History is quite simply the story of people and places. Herein is a diverse collection about the special people of Nantucket.
- Who was Joseph R. Lewis Jr.?
Joseph R. Lewis Jr. (1850–1925) was a farm laborer and lived his entire life on Nantucket. Born in the Cape...More Read more from Who was Joseph R. Lewis Jr.? - Arthur Cooper’s Escape from Slavery
Arthur Cooper fled slavery in Virginia, settling on Nantucket around 1820 with his wife Mary and their children, who were...More Read more from Arthur Cooper’s Escape from Slavery - Who was Florence E. Clay Higginbotham?
Born in Virginia in 1893, Florence E. Clay Higginbotham made Nantucket her home. After formally training at the Boston Cooking...More Read more from Who was Florence E. Clay Higginbotham? - Who was Diana Jones?
Diana Jones (1801–1879) was born in New York and came to Nantucket sometime in the 1820s. Around 1828, she became...More Read more from Who was Diana Jones? - William Owen: Holokahiki
A holokahiki is a Hawaiian mariner who has journeyed to distant lands. William Owen was one of many Native Hawaiians...More Read more from William Owen: Holokahiki - Oceans Unheard: Nantucket’s Nineteenth-Century Deaf Children
In 1822, the Nantucket Inquirer newspaper reprinted an editorial from the Charleston Courier entitled “The Deaf and Dumb.” It asserted...More Read more from Oceans Unheard: Nantucket’s Nineteenth-Century Deaf Children - Ann Ramsdell Congdon’s Nantucket Renaissance
An artist’s return to painting in her own words This article originally appeared in the Summer 2021 issue of Historic Nantucket....More Read more from Ann Ramsdell Congdon’s Nantucket Renaissance - The Second Voyage of Charles Ramsdell
This article originally appeared in the Fall 2021 issue of Historic Nantucket. Charles Ramsdell is remembered in Nantucket history as...More Read more from The Second Voyage of Charles Ramsdell - Who was Whale Oil Gus?
Augustus Eliot Folger was born to whaling captain Henry B. Folger and Sarah (Swain) Folger on February 10, 1852, in...More Read more from Who was Whale Oil Gus? - Biographical Sketch of Joseph W. Plasket
Joseph William Plasket (June 2, 1775–April 19, 1827) was a master mariner who resided for most of his life in...More Read more from Biographical Sketch of Joseph W. Plasket - The Power of Voice, Reflections on Lucretia Mott (1793-1880)
She’s the best-kept secret in American history, and even on Nantucket, where she was born in 1793. I met her...More Read more from The Power of Voice, Reflections on Lucretia Mott (1793-1880) - The Real Women of Petticoat Row
Crèvecoeur, in his 1782 Letters from an American Farmer, famously noted how the maritime economy of Nantucket engendered independence and...More Read more from The Real Women of Petticoat Row - Judith Macy and Her Daybook; or, Crevecoeur and the Wives of Sherborn
Of the more than five hundred account books held in the collections of the Nantucket Historical Association, there are just...More Read more from Judith Macy and Her Daybook; or, Crevecoeur and the Wives of Sherborn - Mary Coffin Starbuck’s “Account Book with the Indians”
Mary Coffin Starbuck’s “Account Book with the Indians” is a sheepskin-covered ledger tracking the credits and debits of the two...More Read more from Mary Coffin Starbuck’s “Account Book with the Indians” - Who was Paul Cuffe?
Whaling captain and merchant Paul Cuffe, sometimes spelled Cuffee, (1759–1817) was one of the most prominent and financially successful people...More Read more from Who was Paul Cuffe? - Billy Baldwin (1903–1983)
“Billy Baldwin was unquestionably the most influential interior designer of the twentieth century” Margaret Kennedy, House Beautiful, 1999 By Peggi Godwin,...More Read more from Billy Baldwin (1903–1983) - North Carolina and Anna Gardner
Anna Gardner went south during and after the Civil War to teach freedmen. Twice her assignments took her to North...More Read more from North Carolina and Anna Gardner - A Most Accomplished Captain
Captain Benjamin Worth (sailing career, 1783–1824) was almost continually at sea. He began when he was fifteen years old and...More Read more from A Most Accomplished Captain - What is the history of the very old house at the far end of Dukes Road?
