Benefiting the Nantucket Historical Association ANTIQUES COUNCIL
Our Sponsors:
An International Organization of Antiques Dealers www.antiquescouncil.com
Nantucket
Published by The Inquirer and Mirror Inc. 1 Old South Road Nantucket, MA 02554 508 228-0001 nantucketmag.com
Publisher Robert Saurer rsaurer@inkym.com
Editor Joshua H. Balling jballing@inkym.com
Production Manager Meghan Luksic mluksic@inkym.com
Graphic Designer Louise E. Martling
Advertising Director Mary Cowell-Sharpe msharpe@inkym.com
Advertising Sales Alexandro Sforza asforza@inkym.com
Circulation Karen Orlando korlando@inkym.com
Contributing Writers & Photographers
Virginia Andrews
Damon Bates
Mystelle Brabbée Quinn Frankel
Francesca Giangiulio
Adam Nee
Anna Popnikolova
Kaie Quigley Sarah Roberts Scott Thomas
Contact Us: Nantucket Today, P.O. Box 1198, Nantucket, MA 02554. Phone 508 228-0001. Fax 508 325-5089. Advertising and subscription rates online at www.nantucketmag.com
These are just some of the people who bring their talents to the pages of this first issue of 2026, and allow Nantucket Today to reflect genuine island life.
Ginger Andrews comes by her love of birds through her late mother, ornithologist Edith Andrews. Ginger leads bird walks and does barn owl research for the Maria Mitchell Association, and writes the weekly “Island Bird Sightings” column for The Inquirer and Mirror
Sarah Roberts washed ashore from Boston early last year by way of Suffolk University and The Boston Globe. As a staff writer at The Inquirer and Mirror, she covers education and enjoys writing feature stories highlighting local personalities. She recently completed her first marathon, and when she’s not writing, she’s chasing her next running goal.
Quinn Frankel is a Nantucket-based freelance writer and Inquirer and Mirror sports reporter originally from Los Angeles, Calif. She received her bachelor’s degree in art history from Brown University and recently completed her master’s degree in cultural sociology at the London School of Economics and Political Science. She is an avid surfer and musician who loves to be in the ocean and play music in her spare time.
Anna Popnikolova won the Nantucket Book Festival’s young writers award four years in a row and founded the Nantucket Poetry Festival. She is a first-generation American of Bulgarian roots and currently studying at Harvard. A former Inquirer and Mirror intern, Anna contributes regularly to Nantucket Today.
While you were away...
BY KAIE QUIGLEY
Saboteur Slashes Sconset Geotubes
One of Nantucket’s most controversial projects made international headlines this winter as the Sconset Beach Preservation Fund claimed its geotubes, installed at the base of the Sconset Bluff in an effort to slow erosion, were intentionally slashed open by a saboteur.
A $10,000 reward is being offered for information leading to an arrest while the Nantucket Police Department and a privateinvestigation firm led by former Boston police commissioner Ed Davis try to track down the person responsible.
The massive sand-filled tubes were installed in an attempt to protect homes along Baxter Road, utilities and access to the Sankaty Head Lighthouse. The project, paid for by homeowners in the neighborhood most threatened by the erosion, has been at the center of regulatory and legal battles for years, mostly surrounding the amount of “sacrificial sand” that is supposed to cover the tubes.
As the SBPF has failed to meet the sand quota, opponents and the Conservation Commission have called for the tubes to be removed. That removal order has long been in limbo, however, while a proposal to expand the project another 3,000 feet down the beach was being reviewed and ultimately approved by the same ConCom.
The expansion, which would require the use of town-owned land, was narrowly defeated by Town Meeting voters as Nantucket Today went to press. All the while, the slashing suspect remains at-large as the tubes continue to partially collapse.
The Blizzard of 2026
One of the harshest winter storms in recent memory buffeted the island in February. Wind gusts of over 70 mph and about six inches of thick, wet, heavy snow downed several trees, felled dozens of power poles and left most of the island without power. Some areas went without heat and electricity for days while a cavalry of contractors made their way to the island via ferry to turn the island’s lights back on.
A small silver lining, if you can call it that, could be found in the fact that many of the properties without power were unoccupied summer homes, and many islanders were off-island during the storm for the schools’ winter break.
The town opened a warming center at the Nantucket Intermediate School. About a dozen people made use of it, warming up and charging cell phones and laptops, but did not sleep over before the center closed a day later.
The storm served as a litmus test for the town’s emergency response teams, as over a 24-hour period at the height of the storm, the Nantucket Fire Department responded to 75 calls for service, about eight times the typical number of calls on a single day during the winter, fire chief Michael Cranson said.
The Department of Public Works cleared countless cubic yards of snow from roadways and removed more than a dozen downed trees to make island roads passable. Town manager Libby Gibson called it a “significant test” the town passed.
Nantucket at the Olympics
Nantucket was well-represented during the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina, Italy, though not by athletes going for gold. Three islanders were either on the ground or on television to cover the games, two of them former Olympians. Hockey heroine and 1998 gold medalist A.J. Mleczko was in the pressbox as NBC’s primary ice hockey analyst, covering the Games for the eighth time since hanging up her skates.
Her voice was heard on the broadcasts as both U.S. hockey teams took home the gold. Former Olympic figure skater and three-time national champion Ashley Wagner, who washed ashore on Nantucket two years ago and has since immersed herself in the community as director of Nantucket Ice’s learn-to-skate program, was behind the dais in Stamford, Conn., to analyze the figure skating competitions for NBC Peacock’s GoldZone. It was her second time covering the sport on the world stage, first appearing during the 2022 Olympics in Beijing, China.
On the ground to cover moments such as U.S. skier Lindsey Vonn’s brutal crash was Katie McInerney, who grew up on Nantucket before moving off-island to pursue a career as a sports journalist. She has since found success in her role as senior assistant sports editor at the Boston Globe, highlighting women’s sports in particular. While Nantucket felt far away while she was in Italy, her friends and family on-island supporting her from thousands of miles away made her feel a little bit closer to home, she told The Inquirer and Mirror.
Oh, Deer
Serious efforts to curb Nantucket’s deer problem got underway in late fall, including the implementation of an extended hunting season and a state program that allows for hunters to kill more deer to combat food insecurity.
Hunters killed 999 deer on Nantucket this fall and winter, setting a new island record. That number came largely thanks to an extended season for archery and primitive firearms, or muzzle-loaded rifles, which went through Feb. 14 instead of Jan. 1 for the first time this year.
In some areas of Nantucket, deer densities are estimated to exceed 100 per square mile, far above the state’s recommended 12 to 18 for a healthy population.
Does and fawns frequent back yards, and unfortunately the sides of roadways, throughout the year. Nantucket also took part in the state’s Share the Harvest program, which simultaneously aims to decrease the island’s dense deer population while providing hundreds of pounds of fresh venison to food-insecure families.
A new deer processing facility on Boynton Lane established by the Land Bank took in 19 deer throughout the fall and winter season, all of which went to programs such as Nantucket’s food pantry, now headquartered in the same building as the facility.
Kaie Quigley is a staff writer at The Inquirer and Mirror, Nantucket’s trusted news source since 1821.
The Cisco Brewers Mystique Evolution of an Island Empire
BY QUINN FRANKEL
Born on Bartlett Farm Road
On a windy stretch of Bartlett Farm Road, where the pavement softens into a dirt parking lot dotted with rusting VW buses and salt-crusted longboards hanging out of the beds of pickup trucks, Cisco Brewers’ flagship location still feels like a place you’d stumble into.
Organic and unpolished, it opens its arms to any visitor, new or seasoned, who is lured by the subtle rhythm of live music and bursts of laughter echoing from behind the greenery that lines its entrance.
That’s part of the trick. For all of Cisco’s evolution into a global lifestyle and beverage brand, its soul remains rooted in the same island spirit of connectivity and community that first brought co-founders Dean and Melissa Long and Wendy and Randy Hudson together on Nantucket in the early-1990s.
“I met Randy on the island, and we started dating. He was baking bread at Something Natural at the time while I was working at Bartlett’s Farm,” Wendy Hudson said.
“He’s an incredible cook and he had a real way with yeast. We loved good beer, and even though we had no money, he would always buy great beer. I guess that wooed my heart. I got him a home-brew kit for Christmas one year, so that was one of our first experiences experimenting with making beer on the island.”
“I knew Dean and Melissa Long, who started Nantucket Vineyard, through working at Bartlett’s. They had both been farmers and had the winery. Come summer when we were doing the Nantucket shuffle and didn’t know where to live, we heard about the loft over the winery as an option where we could work part-time in exchange for living there. We moved in and brought our home-brew kit and started brewing. Dean thought it was great and said we should sell it there. We told him we didn’t know what we were doing, and that we didn’t know how to start a business, but Dean encouraged us and told us that sure we could, and that he would help.”
Cisco Brewers founders Randy and Wendy Hudson in the early days.
“We truly only saw what we were doing as being the local beer-maker,” Randy said. “The same way you’d go to Something Natural to get a Portuguese roll, you’d come to Bartlett’s to get a Whale’s Tale.”
That modest vision was born partly from Wendy’s time in Northern California, where early microbrewing culture took hold, and partly from Nantucket itself, where chance encounters with equally creative and curious people can go on to shape entire lives.
“It was hyper-local. We didn’t know how to start a business. We just started,” Wendy said.
Cisco Brewers partnered with the Longs’ winery, Nantucket Vineyard, in 1995, when the Hudsons opened up shop in a shed behind the vineyard. The brewery owed its early growth to the support of friends and craft beer aficionados who developed a deep appreciation for its product.
“Our first off-island account was a friend at Hi-Rise Bread Company in Cambridge. He just thought it was terrific beer and delicious, so we wanted to share it. We also started to see how important it was to have employees and be able to provide livelihoods for people,” Wendy said.
Business partner and CEO Jay Harman joined Cisco Brewers in 1996 after approaching Wendy and Randy to interview them for a research paper he was writing as an undergraduate at Fairfield University.
“He came to interview us because he thought of doing a microbrewery on Nantucket. We thought to ourselves, ‘this guy is great.’ He’s much more of a salesman than Randy and I are, we’re both pretty shy. So to have Jay’s talents was crucial. We asked him to come join our team,” Wendy said.
“We couldn’t afford to pay him at the time, so we gave him equity in the company. That turned out to be great. He had much more of an appetite for growth and for seeing how the brewery could be more and more fun. He loves live music and gathering people, so that was always something he was focused on.”
Scaling the experience
In the early 2000s, Cisco’s Nantucket location still felt closer to a community experiment than a rapidly growing company.
