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It’s time for another Map Monday! Today we share this plan of Land at Coatue, Nantucket, Mass., Section I, 1890, by Jesse Baker Snow (1868–1947).
Late 19th-century real estate speculation on Nantucket left no corner untouched. In 1890, a syndicate of New York businessmen purchased the holdings of the Coatue Land Company, comprised of the barrier beach between Nantucket Harbor and Nantucket Sound. This plat shows their plan for subdividing the sandy spit into lots for a hotel, shops, and summer cottages. Few were developed, but a road and many small bathing houses were added. The 1883 Cedar Beach House (“Club House”) was renovated, and a new toboggan slide was installed.
Nantucketer Jesse B. Snow drafted the plan you see here the year after receiving his degree in civil engineering. Snow is also credited with surveying an early railroad route from town to ‘Sconset. He went on to become a noted tunnel engineer who worked on New York’s subway system and the Holland Tunnel in the early 20th century.
Check out our Visions of Nantucket: Cottage Cities that Never Were exhibited at Hadwen House to see this plan on display. Open daily, at 96 Main Street, from 10 am-4 pm.
Image credits:
Plan of Land at Coatue, Nantucket, Mass., Section I, 1890
Jesse Baker Snow (1868–1947), civil engineer
Museum collection, MS1000-6-3-1
Slide and bath houses at Coatue, 1890s
Unidentified photographer, P9647
Have you stopped in to visit our Summer on Nantucket: A History of the Island Resort exhibition now on display at the Whaling Museum?
Explore the story of Nantucket as a summer destination, from the opening of the first tourist hotels in the 1840s to the multi-billion-dollar real-estate, construction, and rental economy of today.
Now open daily, 10 am-5 pm. And don’t forget Island Residents are offered FREE admission thanks to the generous support of The ReMain Nantucket Fund.
Video from NHA film archive.
Did you hear?! Hadwen House at 96 Main Street is open for the season!
One of the highlights of visiting this Historic Property is seeing our exhibition on Nantucket Lightship Baskets. Tracing the development of Nantucket lightship baskets from their 19th-century origins to the diverse traditional and experimental forms being created by the island’s weavers today. It highlights individual makers across time and features both the José Reyes workshop and a special case displaying the many basket purse designs he invented before settling on the iconic form still prized by collectors today.
Now open daily, 11 am-4 pm, through October 9. Admission is included with your Whaling Museum ticket. We hope you will stop by for a visit!
We are two weeks away from our Historic Sites opening for the season on June 14! Including the Old Mill, Oldest House, Greater Light, and the Old Jail. All sites will be free for visitors for the entire summer, and plenty of family fun offerings will be offered at each – stay tuned for more announcements!
This postcard of the Old Mill was postmarked on August 9, 1958, with a message that reads: “Fine weather this past week for painting. There`s a crowd here, but mostly a bicycle crowd,” signed Katherine E. to Miss Blanche Partridge.
Photo: P16906
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