The Elihu Coleman House was built in 1721–22 by Quaker carpenter Elihu Coleman (1699– 1789) when he was still in...More Read more from What is the history of the very old house at the far end of Dukes Road? - Who was Mary Ellen Pleasant?
Mary Ellen Pleasant, born a slave in Georgia in circa 1817, came to Nantucket in 1827 as a young bonded...More Read more from Who was Mary Ellen Pleasant? - California’s First Congressional Representative
George W. Wright of Nantucket was the first representative to Congress from California after that state’s admission to the Union...More Read more from California’s First Congressional Representative - At the Gold Rush by Accident
Charles B. Swain (1806–1876) went to sea at the age of eleven in his father’s whaleship President. His first command...More Read more from At the Gold Rush by Accident - The Voyage of Mary and Emma
The forty-four-ton fishing schooner Mary and Emma was the smallest vessel to sail around Cape Horn to California during the...More Read more from The Voyage of Mary and Emma - Nantucketers and the Gold Rush
More than 650 Nantucketers traveled to California between October 1848 and December 1849 to seek their fortunes in the...More Read more from Nantucketers and the Gold Rush - Mementos of Seth Mitchell
These are mementos of Seth Mitchell, a young man who left Nantucket for California only to die within a year...More Read more from Mementos of Seth Mitchell - “The Best Nantucketer of Us All”: Dr. Benjamin Sharp
Unlike traditonal museums, historic sites have a rhythm about them that is as predictable as Nantucket’s tides and the arrival...More Read more from “The Best Nantucketer of Us All”: Dr. Benjamin Sharp - Who was Phebe Lovelace?
Phebe Lovelace was a heroic resident of Nantucket’s Asylum for the Poor On February 21, 1844, fire broke out in...More Read more from Who was Phebe Lovelace? - The Unemployable Herman Melville
After all this time, we are still learning a little more about Herman Melville’s decision to sign on a whaleship...More Read more from The Unemployable Herman Melville - Journal of the No-Name Storm
Also known as “the Perfect Storm” The following is an excerpt from Susan Beegel’s diary of the October 30 storm...More Read more from Journal of the No-Name Storm - Did men from New Guinea Nantucket neighborhood participate in the Civil War?
About twenty men of color who identified Nantucket as their hometown served in the Union Navy and the Union Army...More Read more from Did men from New Guinea Nantucket neighborhood participate in the Civil War? - Ships of the Boston Tea Party: Eleanor, Beaver, and Dartmouth
The Boston Tea Party was the culmination of a series of events that steadily aroused the ire of colonists who...More Read more from Ships of the Boston Tea Party: Eleanor, Beaver, and Dartmouth - Who were some of Nantucket’s latter-day Wampanoag women?
When German-born artist Hermine Dassel came to Nantucket in 1851 to paint a portrait of Maria Mitchell, she stayed to...More Read more from Who were some of Nantucket’s latter-day Wampanoag women? - Right Place, Right Time: The Advent of Cottage-Style Living
Euler and Oates were in the right place at exactly the right time for taking advantage of a change in local economy. - When did women first vote on Nantucket?
Women on Nantucket voted for the first time in February 1880. The Massachusetts legislature passed a law allowing women to...More Read more from When did women first vote on Nantucket? - The Spermaceti Candle Factory Industry in American Economic History
Recording of the The Spermaceti Candle Factory Industry in American Economic History lecuture given at the Oil, Business & Blubber...More Read more from The Spermaceti Candle Factory Industry in American Economic History - What does a controversy about fishing in Nantucket’s ponds have to do with New York?
In the spring of 1954 two young Nantucket men were arrested by the game warden for fishing in Long Pond...More Read more from What does a controversy about fishing in Nantucket’s ponds have to do with New York? - How a Nantucket Woman Made Macy’s
Nantucket women have a long history in business, taking an active role in running island stores while many men were...More Read more from How a Nantucket Woman Made Macy’s - Who was ‘Sconset’s “sanguine genius”?