“We used to deliver kegs by hand and lug them down Straight Wharf. The beer garden was little more than Adirondack chairs scattered across a yard. Where the beer garden is now, that actually used to be all staff parking,” recalled bartender Tyler Herrick, who grew up on Nantucket and has held multiple positions at Cisco Brewers including warehouse manager and social media lead.
Island musician Doug Cote, who sings and plays guitar in popular local bands Buckle & Shake and Doug and Co., began playing at the brewery after moving to Nantucket in 2010 when there was no formal stage or production crew.
“I came out to Nantucket through a friend who already had some musician contacts out here and was a musician, Floyd Kellogg, who most people know. That’s how I got introduced here in 2010. We had this duo called Lance Mountain, named after the skater. Cisco was the first place I played,” Cote said. “I’d be playing in January through a public address system at the beer bar with, like, five guys at the bar.
“Cisco was always a place where you could show up and there’d
Buckle & Shake, the closest thing Cisco has to a house band.
Francesca Giangiulio
be some form of music or entertainment. You always felt like you were part of it,” added Amy Pallenberg, longtime Nantucketer and owner of biodynamic working garden Harvest Garden. “The band wasn’t separate from the party since there wasn’t a formal stage. You always felt like you were with the band.”
For the Hudsons, supporting local musicians was always part and parcel of their vision.
“There wasn’t a place for local musicians to play during the day. Now, there’s a lot of people making their living as musicians on the island. Live music is such an important thing on Nantucket,” Wendy said. “When you travel, you’re hard-pressed to find it in the same way, except maybe in Nashville.”
“I’ve been playing Cisco for 16 years, and I’ve watched it evolve and change from year to year. It’s been a really good place for music. Coming from New York City, where my old band would maybe play once a month, and you’re trying to get gigs at all the good places, it’s much different here,” Cote said.
acts during the high season, extending its cultural cache well beyond the island. Some of this summer’s big names include Malibu-based rapper Shwayze and Oahu, Hawaii’s Landon McNamara.
From island to mainland
Despite these additions, the original intimacy that defined Cisco in the beginning still echoes, even as it continues to grow far beyond Nantucket with locations in Boston’s Seaport and Fenway neighborhoods, New Bedford and Logan Airport.
For Harman, the turning point wasn’t a single moment so much as a slow realization that what they were building extended far beyond beer.
“It was when the brand started appearing in the wild,” he said. “A Cisco hat in California, a shirt in Japan – that’s when you realize you’re not just selling liquid. You’re capturing a feeling.”
For many, that feeling is a carefully balanced mix of salt air, live music and delicious food and beverages that encompass an afternoon at Cisco.
More so, it is the sense of belonging to something larger – a community grounded in intimacy, connection and fun – that compels people around the world to don the Cisco logo.
“It’s a community space. From burnouts to billionaires, it doesn’t matter. You’re going to share space, and you’re going to be nice.”
– Bartender Tyler Herrick
“Out here, I could play three times a week. Nantucket has been great for me as a musician in that way. It’s been really welcoming, and I feel so much gratitude and appreciation for it.”
Cisco’s Nantucket location has expanded its entertainment capacity in recent years by adding a more formal outdoor stage with lighting rigs, an integrated sound system and a dedicated sound engineer.
“Musically, Cisco really changed when they built that stage and started having a sound person. Whenever a venue has a full-time sound person, it becomes a music venue,” Cote said.
The brewery’s entertainment lineup has since evolved from featuring solely local musicians to hosting larger, nationally recognized
“It’s a feeling people want to be a part of, regardless of their zip code. We’ve embraced being a lifestyle brand that happens to produce worldclass beverages, because if people wanted to spend their whole afternoon with us, we had to provide more than just a drink, we had to provide a lifestyle that was organic, nurtured by our Nantucket roots,” Harman said.
“We followed the lead of our community. It happened when we realized our customers weren’t just thirsty for beer, they were thirsty for connection. We’ve leaned into the experience by creating spaces where music, family, friends, atmosphere and dogs are the primary ingredients, and the beverage is the liquid that brings us all together.”
“It’s a community space. From burnouts to billionaires, it doesn’t matter. You’re going to share space, and you’re going to be nice,” Herrick said.
Growth without a blueprint
Cisco’s expansion has not been without hesitation from its founders, who initially worried about losing the intimacy and that quintessentially Nantucket identity that hinges on creativity and the communal spirit that defines life on-island.
Photo: Francesca Giangiulio
In the 1990s, this worry was heightened by the popularity of brands like Nantucket Nectars, which had already stretched the island’s name into mass-market territory.
“We didn’t want to just be Nantucket Brewing Company, we wanted to be more local than that, which is why we named it Cisco Brewers,” Randy said.
As demand grew, so too did responsibility not just to customers, but to employees and the broader island economy. The ethos of growth as a means of sustaining community rather than replacing it remains central to Cisco Brewers’ island operations. Its Nantucket location stays open the bulk of the winter even at a loss, because it matters to year-round islanders.
It’s become a rare constant: a place where kids and dogs can run, musicians can play and neighbors can gather when much of the island has gone quiet.
Much of Cisco’s growth has been symbiotic with that of the island’s other local businesses, and reflects a broader culture of mentorship and opportunity central to Nantucket.
“Dean and Melissa Long, who were given an opportunity by the Bartletts before them, they gave us an opportunity. I see us giving opportunities to start and grow business here with the catering stuff that goes on here at Cisco, the Raw Bar folks, the Lobster Trap,” Randy said.
“Just to have created a place where there are opportunities for people to start businesses and fund starting families and being able to support their loved ones, this place has been able to do that, paying it forward after getting the opportunity from Dean and Melissa. That’s just a reflection on this community at large. There are so many opportunities here on Nantucket because people are kind and generous.”
The brewery’s intentionally unpretentious, deliberately inclusive culture has proven key to its success as a company. It’s also why Cisco invests heavily in staff benefits like housing and time off, and why turnover remains low in an industry known for churn.
“The decision to treat our culture as a lifestyle rather than a job has been key to our trajectory. By making our staff the priority –investing, maintaining and protecting them – we have created a cycle where happy employees create a healthy, productive company,” Harman said.
“Another major shift was embracing our identity as a laid-back hospitality leader rather than just a beverage company. Anyone can make a good beer but the liquid in the glass and the experience it represents are what differentiates Cisco from any other beverage company in the world.”
Cisco’s expansion has focused less on replicating the physical island and more on exporting its atmosphere.
“We preserve that sense of place by investing in our most import-
ant asset: our people. You can’t duplicate the Nantucket fog or the exact feeling of the island brewery with just decor, but you can work to duplicate the culture,” Harman continued.
“Cisco does a pretty good job of staffing people who promote the stoke that defines our island location. You’ll also get a good taste of what our product is about. At Seaport, they’ve definitely captured the young professional population. It’s a meeting place for them that reflects the social aspect and sense of community we’re always about. All of our locations, which hinge on a beer-garden concept, are designed to bring people together. We’re not pretentious in any way, and we keep our price points pretty reasonable,” Herrick said.
Retaining identity
Cisco’s expansion continues to involve the challenge of exporting its island identity without its roots. Thats challenge was heightened upon the sale of Cisco Brewers to the Craft Brew Alliance in 2018 for $23 million, which was later acquired by beer industry magnate Anheuser-Busch in 2020.
Under the sale, CBA gained control of Cisco’s wholesale side, including its branding and off-island brewing business. The original owners retained control of the company’s retail side, including the brewery on Nantucket and its off-island pop-ups and taprooms. Triple Eight Distillery and Nantucket Vineyard were exempt from the sale.
For both Harman and head brewer Silas Gilbert, that change was liberating, and bolstered the foundation for continued creativity and experimentation on-island: core tenets behind Cisco Brewers’ raison d’etre that also define many people’s lives on Nantucket.
“It’s allowed us to have further freedom to keep doing our own thing. I have been here for nine years,and I have seen a lot of changes, but throughout that time it has been their brewery for 99.9 percent of it,” Gilbert said.
“When the sale happened, it just meant the further distribution of our core brand. On Nantucket, we try to produce things that aren’t done via the mainstream. We have a few lagers and pilsners to try and appeal to the masses, but we’re still trying to do our own thing here, like we always have.”
“Hopefully Anheuser-Busch will catch on and take one of the beers we’ve brewed here for several years and develop that product. Only time will tell on that, but I think that Cisco’s evolution has allowed us to have further freedom without any parameters, it’s promoted free creativity, which is really what has continued to allow this place to be Cisco Brewers Nantucket,” he continued.
“The sale allowed us to professionalize the back-of-house and distribution so we could double down on our front-of house-magic. It provided the infrastructure to spread our brand’s roots while allowing us to keep our focus on the culture and the community that makes us unique,” Harman said.
What comes next
After decades of organic growth, Cisco now faces a different kind of challenge: succession.
“As we get older, our challenge has been to figure out what the right succession plan is to keep the brewery’s roots and feel going forward. We don’t know if any of our kids will want to be involved yet. We want to be able to pass the torch in a way that is true to Nantucket, and we haven’t found that exact vision yet,” Wendy said.
It’s an open question. The founders don’t yet know what the next chapter looks like, only that it needs to remain true to the island that shaped it.
Harman, for his part, sees a future where technology streamlines operations but leaves the human experience untouched.
“A robot might pour a perfect drink but it won’t replace the bartender who knows your story,” he said.
Throughout its expansion, Cisco Brewers has managed the delicate balance of growing without losing its center, of reaching beyond Nantucket’s shoreline while continuing to be a pillar for the community that nurtured it.
“It’s always fun to look back at what Cisco Brewers used to be. But I don’t think I could be where I am if it hadn’t become what it is now,” Herrick said.
Quinn Frankel is a freelance writer, Inquirer and Mirror sports reporter and frequent contributor to Nantucket Today.
Beyond The Beer
Creativity, curiosity and experimentation have been key ingredients driving Cisco’s evolution since its early days. In 1997, Randy Hudson and Dean Long founded Triple Eight Distillery, adding a third arm to the Cisco Brewers family alongside the brewery and Nantucket Vineyard.
The addition of an on-island distillery wasn’t driven by market research so much as creative instinct.
“I think that move was just an innate curiosity on the part of myself and Dean especially. Jay might see it as an opportunity to sell something, but Dean and I see it as an opportunity to make something,” Randy said.
“None of us had any idea about distilling. When we started the distillery, rather than just figure it out ourselves like I had done with the brewery and Dean had done with the winery, we actually made a conscious decision to hire some people
who knew what the heck they were doing. It’s more about a curiosity and desire to explore and make stuff.”
