Preservation Month provides the Nantucket community and island visitors an opportunity to celebrate the diverse and unique heritage of our island while emphasizing the importance of protecting our historic resources. Each year Nantucket preservation groups join forces to offer a wide variety of tours, lectures and other special events from May to mid June. Below is an initial list of programs that have been scheduled to date. Additional programs will be listed periodically through the spring of 2012.
Anatomy of a Fireplace
A House Chimney Tour
Saturday, May 19, 2012 1-2:30 PM.
4 Vestal Street
Free
Mitchell House, a Maria Mitchell Association house museum and a NPT preservation easement property, is the ideal preservation classroom. NPT and the MMA join hands to cosponsor The Anatomy of a Fireplace focusing on the House’s 1790 chimney. The program will be led by architectural conservator and mason Pen Austin. Utilizing historic processes including the use of lime mortar, Austin works on historic chimneys both on and off the island (including Great Britain). Come learn about the process of slaking mortar, the importance of using historically accurate methods that help to ensure the stability of your chimney and your home, and the evolution of the fireplace and hearth! We will start at the Mitchell House and visit a few other historic fireplaces nearby.
Behind-the-Scenes at the Mitchell House
Saturday, May 26, 2012 1-3 PM.
4 Vestal Street
Free
Join us for a special in-depth tour of the inside, outside, underside and top of Mitchell House. NPT Executive Director Michael May and Mitchell House Curator Jascin Leonardo Finger will talk about the architecture elements of the Mitchell House that have been so well preserved since the house was built in 1790 and the conservation work that has been ongoing since the late 1990s.
The Four Centuries Domestic Tour begins at the Nantucket Historical Association property, the Oldest House.
Four Centuries Domestic Tour
Saturday, June 16, 2012 10AM
Meet at The Oldest House, Sunset Hill
Free
A unique collaborative walking tour with the Curator of the Mitchell House, and Nantucket Preservation Trust’s Executive Director and Nantucket Historical Association’s Director of Education that looks at the changes in domestic life over four centuries and how that shaped homes, buildings, neighborhoods, and land use. Participants should meet at the Oldest House on Sunset Hill. The walk ends on Main Street.