In the late 1800s, New Yorker Edward Underhill foresaw a prosperous future for the village of ‘Sconset. A war correspondent...More Read more from Who was ‘Sconset’s “sanguine genius”? - Who was William Flagg, and what did he have to do with the ‘Sconset Footpath?
In 1873, William Flagg, a summer resident of Nantucket, obtained title to a large section of land between the village...More Read more from Who was William Flagg, and what did he have to do with the ‘Sconset Footpath? - What did James Loper and Ichabod Paddock contribute to the development of the Nantucket whaling industry?
Very little. In the summer of 1672 the town offered two grants to off-islanders to contribute their special skills to...More Read more from What did James Loper and Ichabod Paddock contribute to the development of the Nantucket whaling industry? - Before the Rockefellers, there were the Rotches, Part 1 of 13
View all articles in this series Summary: Three generations of Rotches dominated Nantucket’s politics, economy, and society. The rise of...More Read more from Before the Rockefellers, there were the Rotches, Part 1 of 13 - For those who fail at business…there’s always politics, Part 2 of 13
View all articles in this series Summary: Like the commodity markets today, the price of both spermaceti and oil fluctuated...More Read more from For those who fail at business…there’s always politics, Part 2 of 13 - The Tea Party: bad for business, Part 3 of 13
View all articles in this series Summary: Their journeys began with little fanfare. After selling their whale oil in London,...More Read more from The Tea Party: bad for business, Part 3 of 13 - A different kind of sunken treasure, Part 4 of 13
View all articles in this series Summary: Little did anyone know in 1773 that the Rotches’ entanglement in Revolutionary politics...More Read more from A different kind of sunken treasure, Part 4 of 13 - The Falkland gambit, Part 5 of 13
View all articles in this series Summary: The onset of war between Britain and the American colonies devastated Nantucket’s economy....More Read more from The Falkland gambit, Part 5 of 13 - “No step between being clear, and death,” Part 6 of 13
View all articles in this series Summary: Unfortunately for Nantucket and for Rotch, troubles with Massachusetts were only beginning. The...More Read more from “No step between being clear, and death,” Part 6 of 13 - Patriotism…and false flags?, Part 7 of 13
View all articles in this series Summary: Though both American and British officials believed he secretly supported the other side,...More Read more from Patriotism…and false flags?, Part 7 of 13 - America’s first trade war: bad for business, Part 8 of 13
View all articles in this series Summary: Great Britain punished the victorious rebels by passing the Alien Duty immediately after...More Read more from America’s first trade war: bad for business, Part 8 of 13 - You can run but you can’t hide (in France), Part 9 of 13
View all articles in this series Summary: William Rotch dispatched his son Benjamin to Dunkirk to begin relocating the family...More Read more from You can run but you can’t hide (in France), Part 9 of 13 - Whaler, traitor, coward…spy?, Part 10 of 13
View all articles in this series Summary: As the war grew closer, the Rotches decided they could no longer risk...More Read more from Whaler, traitor, coward…spy?, Part 10 of 13 - Can you ever go home again?, Part 11 of 13
View all articles in this series Summary: William Rotch returned to Nantucket in 1794, hoping to resume his business and...More Read more from Can you ever go home again?, Part 11 of 13 - Post-script: Jefferson’s accusations and Adams’s Revenge, Part 12 of 13
View all articles in this series John Hancock was not the only “founding father” with whom the Rotches tangled. While...More Read more from Post-script: Jefferson’s accusations and Adams’s Revenge, Part 12 of 13 - Adams’s revenge, Part 13 of 13
View all articles in this series William Rotch had hoped and expected for a quiet retirement upon his return to...More Read more from Adams’s revenge, Part 13 of 13 - Who was Cyrus Peirce and why is there a school named for him?
There is only one school on the island that bears a person’s name and that school is Cyrus Peirce Middle...More Read more from Who was Cyrus Peirce and why is there a school named for him? - Who was Margaret Pope?