After the state granted Triple Eight a license to produce high-proof spirits in 2000, Long and Hudson brought in expert distillers from Scotland to guide the process and help them develop their line, including the globally awarded Notch whiskey and locally-inspired Nantucket Salty gin that incorporates sustainably-farmed sea kelp from Maine while distilled and crafted on-island.
Triple Eight has offered another platform for reinforcing Cisco’s island identity amidst its expansion by taking inspiration from local ingredients.
“For a long time, we used Nantucket Conservation Foundation cranberries for our Triple Eight cranberry vodka. We partner with our small farm, Cisco Secret Farm, where we now incorporate things we grow on our property into our cocktail
menu,” bartender Tyler Herrick said.
Cisco Brewers CEO Jay Harman believes that operating across winemaking, brewing and distilling has taught Cisco’s ownership a kind of versatility that will prove integral to its sustained growth.
“In an era of health, wellness and sustainability, having a diverse portfolio allows us to innovate – offering everything from craft spirits to lighter, island-inspired options. While the liquid is vital, the hospitality side has the most global potential because laid-back is a universal language,” he said.
“The Notch and our gin have enormous potential and authentic connection to the island. Functional non-alcoholic beverages are seeing a ton of play which we have been experimenting with recently but I still feel like our Cisco experience is the secret sauce.”
Master distiller Bryan Jennings inspecting a batch of Notch.
NANTUCKET
Sean Durnin Chef/Owner sushisean1111.com
774-485-2078
130 Pleasant Street (across from Mid-Island Stop & Shop)
What does Nantucket mean to you?
The community support and knowing your neighbor. Where else can you go and see your mailman and local firemen at the grocery store?
On an average summer day, what is your favorite activity?
Receiving the catch of the day and the four hours of zen state that follow while cleaning and preparing the fish for sushi.
Give us your advice for someone thinking about moving to the island.
Research housing, employment, and recreation ahead of time. Maximize your connections and make no assumptions on housing. The island community warmly welcomes hardworking, honest individuals whose virtues can contribute to our way of life.
What inspires you most each day?
Starting each new day by celebrating my journey of sobriety and my family.
Having coffee with my wife in the morning and dropping off my son at school.
Many factors must align for this to succeed, and I am grateful for the community of Nantucket.
If you were a customer, what would you order?
Tuna and Scallion in a Hosomaki Roll with a pinch of seasalt. No ginger, no soy, no wasabi - keep it simple.
TThrift Shop Finds: History and Bargains on India Street
By Anna Popnikolova
he welcoming black sign swings gently over India Street. Shoppers stream up and down the stairs, in and out the door, like ants to sugar.
In their blue vests, volunteers mill around inside, rearranging hangers, restocking the clothing racks and mismatched shelves, checking out customers with the cheerful ring of the register.
There is no place like the Hospital Thrift Shop.
“I think it’s the thrill of the hunt. There’s always a chance you’re going to find that very special thing that you’re looking for, or come upon something that you didn’t know you wanted,” long-time shop volunteer Nancy Newhouse said.
Growing up on Nantucket, the Thrift Shop’s opening day was like Christmas to me and my friends. As soon as the Nantucket High School bell rang that afternoon in mid-May, we ran out to the parking lot, piled into a friend’s beat-up white Ford and drove downtown as quickly as the school zone speed limit would allow.
In 2019, Newhouse wrote a book called “Affordable Nantucket,” which chronicled the past, present and hopeful future of the Thrift Shop since its founding in 1929.
“I thought one night: ‘Affordable Nantucket.’ I love that, I think that’s a hysterical thought, because nothing in Nantucket is affordable. So, I picked the title first and then I started doing the research. I sort of do things backwards,” Newhouse said. “It was a labor of love. I did it as a volunteer and it just needed to be told. It’s a great story.”
The mission is also about raising money for Nantucket Cottage Hospital. Since opening, the thrift shop has contributed more t han $8 million to the island’s healthcare facility.
The line, of course, winding around the corner, was always the worst part. The air-conditioned rooms waited inside, white hangers all lined up, the silver chains and glass beads dangling on the necklace trees, all the trinkets in the basement on their shelves, waiting to be found and touched and taken home.
But first, sun beating down on our heads, we had to wait.
“It’s like buying lottery tickets,” said Newhouse, who has been volunteering in the sorting room of the Thrift Shop since the 1990s. She has seen it all and tagged it all.
“It’s surprising sometimes what people donate. It’s, let me say, shocking, not surprising,” she said with a laugh.
Over its first few decades, the shop did what Newhouse affectionately called “the Nantucket shuffle,” before landing in its permanent home at 17 India St. in 1945.
The shop was opened during the Great Depression by a group of women selling home goods in an attempt to send charity support to the Cottage Hospital while providing affordable goods to islanders in need.
Today, almost a century later, this mission remains essentially the same.
“Growing up on Nantucket, you know, there aren’t many affordable options,” said Mary Casey, the Thrift Shop’s current executive director. “But (the thrift shop) is consistently affordable. I am always reminding everybody that we have to be true to who we are.”
The mission also remains about raising money for Nantucket Cottage Hospital. Since opening, the thrift shop has contributed more than $8 million to the island’s healthcare facility.
Donations to the hospital during the thrift shop’s first two years were $603 and $603.85, respectively. In 2024, the number was $625,000. Last year it was $660,000.
The shop, where you can find a standard-size bed sheet for $2 or $3, maybe $4 “if it’s high-end,” is certainly the most affordable
source of clothing and home goods on the island by a long shot.
For myself and many other island teenagers, a day at the thrift was our version of a day at the mall. We spent hours rifling through the racks, trying sweaters on over our T-shirts in the mirror, holding hangers up to our torsos and asking each other, “Does this work? Could I make this work?”
Aside from teenage fun, the Thrift Shop gives islanders of all ages the exciting opportunity to find quality items for humane prices.
“I want someone to come in and be able to buy a nice piece of artwork that they otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford,” Casey said. “We have a variety of items, whether it’s something you need or want. We have expensive artwork, we have 50-cent socks, we have coffee machines.”
Brenda Williams, another long-time volunteer and Thrift Shop historian, works in the linen department. Newhouse calls her “The Linen Queen.” Williams said the quality and quantity of donations over the years has been a big change for the little shop that could.
“This past year, in the linen section, I got this whole truckload of linens from a house, where the owner called up the caretaker and said, ‘I want to change all the linens.’ So, they took everything out. There were brand-new sheets, high-end sheets – these were $600 sheets – still in the package, and they came into the shop,” Williams said.
“It’s a different kind of people on Nantucket (now). They’ve got so much money that when they change (things) they just want to change it all, and they hire someone to do it, and that’s how we benefit.”
Getting expensive donations, while exciting, can also be difficult to handle. Committed to low prices, volunteers and management often have discussions about how to price luxury items.
“Because I get so much stuff, I price (things) to move. Some people say, ‘but you could have gotten more for that,’ and I say,
‘I don’t want it sitting on the shelf.’ I want it to move because I’ve got eight boxes in here that I still have to put out,” Williams said.
“Because of the cost of living on Nantucket, you get used to high prices, but it’s not normal,” Newhouse said. “We make a big effort to price very fairly.”
For visitors and islanders alike, this is part of the Thrift Shop’s allure. But prices aside, modern shoppers are also much more cognizant of their material consumption.
Young people, especially, increasingly opt to thrift over buying new because of the alarming amounts of textile waste taking place all over the world. For many, thrifting is both the affordable and sustainable route.
“Young people have reuse in mind,” Casey said. “People don’t need to go out and buy a brand new sweater for $300 when they can come get it for $8, or a beautiful cashmere for $15. And when we take donations in, everybody who stops here with bags of stuff we can sell, that’s not going into the landfill.”
For these reasons, the Thrift Shop has become increasingly busy in recent years. Lines down the stairs became lines around the corner, with people coming to the door 20 minutes before opening, just to get a good spot in the queue.
Volunteers now stand at the door, managing the flow of people
coming in and out, trying to mitigate the amount of elbowing in the shop’s narrow stairwells and hallways.
Some hours, like Thursday evenings, are a little quieter and tend to draw a different crowd. Then, the shop sees service workers after or right before their shifts, after the day-trippers have left and the vacationers have their dinner reservations.
But the spike in the Thrift Shop’s popularity, running concurrently with the uptick in thrifting as a general trend, came from a surprising place for many of the shop’s veteran volunteers: social media.
“A young person told me this – because we never used to get a lot of young people – this young person said, well, don’t you know you’re viral on TikTok? Now we didn’t even do anything with TikTok. We didn’t really want anything to do with it, but apparently these kids are showing off what they bought at our shop on TikTok, so now we get all these young people coming in all excited about buying things,” Williams said.
Williams, who started volunteering “back in the days when we had a cash box and we added up everything on a paper pad,” is a former Thrift Shop board president and a dedicated volunteer. Over the years, she has watched the tide coming in, changing everything.
“It was very much a quiet store. We didn’t have any electronics. We didn’t even have AC, I mean, we would just open the windows and sweat,” she said. “It really was a much smaller operation.”
Eager customers line up early to get a chance to find a great item at a great price.
For Williams, Newhouse and many other volunteers who have pledged their summers year after year, 17 India St. is a family home.
“My husband has had a lot of health issues over the past three years,” Williams said, “and it’s been emotionally draining. These people have been a huge support to me, because I can go in and talk to them, and they’re all really good, they’re really nice to me. They’re my family.”
Dayanara Garcia Tucos, a Nantucket High School student and Thrift Shop volunteer, got involved at first to fill her community-service hours required for graduation, but found the job more fun than she expected.
“I really loved it,” she said. “Everybody there is very, very nice. I’m usually just tagging and pricing. Honestly, I just enjoy being there. The whole environment is just lovely.”
Alexandra Schella, a senior in college whose family has been visiting Nantucket since the 1970s, started volunteering as a way to pass the time in the summer.
“I was the youngest volunteer by several decades,” she said, “but it never made a difference. I was always treated with respect and kindness, and it felt like I had a whole bunch of extra grandmothers.”
The volunteers aren’t just a community among themselves. Newhouse said they all make an effort to spread the love to everyone on the island. Their dedication to helping others, she said with a laugh, continues far beyond the Thrift Shop’s little white doors.
“A couple of times someone will have a lot of things that they’ve bought and they can’t carry it all, but we’ll say, you know, just leave it here, and when we close, I’ll give you a ride home with your things. We just accommodate people because we love our customers,” she said.