Margaret Pope (1901–1985) was the colorful proprietor of The Enchanted Doll House at 6 Walnut Lane. Born and raised in...More Read more from Who was Margaret Pope? - Who was Long Tom Coffin?
Long Tom Coffin is a character in James Fenimore Cooper’s 1824 novel The Pilot. The novel was published ten years...More Read more from Who was Long Tom Coffin? - Who was Josephine White Hall?
Josephine White Hall was a beloved mezzosoprano who was featured artist in the Noonday Concert series at the Unitarian Church...More Read more from Who was Josephine White Hall? - Who was Deborah Chase?
Deborah Chase (1750–1818) was the older sister of Nantucket’s Revolutionary War hero Reuben Chase. Both siblings were notable for their...More Read more from Who was Deborah Chase? - What was the Brotherhood of Thieves Riot?
The Brotherhood of Thieves Riot refers to riots that occurred in the streets of Nantucket in the summer of 1842....More Read more from What was the Brotherhood of Thieves Riot? - Why did Zaccheus Macy call Tristram Coffin “grandfather of almost all of us”?
Tristram Coffin (1609–1681) and Dionis Stevens Coffin (1613–1684)* were the parents of seven children and grandparents of seventy-five. Zaccheus Macy...More Read more from Why did Zaccheus Macy call Tristram Coffin “grandfather of almost all of us”? - What was the atmosphere on Nantucket when Frederick Douglass made his first visit?
Coming up to August 1841, intense debate was being carried on through letters published in the island’s newspapers. A battle...More Read more from What was the atmosphere on Nantucket when Frederick Douglass made his first visit? - Were Cy and Rose Kaufman the first Jewish entrepreneurs on Nantucket?
Although Cy’s Green Coffee Pot Bar and Restaurant was an island institution dating back to mid-1930s, the Kaufmans had predecessors....More Read more from Were Cy and Rose Kaufman the first Jewish entrepreneurs on Nantucket? - Who were the Proprietors?
Like many English settlements in early New England, the one on Nantucket began as a closed corporation put together by...More Read more from Who were the Proprietors? - What was phrenology and what does it have to do with Nantucket history?
The phrenology craze of the first half of the 1800s swept Nantucket in the 1830s. A series of phrenology lectures...More Read more from What was phrenology and what does it have to do with Nantucket history? - Who were Nantucket’s “last Indians?”
For many years Abram Quary (Abraham Skootequary) was considered to be Nantucket’s “last Indian,” even though a woman, Dorcas Honorable,...More Read more from Who were Nantucket’s “last Indians?” - Were Robert and Julia Mooney the first Irish people to settle on Nantucket?
No. When the ship British Queen bound for New York from Dublin with 246 Irish passengers (5 cabin passengers, 66...More Read more from Were Robert and Julia Mooney the first Irish people to settle on Nantucket? - Harriet Myrick Swain, 1815 – 1857, Woman on Board
Harriet Myrick Swain was one of several Nantucket women to join their husbands at sea. Swain and her husband, Captain...More Read more from Harriet Myrick Swain, 1815 – 1857, Woman on Board - Lydia Folger Fowler, M. D., 1822 – 1879, First American-Born Woman to Receive a Medical Degree
Born on Nantucket on May 5, 1822, Lydia Folger was a descendant of famed island scientist Walter Folger Jr. and...More Read more from Lydia Folger Fowler, M. D., 1822 – 1879, First American-Born Woman to Receive a Medical Degree - Eliza Starbuck Barney, 1802 – 1889, Mother of Island Genealogy
Eliza Starbuck Barney is known almost as much for her blue H-style Victorian home at 73 Main Street on Nantucket...More Read more from Eliza Starbuck Barney, 1802 – 1889, Mother of Island Genealogy - Reverend Phebe Coffin Hanaford, 1829 – 1921 Minister – Author – Women’s Rights Supporter
Universalist minister and author Phebe Coffin Hanaford was born in Siasconset on Nantucket on May 6, 1829, to Phebe Ann...More Read more from Reverend Phebe Coffin Hanaford, 1829 – 1921 Minister – Author – Women’s Rights Supporter - Anna Gardner, 1816 – 1901, Teacher – Abolitionist – Women’s Rights Advocate – Author
Born on Nantucket on January 25, 1816, Anna Gardner grew up in an abolitionist Quaker family. She was one of...More Read more from Anna Gardner, 1816 – 1901, Teacher – Abolitionist – Women’s Rights Advocate – Author - Hannah Cook Boston, 1795 – 1857, First Female Steamship Stewardess
Born in Dartmouth, Massachusetts, in 1795, Hannah Cook Boston married the twice-widowed Absalom Boston in 1827, and was instantly a...More Read more from Hannah Cook Boston, 1795 – 1857, First Female Steamship Stewardess - How many Wampanoags were on Nantucket when the first English settlers arrived in 1659?
Estimates vary greatly with general consensus being about 1,500 Nantucket Wampanoags in several groups governed by sachems. Zaccheus Macy, Nantucket...More Read more from How many Wampanoags were on Nantucket when the first English settlers arrived in 1659? - How many people are buried in the Quaker Cemetery on the corner of Madaket Road and Quaker Road?
No one knows for sure, but it is estimated that approximately five thousand people are buried in the apparently empty...More Read more from How many people are buried in the Quaker Cemetery on the corner of Madaket Road and Quaker Road? - What is the significance of the ships’ names over the door of the Pacific Club at the foot of Main Street?
The sign carries the names of the ships Dartmouth, Beaver, and Bedford. In years past, the sign read Dartmouth, Beaver,...More Read more from What is the significance of the ships’ names over the door of the Pacific Club at the foot of Main Street? - What was a Hiding Candy Frolic?
A Hiding Candy Frolic was an elaborate game of hide and seek played by Nantucket High School students in the...More Read more from What was a Hiding Candy Frolic? - Were there Pacific Islanders on Nantucket?
Herman Melville writes of Pacific Islanders like Queequeg on the streets of New Bedford during the whaling era. Were there...More Read more from Were there Pacific Islanders on Nantucket? - When did Nantucketers become Quakers?
The first English settlers who came to Nantucket in 1659–60 were of mixed religious persuasion. To begin with there were...More Read more from When did Nantucketers become Quakers? - Who was Tom Nevers?
He was actually Tom Never, a member of the Nantucket Wampanoag Never family. According to tradition, Tom Never kept watch...More Read more from Who was Tom Nevers? - Annie Mattie Nahar
Raw Courage Annie Mattie Nahar first appears in 1855 as a ten-year-old in the York Street household of Abraham and...More Read more from Annie Mattie Nahar - Nancy Gardner Prince, daughter of a Black Nantucket whaler
A Cosmopolitan Life Nancy Gardner Prince was aware of her roots. As a middle-aged woman writing her autobiography in 1850,...More Read more from Nancy Gardner Prince, daughter of a Black Nantucket whaler - Why is Lucretia Mott a famous daughter of Nantucket?
Lucretia Mott did the things that made her famous as an adult living in Philadelphia, but her formative years were...More Read more from Why is Lucretia Mott a famous daughter of Nantucket? - What is Nantucket’s most mysterious epitaph?
In Newtown Cemetery, right inside the fence along Sparks Avenue, there are a headstone and a footstone just as though...More Read more from What is Nantucket’s most mysterious epitaph? - Who was the first Cape Verdean to become a naturalized American citizen?
On October 4, 1824, José da Silva was sworn in as a citizen of the U.S.A. before the Nantucket Court...More Read more from Who was the first Cape Verdean to become a naturalized American citizen? - Was Nantucket a stop on the Underground Railroad?
There is only one piece of documentary evidence. In 1917 Deborah Coffin Hussey Adams wrote her memoir. Born in 1848,...More Read more from Was Nantucket a stop on the Underground Railroad? - Was there ever slavery on Nantucket?
Yes. People were enslaved on Nantucket as late as 1775. In the Nantucket books of deeds there are seven deeds...More Read more from Was there ever slavery on Nantucket? - Who really was the inventor of modern baseball?
In 1971, the NHA received a letter from Harold Peterson of Sports Illustrated, who wrote: “I am writing a history...More Read more from Who really was the inventor of modern baseball? - What’s in a Nantucket name?