On occasion, Newhouse said, she has gone to homes to help widows and widowers pack up the belongings of their recently-deceased spouses. The work is emotional, she said, but it makes a difference.
“I help them go through everything, and then we get it into my car,and I take it to the Thrift Shop for them. That’s a really hard thing to do, so for the person to have our help is a good thing,” she said.
The loving personal touch of all the Thrift Shop’s volunteers, not to mention the great variety of ever-changing clothes, trinkets,
furniture, accessories, books and artwork, keeps shoppers coming back season after season.
Over the years, they’ve all met some surprisingly eager and dedicated shoppers, the volunteers said.
“People have showed up that come to Nantucket just to go to the Thrift Shop. We’ve even had people from the Vineyard thrift come over and check our place out,” Williams said.
“There’s a group of five nurses who come in September after Labor Day. They come to Nantucket just to come to our thrift shop. I thought that was hysterical,” Newhouse added.
“One of my friends, she’s from Rhode Island, she comes every summer because she wants to come (thrifting). Isn’t that cool?” she added with a laugh. “Nantucket: we’re a destination, not just for weddings.”
Anna Popnikolova is a student at Harvard University, a former intern at The Inquirer and Mirror and a frequent contributor to Nantucket Today.
Announcing the Inky Local Journalism Fund
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Wave Rider
From Nantucket swells a surfing phenom rises
By Quinn Frankel
Photos courtesy of Ryan Huckabee
Professional surfers rarely have a Nantucket chapter in their story.
With world-class breaks beckoning from Indonesia to Hawaii and California, Nantucket seldom makes the list, its mellow summertime peelers and fickle fall hurricane swells always more of an afterthought than a destination.
But surfing phenom Ryan Huckabee seems to have flipped that script as of late. For the Flagler Beach, Fla. native, Nantucket marks a defining chapter in his surfing ascendency, where at 16 and 17 he worked two summers teaching at Gary Kohner’s surf school.
Those summers of 2019 and 2020 marked a formative stretch in Huckabee’s life, when he stood on the cusp of his amateur career, competing in World Surf League qualifying events before graduating to its Challenger Series in 2024.
Huckabee was first introduced to Nantucket’s surf scene through friend and seasonal resident Robbie Goodwin.
“Robbie lived on Nantucket for part of the year. When I was 16, I went up to work at the surf school during the summer, and I did that for two years in a row. I spent a little over a month each of those years working at the surf school run by Gary,” Huckabee said.
“I got pretty close with everyone up there and loved the island. I loved the Nantucket surf scene, too. I tried to surf all the waves up there. I’d love to come back at some point for a swell. The surf scene is awesome, it’s a super tight-knit community.”
“At the surf camp, we’d work super-long days, and sometimes it got pretty grueling spending eight hours in the water during the day just pushing people into waves. Some of my best memories from that time were random little moments in the parking lot with everyone who worked at the surf school, just playing some stupid game while delusionally tired, or just kind of laughing while hanging out in the parking lot. Some nights we’d go to Gary’s house and do a barbecue with the whole surf-school crew. Those are all memories I’ll cherish forever.”
“If you have a dream, don’t be afraid to follow it.”
– Ryan Huckabee
Photo by Robbie Goodwin
Nantucket surfing community mainstay Kohner has followed Huckabee’s career since his surf-school days.
“Ryan was a great addition to our team. I think it was cool how he was so humble and down to earth that most of the people he taught had no idea the level of surfer he is.”
Since those long afternoons at Cisco Beach, Huckabee has made quite the name for himself in professional surfing. He has competed in numerous World Surf League Challenger Series and Qualifying Series events, released his surf film “HUCK” and picked up sponsorships from popular surf-gear brands Vissla, Sunbum, Tim Patterson Surfboards, Pro-Lite and the St. Augustine, Fla. surf shop Surf Station.
Huckabee turned heads in a big way this February at the WSL Lexus Pipeline Challenger at Oahu, Hawaii’s Banzai Pipeline, threading a standout barrel at the famed break that spit him straight into a quarterfinal heat against Morgan Cibilic of Australia, Griffin Colapinto of California and Hawaii’s Jackson Bunch.
While Huckabee had spent winters in Hawaii growing up, February’s contest meant getting acquainted with Pipeline in a way he had yet to fully tap into. His performance was all the more notable given that many of his competitors were practically raised at the world-famous surfing spot, growing from wide-eyed groms to seasoned Pipeline veterans familiar with its heavy barrels and shallow reef.
“I went out twice for the first time when I was 12 or 13. For a couple years when I was younger, about 12-15, I went to Hawaii every winter and definitely surfed Pipeline a little bit here and there, but never really surfed it that big and never really got that good of a wave out there,” Huckabee said. “I stopped going to Hawaii for quite a few years. The surf scene used to be so based around Hawaii: the Qualifying Series would end there, the Championship Tour would end there, it was just such a surf mecca.”.
“But in the last five or six years, it’s kind of died off a bit. It’s so crowded out there that any time I’ve wanted to go do a trip and film for something, it felt like it really wasn’t worth it. With the Lexus Pipe Challenger coming back this year, it felt like a perfect excuse to go out there for a period of time and put some time in the water. Since I was young, I really hadn’t spent a ton of time at Pipeline until this year. I spent several weeks before the event surfing Pipe and getting ready for it.”
The Lexus Pipeline Challenger is part of the World Surf League’s Challenger Series, the second tier of professional surfing beneath the Championship Tour. Huckabee finished third in his heat and ninth overall at February’s event.
Despite falling just short of a top spot, Huckabee walked away with a deeper – albeit ever-evolving – knowledge of what it means to surf Pipeline and compete at surfing’s highest level.
“I definitely learned a lot about the lineup out there. I surfed four or five heats during that contest, and I learned more about the wave than I ever did in any free surf I’ve had out there leading up to it. With no crowd out there, you’re really able to learn the lineup and sit where you want and pick the waves you dream of getting. It was nice, I had quite a few days leading up to the event where it was just big and washing through and not that crowded, and I put some hours in out there, which gave me a little bit of experience and knowledge about the lineup that I carried with me into the competition,” Huckabee said.
“That little bit of knowledge I was able to gain before the event gave me a kickstart where I was able to just soak up a lot of information in my heats. I think when I go back out there next year, I’ll be more prepared and more ready to surf it than ever.”
Huckabee’s early proving grounds were far less predictable than the steady freight train of swell that graces the North Shore of Hawaii. Instead, he cut his teeth in the shifting, windblown surf of the Outer Banks of North Carolina and the inconsistent breaks of Florida’s northeast coast, where he started surfing when he was 5.
“When we do get good waves on the East Coast, it does get fairly heavy and there’s always a lot of water moving. That kind of translates to Pipe pretty well, especially when it’s big and washing through like it was the day I got that wave that advanced me to the quarterfinals,” Huckabee said.
“Still, it’s just a different world out there at Pipeline. The waves are a lot bigger and a lot heavier. It does operate, though, in a similar way that the East Coast would when it’s really big: a lot of wash-throughs, a lot of water moving around, you kind of have to read the ocean and be repositioning yourself. I feel like that experience growing up surfing the Outer Banks and New Jersey and even Nantucket does translate to Hawaii in those specific conditions.”
That gritty coastal context equipped Huckabee with the knowledge of how to adapt, improvise and score big when fleeting local conditions allowed.
“Growing up on the East Coast in general – and there’s been a history of this with a lot of surfers from the East Coast – they are pretty hungry when they get an opportunity at good waves, because growing up, you’re pretty wave-starved and will go long periods of time without surfing good waves at all. That instills this kind of hunger that you want to capitalize on when you have an opportunity to surf good waves,” he said.
That hunger, shaped by his East Coast-upbringing, also gave him a visceral feel for how water moves in heavier surf.
As for the future, Huckabee’s eyes remain set on clinching one of 36 coveted spots on the WSL Championship Tour.
“The end goal is definitely to qualify for the Championship Tour. It would be really cool to be the first person to do that from the East Coast in almost two decades now. The last person was Gabe Kling,” he said.
“I feel like I have a good shot at it. I’m not in a great place this year on the Challenger Series, but it’s my second year on the CS and first year out of the junior ranks. I’ve got some work to do, but I’m on my way. I think that within the next couple years I’ll be able to break onto that Championship Tour.”
In the competition off-season, Huckabee plans to focus more on free-surfing and creative projects, including finishing another film slated for release later this year.
“After our March Australia event in Newcastle, New South Wales, we have our first long break, so it will be nice to focus on the free-surfing side of things and work on some sort of short film like I did in 2024. I was really proud of how that film, ‘HUCK,’ came out. I’ve been slowly chipping away at a short film again, but I definitely need to go spend some time in Indonesia and film for a while to finish that up,” he said.
“I really enjoy that creative side of surfing, of going and traveling
Photo: by Alex Taalman
and having a vision in your head for a surf film and slowly watching it come together trip after trip, then finally having a finished product that you’re proud of. That was a cool feeling with HUCK, and it’s definitely something I strive to do again, and hopefully to make an even better one.”
Huckabee is also hopeful a return to Nantucket might be in the cards if time and training allow.
“I think Nantucket is really under-rated for how good the waves are. Personally, I think Nantucket might have the best waves on the East coast when it’s good,” he said.
“It’s funny, I’ll say the name Nantucket to people around the world who are super-good surfers, and no one will know what it is, versus everyone kind of knows New Jersey has good waves and the
Outer Banks has good waves. Nantucket seems to have gotten lost in there somewhere, but maybe that’s intentional so that it doesn’t get super-crowded when it gets good.”
“I also think the cold keeps people away in the winter and the sharks might keep a couple people away in the summer. Maybe it’s just a bit of a hidden gem still. It definitely has more consistent waves than just about anywhere on the East Coast.”
Last Fall, Nantucket put its surf potential on full display during Hurricane Erin, as local surfers scored heaving barrels and clips from its surf-camera-barren coastline found their way onto Surfline.
“I had a contest during that time, and I almost bailed on it to go chase the swell out there. That might have been my biggest surfing regret last year, not going to Nantucket to chase that swell.
Ryan Huckabee with some young surfing enthusiasts.
Photo: by Ryan Ell
My buddy Robbie ended up getting a couple of the better waves that have ever been ridden on the East Coast during that swell,” Huckabee said.
With a recent third-place finish at the April 2026 Vans Jack’s Surfboards Pro Qualifying Series event in Huntington Beach, Calif, Huckabee continues to carve out a name for himself in professional surfing while pursuing his childhood dream.
“I had a dream when I was a little kid to become a pro surfer, and I never let go of that dream. Now, I get to live a life that I’m so grateful for. I get to travel around the world and do what I love and get paid to do it. If you have a dream, don’t be afraid to follow it,” Huckabee said.
Quinn Frankel is a freelance writer, The Inquirer and Mirror’s sports reporter and a frequent contributor to Nantucket Today.
Photo by Eric Aeder
Nantucket
Brought to you by
Nantucket Book Festival
nantucketbookfestival.org
Festivals &
J une 11-14
The Nantucket Book Festival is an annual celebration of the literary arts that brings together authors, book lovers and storytellers.
For one exciting weekend in June, Nantucket transforms into a book lover’s paradise, featuring a captivating lineup of author readings, panel discussions, writing workshops and book-signings.
PASCON Dreamcatcher Gala
Nantucket Yacht Club
pascon.org/dreamcatcher
June 11
Dreamcatcher is Palliative & Supportive Care of Nantucket’s premier fundraising event, an elegant evening that celebrates compassion, community and the generosity of those who make its mission possible.
Nantucket Film Festival
J une 17-22 nantucketfilmfestival.org
The Nantucket Film Festival, one of the premier destination film festivals in the world, celebrates the art of screenwriting and storytelling through film. Signature events include the Screenwriters Tribute, Late Night Storytelling and In Their Shoes . . . conversations.
2 5th Annual Race for Open Space
Middle Moors
nantucketconservation.org/rfos
June 27
Run, walk or jog (5K, 10K or two miles) on a scenic, rolling course through the Middle Moors. Proceeds support the Nantucket Conservation Foundation’s science, restoration and stewardship work that protects the island’s open spaces for everyone to enjoy.
Special
Friends Fête
Almanack Arts Colony almanackarts.com/friendsfete
July 2
The Nantucket Land & Water Council and Almanack Arts Colony are joining forces to celebrate the wild, preserved beauty of the island’s open spaces with a party that’s as purposeful as it is picturesque.
Downtown Independence Day Celebration
Nantucket Atheneum Luminary Award Dinner
The Nantucket Hotel nantucketatheneum.org/luminaryaward
Nantucket by Design J uly 13-16 nantucketbydesign.com
Nantucket by Design is the annual celebration of art, design and history hosted by the Nantucket Historical Association. The event brings together world-renowned designers, artisans and skilled craftspeople to showcase the timeless elegance of Nantucket’s design heritage.
The Nantucket Show
July 4
July 10
July 17-20
The Nantucket Atheneum introduces the Luminary Award Dinner, a new summer fundraiser that blends timeless elegance with the vibrant charm of Nantucket Island. The inaugural honoree is Nantucket author and National Book Award winner Nat Philbrick.
Nantucket Dance Festival
Nantucket Garden Festival
July 6-12
July 7-9
Nantucket Comedy Festival J uly 9-11 nantucketcomedy.com
The Nantucket Comedy Festival is an annual summer event that brings top comedic talent to Nantucket as the major fundraiser for Stand Up & Learn, an island-based, year-round comedy-based education program serving Nantucket’s children.
Bartlett’s Ocean View Farm thenantucketshow.com
The Nantucket Show consists of 30 carefully selected fine antiques dealers and art galleries from the United States, France and Great Britain offering art and antiques across genres and centuries.
Nantucket Triathlon
Nantucket Preservation Trust
July 18
July 21 S ummer Lecture & Luncheon White Elephant Hotel nantucketpreservation.org/events/summer-lecture/
Join award-winning designer Hutton Wilkinson for an engaging presentation on the restoration of Dawnridge, the Beverly Hills estate of artist and designer Tony Duquette, followed by an elegant luncheon.
The Maria Mitchell Association J uly 23 S targazer Circus Gala
K iller Queen Theatre Gala
July 28 Bartlett’s Ocean View Farm theatrenantucket.org/show/killer-queen/
An unforgettable summer evening supporting Theatre Workshop of Nantucket’s 70th season, culminating in a thrilling Killer Queen concert celebrating community, music and live theater.
Nantucket
Happenings
A rtists Association of Nantucket
Cecelia Joyce & Seward Johnson Gallery 8 Federal Street (508) 228-0294
C + C G allery 30A Main Street (774) 325-5965
Cavalier Ebanks Galleries 10 Federal Street (508) 325-4405
East End Gallery 3 Old North Wharf (508) 228-4515
G .S. Hill Gallery 40 Straight Wharf (508) 228-1353
The Gallery at Four India Street 4 India Street (508) 228-8509
Hostetler Gallery 42 Centre Street (740) 591-8180 hostetlergallery.com
Located in historic downtown Nantucket, Hostetler Gallery exhibits sculpture, paintings, photography and fine art prints from both up and coming as well as mature artists in works celebrating the human form, the abstract and color.
John Rugge Antiques Shop 5 India Street (508) 332-4256
HOSTETLER GALLERY
The Lockhart Collection 15 Centre Street (508) 228-8600
Lynda Williauer Antiques 2 India Street (203) 913-3364
Marcus Foley | Thomas Macy Gallery 12 Straight Wharf (508) 332-9833
Nantucket Estate Jewelry a nd Fine Art 1 Orange Street (508) 228-0272
Pete’s Fresh Fish Prints 17 Old South Wharf (508) 325-1842
Pierce Galleries 5 S Water Street (508) 228-1789
Q uidley & Company 26 Main Street (508) 228-4300
Samuel Owen Gallery 40 Centre Street (508) 680-1445
The Scrimshander Gallery 38 Centre Street (508) 228-1004
Sylvia Antiques 15 Main Street (508) 228-0960
ACK Natural Cannabis Dispensary
19 Spearhead Drive (508) 901-5225
ACK Infusion (469) 235-7864
Collective Wellness
35B Old South Road (978) 771-8857
The Copper Rose 16A Amelia Drive (508) 221-5023
EZIA Athletic Club 117 Orange Street (508) 901-9251
Fairwinds Counseling Center 20 Vesper Lane (508) 228-2689
Glistn Nantucket 5 Old South Road (774) 485-9605
The Green Lady Dispensary 11 Amelia Drive (774) 333-3875
Island Chiropractic 4 Bartlett Road nantucketchiropractic.com
Dr. Nicholas Ouellette aims to teach patients how to thrive in diverse environments, offering a suite of lifestyle modification tools to improve across all pillars of health.
Health Imperatives Nantucket 20 Vesper Lane #3 (508) 228-9189
Wellness
Lavender Farm Wellness
6 West Creek Road (508) 332-3382 lavenderfarmwellness.com
Lavender Farm Wellness optimizes patient health through evidence-based therapeutic services such as massage therapy and other bodywork modalities, functional medicine, along with premium vitamins, supplements and wellness products.
Na ntucket Cycling & Fitness 25 Youngs Way (508) 901-5230
The Nantucket Club at the Nantucket Hotel 77 Easton Street (508) 825-2582
Nantucket Energy Therapy 35 Old South Road (508) 901-3558
Nantucket Healing Arts
16B Amelia Drive (203) 628-5827
Nantucket Health Club 10 Young’s Way (508) 228-4750
Nantucket
Holistic Health
37C Old South Road (508) 228-7577
Surfside Somatics 6 Holly Street (508) 901-9608
Island
Chiropractic
Dr. Nicholas Ouellette, DC, PSP Chiropractic Physician Primary Spine Practitioner
Liaquat Ahamed
Belle Burden
Shannon Garvey
Pamela Kelley
Lois Romano
Jamie Siminoff
Laura Zigman
Dr. Joshua Bennett
Jenna Bush Hager
Julie Gerstenblatt
Kyleigh Leddy
Richard Russo
James Sulzer
Nicholas Boggs
Juliet Faithfull
Alice Hoffman
Norah O’Donnell
Patrick Ryan
Adriana Trigiani
Julian Brave NoiseCat
Mitchell Jackson
Ann Patchett
Julian Sancton
Rick Tulsky Emma Brodie
Angela Flournoy
Marlon James
Vanessa Riley
Ruta Sepetys
John Vaillant
Tayari Jones
Spectacular decoration is everywhere. We stumbled upon this beautiful display in
It’s regarded as one of the best places to experience
Heading to or from a parade, or just dressed from the festival? We didn’t ask. But she was happy to pose for a picture.
Barrio de Jalatlaco.
Dia de los Muertos.
Day of the Dead Ritual and Mezcal in Oaxaca
A
ate in the summer of 2024, my sister and her husband visited the island. As is often the case, we did a bit of a dinearound one night.
In addition to the amazing food we noticed another trend: Mezcal-based cocktails. This led to preparations for a trip I always envisioned to take in Day of the Dead in Oaxaca, Mexico.
If you’re not familiar with Day of the Dead, or Dia de los Muertos as it’s known locally, it is an annual festival in many Mexican communities beginning at midnight Oct. 31 and
The belief is that at midnight the portal between the living and the dead is opened, allowing the spirits of loved ones to return for a visit.
As Oaxaca is one of the most popular destinations to celebrate the dead, we knew we needed to make preparations pretty early: almost a year. This is mostly true for airfares and accommodations, as reservations book up early and prices spike. We also wanted to participate in a few adventures. More on this later.
Flights from Boston mostly stop in either Mexico City or Dallas. And it takes a bit longer than you might think, about eight hours including the layover.
Our rental included a family member to transfer us from the airport. It was well worth the local knowledge to avoid horrendous traffic outside the
We arrived two days early, enough time to get acclimated and witness preparations to transform the city into one giant ofren: an altar that is built in homes,
SCOTT THOMAS
businesses and cemeteries to honor the deceased.
The main component of the altar is an array of bright orange marigolds as well as favorite consumable treats and pictures and candles.
And of course, there are a fair amount of skulls and skeletons. We were told that these allow the dead to mix and mingle without being noticed.
Oaxaca is a small, safe and fairly walkable city that in addition to the festival is well-known for its culinary delights and Mezcal, the a smoky-flavored cousin to tequila.
In addition to all our favorites, we sampled quite a few mole dishes. Mole (pronounced mole-ay) is a rich, somewhat spicy sauce made from chilies, spice, nuts and even chocolate. It’s delicious.
While parades can be held at almost any time, the biggest is the evening of Oct. 31 and it ends in the cemetery where loved ones peacefully await the return of family and friends.
While the parades are loud and a bit boisterous, I was surprised that the atmosphere was generally much calmer than I expected.