“What’s in a name!” Juliet to Romeo “With a name like yours, you might be any shape, almost.” Humpty-Dumpty to...More Read more from What’s in a Nantucket name? - Why were the Quakers so prominent on Nantucket?
Throughout the period from the mid-1700s to the late 1830s the island’s political, economic, and religious leadership was dominated by...More Read more from Why were the Quakers so prominent on Nantucket? - How Libby Became a Verb
While not composed by Libby Oldham, this excerpt from “My Mother the Verb,” written by Libby’s daughter Maia Farish, explains...More Read more from How Libby Became a Verb - Meghan Markle’s Ancestor Helped Found Nantucket?
Hi, can anyone with the Nantucket Historical Association confirm the information in this article in Boston Magazine? Dear Researcher, The...More Read more from Meghan Markle’s Ancestor Helped Found Nantucket? - History of Social Activism on Nantucket
Social Activism in Nineteenth-Century Nantucket Before there were protest marches and sit-ins on live television, 24-hour news coverage, and social-media...More Read more from History of Social Activism on Nantucket - A Paper Trail: Piecing Together the Life of Phebe Hanaford
In the first decade of the twentieth century, Phebe Hanaford was asked to help officiate at the funeral services for...More Read more from A Paper Trail: Piecing Together the Life of Phebe Hanaford - Native Hawaiian Whalers in Nantucket, 1820-60
The manuscript collections in the Nantucket Historical Association Research Library contain a rich history of the more than three hundred...More Read more from Native Hawaiian Whalers in Nantucket, 1820-60 - Researching the Diary of Martha Fish Writing a Woman’s Life:
I DO NOT KNOW WHY MARTHA BURGESS FISH (1844- ) decided to keep a diary. She had two small children...More Read more from Researching the Diary of Martha Fish Writing a Woman’s Life: - “A Walking Genealogical Tree”: Benjamin Franklin Folger, Nantucket’s First Genealogist
Genealogy on Nantucket begins not with the massive record compiled by Eliza Starbuck Barney, but with a quirky codfisherman and...More Read more from “A Walking Genealogical Tree”: Benjamin Franklin Folger, Nantucket’s First Genealogist - Who Was Eliza Barney?
Eliza Barney filled volume after volume with a neat hand and assiduous accuracy, documenting the family trees of islanders from...More Read more from Who Was Eliza Barney? - A Brief History of Quakers on Nantucket
The Quaker (Friends) Meeting House on Fair Street was erected circa 1838 by builder James Weeks and originally served as...More Read more from A Brief History of Quakers on Nantucket - ’Sconset-born Charles Frederick Briggs: Early New York Novelist and Editor
One hundred and sixty-three years ago, a novelist and magazine writer building a literary career in New York City wrote...More Read more from ’Sconset-born Charles Frederick Briggs: Early New York Novelist and Editor - Nantucket in the Art of Maginel Wright
In September 1912, Maginel (Maggie-Nell) Wright Enright Barney (1877–1966) purchased a house in the Town of Nantucket. For nearly thirty...More Read more from Nantucket in the Art of Maginel Wright - Grounded at Sea Level: Frank Swift Chase on Nantucket
Though he may forever be thought of as an artist from the mountains of Woodstock, New York, Frank Swift Chase...More Read more from Grounded at Sea Level: Frank Swift Chase on Nantucket - Remembering the Artist Robert J. Freiman
Robert J. Freiman (1917–91) was a fascinating and talented man, and I called him my friend. When I first heard...More Read more from Remembering the Artist Robert J. Freiman - Winged Skulls and Garlanded Urns: Recording the Cemeteries of Nantucket
If you have recently driven by Newtown Cemetery on Sparks Avenue or the Old North on New Lane, and seen...More Read more from Winged Skulls and Garlanded Urns: Recording the Cemeteries of Nantucket - The More Things Change: Diary of Charles Dyer
Occasionally a visitor will ask to see something in the NHA Research Library that rarely sees the light of day....More Read more from The More Things Change: Diary of Charles Dyer