One of our adventures took us to a much smaller village outside of Oaxaca where we joined a local family to prepare our own ofrenda and also join in a family-prepared meal and a local village celebration of a thundering marching band – and maybe some mezcal with, I suspect, most of the village. It was a lovely experience.
The celebration ends abruptly Nov. 3 after the portal closes. Our final adventure was to witness the preparation for the production of Mezcal.
Surprisingly it’s a fairly simple process. Harvest the agave hearts. Roast them in a fire pit. Crush the roasted hearts and extract the juices. Distill this juice into Mezcal. Enjoy.
And we did. Just as we enjoyed our adventure in Oaxaca.
Scott Thomas has been a year-round resident of Nantucket since 1989. Originally from Pennsylvania, he graduated from Penn State before beginning a career in hospitality, which ultimately brought him to the island. His first big adventure was a two-month trip to Europe in 1998 and since then he has stamped more than 50 countries in his passport.
PHOTO ESSAY BY
Parades can pop up almost anywhere. This is actually a parade celebrating a wedding.
A solemn – and slightly spooky – procession accompanied by Chopin’s “Funeral March.”
Images of death are everywhere, as in this wall mural, “La Catrina,” the Elegant Skull. She originated as social satire and now reminds us all to live each day fully.
On our visit to a small and more local cemetery near our accommodation in Panteon Barrio, the grave sites were lovingly cleaned and decorated with flowers and candles, as well as favorite snacks for the returning dead.
Parades feature hand-held decor of mainly colorful flowers, a variety of musical instruments and oversized puppet-like characters dancing along to a few musicians. Bystanders are invited to join in on the fun.
This imposing ofrenda graced the entrance to a local restaurant. In addition to the flower work, it features fresh fruit, candles and the symbol of the cross along with an image of the deceased.
A common sight our first few days in Oaxaca before the celebrations begin. Homes and businesses carefully craft their decorations.
Ofrendas can often honor multiple people, as is the case here. The many dolls symbolize joyful memories and not a fear of death.
T here is lots of assorted street food. Much is sold from traditional stalls or carts but occasionally from the back of cars. Or in this case a rusty old VW bus.
A most delicious meal of tacos al pastor, with marinated pork fire-grilled vertically and masterfully shaved off into thin bites. Served with onion, cilantro and a bit of pineapple, it was a warm welcome to Oaxaca.
At this small-batch distillery, they use a horse to turn a millstone which crushes the juice out of the roasted agave hearts. After pressing, the juice is distilled into mezcal. The remnants of the hearts are used to start the roasting fire on a new batch.
An agave field about an hour outside Oaxaca. There are many, many varieties that may be used for mezcal, all with slightly different flavor profiles. This is espadín, perhaps the most popular.
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Director’s Picks
The 2026 Nantucket Book Festival
BY ADAM NEE
The 15th annual Nantucket Book Festival, June 11-14 this year, is the flagship program of the Nantucket Book Foundation and the centerpiece of its mission to build a thriving community of readers and writers on and beyond Nantucket.
The following are some “don’t miss” recommendations from Foundation executive director Adam Nee for this year’s festival, an all-island celebration of literature, learning and connection.
Start the festival with the New Nantucket Fiction Panel, a special Wednesday, June 10 evening kickoff at 6 p.m. featuring authors Kyleigh Leddy, James Sulzer, Pamela Kelley and Julie Gerstenblatt.
The authors will sit down with Nantucket Book Foundation board member Ann Sullivan to discuss their new books and the role Nantucket has played in their writing and their lives.
The panel discussion follows a 5 p.m. casual meet and greet with a cash bar at the Nantucket Dreamland.
Rick Tulsky with Adam Nee 10 a.m. Sunday, June 14 at the Nantucket Dreamland.
I have the great pleasure of sitting down with Pulitzer Prize-winning author Rick Tulsky for a gripping discussion on his newest work of investigative journalism, “Injustice Town: A Corrupt City, a Wrongly Convicted Man and a Struggle for Freedom.”
Our discussion will touch on our criminal justice system, racism and police corruption by focusing on one man’s tragic yet inspiring story and showing us a vision of what a better future could be.
Lois Romano with Kathleen Matthews 10 a.m. Thursday, June 11 at the Methodist Church.
Lois Romano is a celebrated journalist who was an editor, political writer and columnist for The Washington Post and Politico.
Now, with the publication of her new book, “An Inconvenient Widow: The Torment, Trial and Triumph of Mary Todd Lincoln,” Romano brings to life a misunderstood, historically unknown “inconvenient widow” in the wife left behind in the wake of the assassination of her husband, President Abraham Lincoln.
Kyleigh Leddy
James Sulzer
Pamela Kelley
Julie Gerstenblatt
This biography illuminates a lost chapter and presents Mary Todd Lincoln as a formidable force and full partner in what became a historic presidency that changed the course of America’s future. Lois will be joined in conversation by television journalist and communications strategist Kathleen Matthews.
Jamie Siminoff with Kate Brosnan 11 a.m. Thursday, June 11 at the Methodist Church.
I can almost guarantee you are familiar with Jamie Siminoff’s work. A lifelong inventor and mission-driven entrepreneur, he created the world’s first Wi-Fi video doorbell while working in his garage in 2011.
That doorbell has since transformed into Ring, the wholehome security powerhouse acquired by Amazon in 2018 for over $1 billion. Jamie will be in conversation with Kate Brosnan to discuss his latest invention, a book: “Ding Dong,” a candid, behindthe-scenes account of how a scrappy garage startup called Doorbot turned into the household name Ring.
Young Writer Award and Tharon Dunn Scholarship presentation, with special guest Ruta Sepetys, Noon Sunday, June 14 at Nantucket Dreamland.
While the festival offers the chance to hear from some of the most talented and engaging authors of our time, this is also a great opportunity to meet up-and-coming student writers.
Join us Sunday at the Dreamland for the presentation of the Nantucket Book Foundation’s two student awards: the Young Writer Award, which celebrates the work of our high school students who, through an essay competition, will accept their awards together as One Winner, Four Finalists, and the Tharon Dunn Scholarship Award, honoring longtime Foundation board member Tharon Dunn by celebrating a graduating Nantucket High School senior passionate about literature and for whom English is not their first language. Internationally acclaimed New York Times bestselling author, Ruta Sepetys will present.
John Vaillant 12:30 p.m. Sunday at the Nantucket Dreamland.
John Vaillant’s “Fire Weather: On the Front Lines of a Burning World,” was a 2024 Pulitzer Prize finalist.
Through vivid storytelling and meticulous research, Vaillant captures both the human drama and the environmental stakes of a rapidly warming planet.
In this solo session, he will share the real-life events behind his book, the science and storytelling of extreme weather and the urgent questions his work raises about our collective future.
As an award-winning writer known for his immersive nonfiction that explores the powerful intersections of nature, humanity and survival, this session will offer a deeply thoughtful examination of climate change and the escalating forces shaping our world. It’s a session you simply don’t want to miss.
15th Annual Nantucket Book Festival
Celebration Evening, 6:30 p.m. Friday, June 12 at the Unitarian Universalist Church.
A 15th anniversary celebration is traditionally honored with crystal, and like a crystal, the mission of the Foundation in our 15th festival year has been to radiate light, illuminating the power of words to inspire and enlarge our world and connect us to our shared humanity.
Helping us celebrate will be visionary authors Ann Patchett, Patrick Ryan, Julian Brave NoiseCat and Tayari Jones, who will tell us through their own prism how reading and writing informs and brightens their understanding of the world and each other.
Each conversation and shared experience captures what the Nantucket Book Festival is all about: celebrating stories, amplifying voices and connecting through the power of the written word.
Through its year-round programming, the Nantucket Book Foundation champions literacy, inspires young writers and connects our community through books and ideas.
For the complete schedule and more information on the festival, visit www.nantucketbookfestival.org.
Ruta Sepetys
Ann Patchett
Patrick Ryan
Julian Brave NoiseCat
Tayari Jones
Peeling Back Layers:
By Anna Popnikolova
One morning at the breakfast table with her cup of coffee, Ruta Sepetys turned to the daily news in The New York Times of 1925.
Immersing herself in the time period was part of her research on the Gilded Age in Detroit, Mich. for a novel she’d been hoping to start.
A front-page story chronicled the May 1925 Frederick B. Stearns jewel heist in Detroit, in which a 12-foot-tall cabinet of precious jewels was replaced with glass replicas.
Sepetys, curious, went to the Detroit papers for the same day. The story was nowhere to be found.
“I thought, ‘oh my gosh, wait a minute. Was Detroit trying to cover up the story? What’s happening?’ And then, I realized that this jewel heist had a connection to some of the prominent automotive families,” she said.
“Knowledge of the past gives context to the present: how and what is the media reporting on, which stories are coming to the surface and which stories are being buried. It excited me, and it frightened me, and it just really set me on this path to find out what happened to these jewels.”
The idea for the historical fiction writer’s newest novel, “A Fortune of Sand,” came years before she stumbled upon the heist, however.
Sepetys, growing up in Detroit, had visited a family friend’s 1920s-era mansion when she was 9 years old. When she stepped into the house, a secret world opened up before her eyes.
“I realized that some of these mansions in Detroit and Grosse Pointe, they had hidden speakeasies. They had underground tunnels. And this world just came to life for me. And that was the moment. It was such a vivid atmosphere that it stuck with me,” said Sepetys, a featured author at the 2026 Nantucket Book Festival.
Having thought about a novel drawn from those visits for years,
Photo: Rachel Kinney Studios
Ruta Sepetys’ Historical Fiction
finding out about the jewel heist was the last piece in the puzzle for Sepetys. These kind of coincidences are her favorite to write about.
“What I really love to do is to have fact inspire the fiction, because truth is stranger than fiction. Some of these things, there’s just no way you could it make it up,” she said.
Soon after, she began developing her narrative about America’s wealthy families and their legacies of underground secrets, all based in her home city.
“Now, people can’t believe that Detroit was once the Paris of the Midwest. I’m peeling back layers. It’s an exciting, fun story, but hopefully, that’s helping readers understand what Detroit was and now what Detroit is. The book asks, just how far will an American dynasty go to keep its secrets?”
Sepetys has been writing narratives like this for over 15 years, starting with her first novel “Between Shades of Grey” in 2011, which follows a young Lithuanian girl during the Stalinist regime.
The daughter of a Lithuanian refugee, Sepetys said “Between Shades of Grey” was her first real attempt at giving a voice to the voiceless, and telling a story that had never been told before. This mission was what brought her to fiction-writing in the first place.
“I’ve always been interested in storytelling, but I haven’t always been an author. I spent 22 years in the music business, and I was helping songwriters and recording artists, rock bands, tell their stories through music,” she said.
“I realized that when they put their own story into the song, those were the songs that became successful. So I was always asking them, ‘what’s your story?’ And one day, one of the musicians turned the tables on me and said, ‘well, Ruta, what’s your story?’ And no one had ever asked me that before.”
“I did keep some of my old methods but I’m not really telling my own personal story. I write the books, but history writes the story,” she said.
In researching her novels, faithfulness to the facts is extremely important to Sepetys.
She spends five to seven years writing each book, carefully reading newspapers from the period, listening to radio broadcasts to familiarize herself with the spoken language of time, interviewing witnesses or family members and has her interviewees beta-read the work for authenticity.
“I have dear friends who write historical fiction and they think that I go so overboard with my quest for authenticity and accuracy, but in many cases, I am writing about human beings who never had a chance to tell their story, and what right do we have to history other than our own?” she said.
Historical fiction is more important now than ever, and bringing hidden stories to light gives contemporary readers access to information and perspectives they otherwise might never have come across, Sepetys said.
This is the work of researching history. Her work often follows characters living through times of political unrest, dictatorship and oppression.
“You hear this refrain often. We need to know the story or history will repeat itself. I think history does repeat itself to some extent, but that is inevitable. The trajectory through which history repeats itself is different. I want to explore the politics of the past, but in a way that provides a framework for us to learn and grow and create hope for a more just future,” she said.
“So I’m not digging into it to make a statement or take a stand, but to better understand humanity and how we navigated it, and the choices we made, because our decisions shape our destiny.”
Expressing underrepresented voices is especially important, Septys said, and she is proud that the previously silenced voices of women in the 1920s are prominent in her newest work.
“The Roaring Twenties is known as being this
wild and decadent decade, and maybe it was for a few, but many women were really desperate to seize power in a decade that was determined to deny it. There are so many women who were put away by their husbands and sent to asylums,” Sepetys said.
“Some of the characters in the story are following that kind of historical trajectory, and it was really wonderful to be able to write about a group of women who joined together and tried to take power back from those who are trying to deny it,” she said.
Over the years, her novels have taken readers through time, from 1950s New Orleans to the Russians’ Amber Room in World War II, the fall of the Romanian dictatorship in 1989 to the children of Madrid during Spanish Francoism.
Historical fiction gives us a deeper look into the annals of history we couldn’t get any other way, Sepetys said.
“There are so many angles to history, more than we could ever learn through a history class or lecture. There just isn’t enough time. Historical fiction allows us, for a couple of hundred pages, to really go in depth into a unique topic and explore it,” she said.
Her audience over the years has been broad, Sepetys said, but she is most proud of her young readership.
She believes that younger readers have the empathy and openness necessary to read historical fiction, a curiosity and a desire to open their eyes to worlds other than their own.
Sepetys recently visited the Nantucket Public Schools as a Nantucket Book Foundation visiting author, and spoke with students of all ages about telling stories, looking at the world and understanding their role in history.
“I think the most empathetic readers, who look through someone’s eyes and consider their heart, are young people and students. I think that they have such a sense of emotional truth and honesty,” she said.
Another passion is helping aspiring writers recount their own stories so they can put them to the page. As a guiding hand, Sepetys runs workshops across the country, participating in over 200 events a year, most with students.
“I work with young writers who are looking to uncover their own family ancestry and perhaps archive it, or I work with older readers who want to reflect on the events in their life, so they might be able to express their own story.”
“When stories remain hidden in the shadows, sometimes they’re covered by fear or shame or secrets, and sometimes they have just literally slipped through the cracks, the human beings who have experienced those events feel terribly misunderstood, or forgotten, or that people could never understand, and that’s not the case,” she said.
“Knowledge of story helps classrooms, communities, companies and countries better understand each other and it facilitates understanding and leads to us working together to build a better future.”
Anna Popnikolova is a student at Harvard University, a former writer at The Inquirer and Mirror and a frequent contributor to Nantucket Today.
Photo: Laura Smith
Can’t miss at the 2026 Nantucket Film Festival
BY MYSTELLE BRABBÉE
The 31st Nantucket Film Festival returns to the island June 17-22 with a packed lineup of more than 50 narrative and documentary films and a full schedule of signature programs.
Executive director Mystelle Brabbée shared with Nantucket Today some not-to-be-missed highlights of this year’s event:
Five Star Weekend
Some things come full circle. “Five Star Weekend” started as a conversation at the festival last year about adapting Elin Hilderbrand’s novel.
Then the island buzzed during production. Now we get to premiere it before it comes out on Peacock in mid-July, and then dive into what it actually took to make.
In Their Shoes
Come for the films, stay for Paul Feig. I love “Bridesmaids.” So does everyone. But his range goes far beyond that with “Freaks and Geeks,” “Spy” and “The Housemaid.” His In Their Shoes conversation will be a good one.
The Invite
Rashida Jones and Will McCormack. Sharp, funny and the kind of duo that doesn’t waste time on stage. Most know her from “Parks and Rec” and “The Office” but together, they’ve written “Toy Story 4,” “Celeste and Jesse Forever” and this year’s opening night film, “The Invite.” It’s really good.
Chloë Sevigny
Spend some time with Chloë Sevigny. From “Kids” to now, she’s never taken the obvious path. This year she’s in “Five-Star Weekend” and produced “Summer Tour,” set in the world of Deadheads. Yes, she’s a deadhead!
Mighty Mary
A few films to dive into:
“Mighty Mary” follows the first all-female crew to compete for the America’s Cup. Pure adrenaline, and even better with the women behind it on stage to share more stories. They were all Olympic rowers (including the filmmaker).
Bring Me the Beauties
“Bring Me the Beauties” starts on Nobadeer Beach, moves through the world of 1990s supermodels, then veers into something stranger. It doesn’t go where you think.
Sweet Störy
One that’s stayed with me:
“The Oldest Person in the World,” directed by Sam Green. A quiet, beautiful meditation on aging and legacy. It sneaks up on you.
The Oldest Person in the World
And then something bigger in scope:
“The American Revolution,” directed by Ken Burns, this time narrowing in on Thomas Paine. One voice, urgent and uncompromising, helping ignite something much larger than himself.
Afternoon Tea
The American Revolution
In between screenings, we’re introducing something new –Afternoon Tea – short mid-day conversations with a bit of bite. Inside “The Devil Wears Prada 2” with Karen Rosenfelt. A look at branded storytelling with J.Crew and director Kevin Ulrich. And a candid conversation about who actually decides what gets made.
Late Night Storytelling leans into this year’s theme, “Crossing the Line.” Live, unscripted, occasionally inappropriate. Always packed.
Teen View
“Sweet Störy,” set on a remote Baltic island, follows a pastry chef reviving a seasonal bakery with almost no infrastructure. Quietly magical.
For more information and tickets to this year’s festival, visit www.nantucketfilmfestival.org
And then, a quieter but essential part of the week. Two groups of Nantucket teens working behind the scenes. The Teen View Jury, watching every short and picking a winner. And the Teen Digital Storytelling Workshop, where high school students write their own stories. One of the best parts of the festival.
Mystelle Brabbée is executive director of the Nantucket Film Festival, she’s been involved with NFF, founded by brother and sister Jonathan and Jill Burkhart, who grew up on the island, since year two.
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TICKed OFF
New Ticks in Town
BY VIRGINIA ANDREWS
June marks the height of “tick season.”
Coastal communities with mild winters and high humidity unfortunately make ideal conditions for the little critters. But with precautions, we can still enjoy the outdoors. The first step is to know your ticks and their tricks.
Ticks are tiny arachnids – related to spiders, scorpions and mites – that have an ick-factor completely out of proportion to their size.
Depending on their life stage, that size varies from the size of a period in 12-point type to about 3/16 of an inch. Ticks have four life stages, called instars, from egg to adulthood.
A variety of tick species can carry a variety of diseases – bacterial, protozoan or viral – with 13 different diagnoses to consider in the northeast United States.
Ticks feed on almost anything with blood: rodents, pets, livestock, birds, rabbits, squirrels, even snakes.
Ticks pick up disease by feeding on an infected host. Each instar requires a meal, but not all hosts are infected.
There have been many changes to tick species on Nantucket over time. As early as 1937, entomologists identified a unique mouse tick, Ixodes muris, from specimens collected here. Now considered possibly extinct, it was probably pushed out by other species.
The dog tick was the most common here and around New England through the 1950s and 1960s. People simply picked them off their pets, consigning them to an alcohol-filled “tick jar.”
The health concern was what was then called Rocky Mountain spotted fever. But it was rare on the islands.
Now, dog ticks are vanishingly rare on Nantucket, probably because owners can treat their pets with a variety of preventatives.
Starting in the 1970s the tick picture began to change. A couple of other things were happening on the island. Deer, first introduced with one buck and four does in the mid-1920s, began a population increase, appearing in new places.
A randy buck, taking exception to his reflection in a large plate-glass window, attacked
Butner’s Department Store on Main Street, to the detriment of both.
Another change: The economy tipped the scales so that Nantucket land suddenly became more valuable and sold faster.
Wages in the building trades increased, cutting into hunting time. And with more building, more people moved into tick habitat, while deer and other natural tick hosts found shelter and food – hydrangea for breakfast, anyone? – in new developments.
Enter the black-legged tick, Ixodes scapularis, perhaps carried by birds. Ixodes nymphs cluster on the bare skin around bird’s eyes. Lyme disease, first identified due to a large cluster of pediatric arthritis in Lyme, Conn., arrived on Nantucket, too.
Nantucket was prime habitat for the northern black-legged tick, also called the deer tick, with a subspecies Ixodes dammini . From a disease-transmission standpoint, a crucial difference is that dammini feed on humans in the nymph stage.
Given that it takes at least 18 hours to transmit that diseasecarrying bacteria from tick to human, it is much harder to detect tiny nymphs and remove them in time, making early-instar deer ticks
more dangerous.
Studies of ticks, hosts and diseases on Nantucket began in earnest in 1975, with researchers Spielman and Piesman.
Since the early days, Sam Telford, an epidemiologist at Tufts University, has been visiting Nantucket every year to trap, sweep and collect blood samples, continuing that research today.
Dr. Timothy Lepore took an early interest in tick-borne disease and treatment, helping many people whose doctors were skeptical that Lyme disease even existed.
A vaccine was developed, and many Nantucketers participated in the initial trials. Lyme vaccine was later dropped – except for dogs –possibly due to mediocre profits. But there is some talk of re-visiting the idea.
Last year marked the 50-year anniversary of babesia research, another mysterious “Nantucket illness” caused by a protozoan carried by deer ticks. There is also a deer tick encephalitis fever, caused by a virus.
But deer ticks are relatively laid-back hunters. They hang out on blades of grass waiting for a meal to walk by. So, we begin avoiding them by staying out of long grass.
But around 2014 another species arrived, first seen in quantity on Tuckernuck: the so-called lone star tick, named for a central white
research.
A black-legged tick
Sam Telford, an epidemiologist at Tufts University, collects ticks for
dot that decorates the back of the adult.
There is nothing laid back about lone stars. They are the most aggressive hunters. Attracted by carbon dioxide, they run for a meal from anything that breathes.
Nymphs sometimes cluster in seed-heads, making a “tick bomb” worthy of Hollywood. They also travel by bird, attaching to feet and legs.
Starting around four or five years ago, they expanded on Nantucket. They are noted for the extreme itchiness of their bites, and their ability to make a series of bites before attaching.
They can carry the bacteria causing ehrlichiosis, as well as a couple of viral fevers. Some people can develop alpha-gal, an allergy to mammalian products such as meat or dairy, from lone star saliva. In extreme form the allergic reaction can even be life-threatening.
One curious experiment was a “tube test” where a lone star tick was placed in the center of a tube, a man breathing at one end of the tube, a woman at the other. Eighty-five percent of the time, it went for the woman.
Newest to the Nantucket outdoor scene is the Asian long-horned tick. Common in east and central Asia, it is also found in Australia and New Zealand.
It feeds on cattle or sheep. Its first official recognition in North America came when it was found on a sheep farm in New Jersey in 2017.
Prior to that time several had been intercepted by customs, but it is likely, based on some entomology collections, that some were in North America as early as 2010.
The Asian long-horned tick is a less aggressive biter of humans, but it has serious invasive potential. It can reproduce either sexually or by parthenogenesis, basically cloning itself.
Since last year it has been most concentrated on the east side of Nantucket, but has the potential to stage a population explosion.
So, know your ticks. Stay safe in the great outdoors by treating your clothing, particularly socks, with tick repellent, tucking pants
into socks and using preventatives on pets.
If you get that “crawled on” feeling, check for ticks. Carrying alcohol wipes in the field can help immobilize or kill a nymph or adult before it bites. If you do find an attached tick, remove it immediately. Design your landscaping to be less tick-friendly. Mow open areas and keep damp shade away from the house.
In a pinch there are sprays, some of which can be dangerous: pyrethroid compounds kill spiders, are toxic to cats and are particularly dangerous near water, where they can kill fish. So always read the directions.
Fortunately, July drought and high temperatures can actually kill nymph-stage ticks, so some natural relief is in sight, too.
Ginger Andrews writes the weekly “Island Bird Sightings” column for The Inquirer and Mirror, Nantucket’s trusted news source since 1821, and is a regular contributor to Nantucket Today.
Nantucket Conservation Foundation signage on Nantucket advising hikers of preventative measures for avoiding ticks.
A lone star tick
An Asian long-horned tick
It’s also important to protect your pets. Check them for ticks after they have been outside. Treat them with a “tick preventative” product, either a tick and flea collar or drops that are applied directly to the skin. Pets not only bring ticks into your living area, but they can also be infected by ticks and become ill.
When walking outside in potential tick habitats, it’s important to protect yourself with proper clothing and be sure to use a spray containing 20 percent DEET or essential oils.
HOW TO PREVENT TICK BITES
1. Wear light-colored clothes
2. Wear shoes and socks, tuck pant legs into socks, wear long-sleeved shirts
3. Treat skin and clothes with 20 percent DEET or essential oils
4. Examine yourself within two hours of being outside
5. Avoid tall grass and known tick habitats
6. Put clothes in dryer on high immediately after being outdoors in tick habitat
CONTACT THE HOSPITAL IF:
1. You develop a headache
2. You develop a rash
3. You develop a fever
4. You failed to completely remove the tick from your skin
HOW TO REMOVE A TICK
DISINFECT THE GRAB TICK PULL OUT
DISINFECT THE BITE AREA CLOSE TO HEAD SLOWLY BITE AREA AGAIN
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BITTERSWEET LANE - VACANT LAND
Pastoral privacy on this vacant lot of over 20,000 square feet located a short hop from downtown. The lot has Town water and sewer and can have a primary and secondary dwelling. Rare offering.
$1,475,000 | Penny Dey
Penny Dey, Principal Broker, GRI, ABRM
Linda Bellevue, GRI, CBR
Heidi Drew, ABR, RSPS, SRS
Peter DuPont
Angel Conrad Frazier
Mary D. Malavase, GRI, ABR, SRS, RSPS
Meg Ruley, ABR, RSPS
Lisa Sherburne, ABR, RSPS
Melinda Vallett
Geri Walker, RSPS, SFR
Mary O’Donnell, Office Manager
Erikka Perkins, Admin: Bus. Operations
Yesenia Valer, Office Manager
MINUTES FROM MAIN STREET
Ideally located just minutes from Main Street, this distinguished circa-1800 residence presents a rare opportunity to own a piece of history with modern sophistication. The beautifully landscaped grounds, complete with mature plantings and three off-street parking spaces, set the stage. Inside, grand ceilings, five working fireplaces, and bespoke designer finishes define the interiors. Carefully executed upgrades preserve the home’s architectural integrity while elevating everyday living.
$4,295,000 | Linda Bellevue
COASTAL COTTAGE
Discover this charming single-story cottage offering spectacular views of the Atlantic Ocean and direct beach access. Designed for comfortable and effortless living, featuring spacious living areas with soaring vaulted ceilings that enhance the sense of space and light. Large doors open onto an expansive deck, providing an ideal setting for relaxing and entertaining while overlooking the pristine beach. Two bedrooms and 1.5 baths. Wake up to the sounds of the waves and enjoy stunning sunsets and sunrises from the comfort of this home.
The Nantucket Book Foundation, organizer of this month’s Nantucket Book Festival, named Adam Nee its new executive director earlier this year. No stranger to the island, when he’s not reading, Nee might be singing with a local choral group, walking his dog or training with the Nantucket Athletic Association.
Q. What made you want to be the next executive director of the Nantucket Book Foundation?
A. I spent more than 20 years as general counsel for various companies, and while I liked many aspects of that role I began to wonder if there was a way to use my skills and experience for something with a greater public impact. When I learned about the Nantucket Book Foundation position it seemed like a perfect fit for a number of reasons. Nantucket is our family’s favorite place on Earth, and the prospect of being able to promote reading and the power of books to the Nantucket community was very enticing. I’m an avid reader, and have read aloud to our daughter from her earliest days through the present: “the full “Wizard of Oz” series, “A Series of Unfortunate Events” books, Asimov’s “Foundation” trilogy and currently “Shogun” during college breaks. What really clinched the role for me was meeting our board of directors, passionate and talented people pouring their time and energy into expanding access to books and authors and the celebration of the written word.
Q. When did you first fall in love with Nantucket?
A. I grew up in Kingston, Mass., but hadn’t visited Nantucket until the summer of 2010. My wife and I brought our then 3-year-old daughter for a week that summer and rented a house right near the Old Mill. One of my favorite memories is running after our daughter on her training-wheel bike up and down the bike path. We fell in love with the hiking trails, bike paths and beaches, and the more time we visited the more we wanted to come back. It’s been a wonderful 16 years, and we’re quite happy to be able to spend so much time on this amazing island.
BY SARAH ROBERTS
Q. When did you become a reader?
A. I have been a voracious reader my whole life. Growing up I would routinely check out a huge stack of books from our local library and tear through them in short order. My sister and I won the summer reading award at our local library several times, and reading has continued to play a large part in my life. There is something so exciting about stumbling upon a new author or a new genre and getting to experience a different place and time through the books. It feels almost like time-traveling.
Q. What is your favorite book?
A. “A Short History of Nearly Everything” by Bill Bryson. It is an absolute masterwork. Bryson started as a travel writer before turning his prodigious talents to everything from an examination of Shakespeare to the history of the home to his most recent book about the human body. He has the unique ability to take something that should be dry and inaccessible – like the history of the universe and science – and make it entertaining, memorable, understandable and in parts laugh-out-loud funny. I don’t know how he does it, but I hope he keeps doing it.
Q. How do you fill your time when you aren’t reading or working?
A. I sing in a chorus, the New World Chorale, that performs with different local orchestras. I’m also a triathlete and am often chasing the other much faster Nantucket Athletic Association swimmers around the harbor on summer mornings. Aside from that, our dog seems to take up every other waking moment, or at least I think that’s his goal.
Q. If you could bring any author, living or dead, to the festival, who would it be?
A. While I would be tempted by Bill Bryson, I would have to pick Stephen King. I think I’ve read all his books, and I am blown away by his ability to create a whole world of compelling characters and storylines from the simplest of premises. He has a reputation as a horror writer, and is one of the masters, but then you read “The Green Mile,” or “11/22/63” or “Fairy Tale” and you think,
“How is this the same writer?” Also, many of his books and short stories have been turned into movies and shows, which gives him a perspective that not all authors have. I don’t think we would ever run out of questions for him if he was at our festival.
Q. Is there a book you think every Nantucketer should read?
A. Nathaniel Philbrick’s “Away Off Shore” would be my choice. It covers the history of Nantucket beyond just the whaling industry and is simply fascinating. It is really neat to learn about some interesting part of Nantucket’s history and then be able to ride your bike to where it took place. Who knew that Nantucket’s main harbor used to be in a different location?
Q. What is your guilty pleasure genre?
A. That would probably be sci-fi, although I’d argue that Douglas Adams’ “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” remains one of the best books ever written.
Q. What are you most proud of that has nothing to do with your career?
A. Back in 2020, our off-island town’s annual triathlon was canceled like so many other public events during the pandemic. It had been a fundraiser for Dover-Sherborn High School athletics. After two years it became clear that it was unlikely to return on its own, so a friend and I decided we would try to resurrect it. Finally, after many months of frantic planning and frenzied panic we re-launched the DS Boosters Triathlon, and it was a huge success.
Q. Other than the Nantucket Book Festival, which festival weekend on Nantucket is your favorite?
A. I’ve always loved Daffodil Festival weekend. The weather has warmed up by then, the island is newly in bloom and everyone is having a great time. It’s a perfect opportunity to don yellow pants and check out vintage automobiles.
Sarah Roberts is a staff writer at The Inquirer and Mirror, Nantucket’s trusted news source since 1821.
