One of our most visible program at the Nantucket Preservation Trust is our house markers. Chances are, you’ve noticed these wooden tablets on historic homes around town. They tell you the date of construction, who built the house, the original resident (if known), and sometimes the house’s original name or function. We’ve marked over 200 house since the program began.

We’ve recently completed work on two new house markers. Researching and documenting the history of Nantucket’s historic homes–and the people who built them and lived in them–is important work. House markers make a great gift and help us improve Nantucket’s historical record.  Click here for more information about our house marker program, or give us a call at the office, 508.228.1387, to discuss a marker for your house.

Behind each marker is quite a bit of information–read on to learn about two of our newest marked houses.

Fort Sumter

Crosby Family

c. 1870

The house at 23 Ocean Ave to was constructed c. 1870 for the Crosby Family. Matthew Crosby was a wealth whale-oil merchant who owned many properties on Nantucket. His in-town house was 90 Main Street, and his summer estate was on 28 Main Street, ’Sconset. Crosby purchased the lot on Ocean Ave in May of 1894, one month after it was advertised for sale in The Inquirer and Mirror.

The lot was formerly known as the “Elkins Lot” and was owned by Captain Edward W. Gardner before Crosby. After Gardner’s death, Crosby purchased the lot from his son-in-law William G. Gardner, and William’s wife (and Crosby’s daughter), Elizabeth B. Crosby Gardner.

Matthew Crosby and his heirs owned the property until August 1879, when it was sold to Edward Finch Underhill, who was responsible for much of the development in the Sunset Heights area of ’Sconset. Within six weeks of purchasing the property, Underhill began making improvements to the house.

In our research, we found that the house was given a name at one point (at least by 1879)— “Fort Sumter,” the first battle of the American Civil War. We know that when Crosby bought the land in 1864, there was no dwelling on the lot, but there was one by the time Underhill purchased the property in 1879. We believe the house was constructed a few years after the war and the name likely chosen to honor the Union victory.

Charlotte C. Pearson

Educator and Community Activist

c. 1883

Charlotte Swain was born in 1823. She died January 30, 1899. Charlotte married Enoch Ackley, who died at sea on January 2, 1855 when he was 37 years old. Charlotte and Enoch had one child together, Seth M. Ackley. Charlotte married Luther Pearson, originally from Providence, Rhode Island, in 1863.

Charlotte was a prominent Nantucket figure who was active in charitable and literary organizations on Nantucket. She was a teacher at the Fair Street School. She served as a member or officer of the Nantucket Improvement Society, the Sorosis Club, the Nantucket Relief Society, the Children’s Aid Society, and the Massachusetts Volunteer Aid Association.

Charlotte purchased the land at 8 Nantucket Ave and 6 Grant Ave in 1872. In 1880, Wannacomet Water company installed pipes on the Cliff. In 1882, Eben R. Folger built the house at 6 Grant Ave (known later as Franklin Cottage) for Charlotte, and in 1883, she hired Folger again to build the house at 8 Nantucket Ave (known as Oneonta Cottage starting around 1895). Oneota Cottage was advertised in the Inquirer and Mirror for rent from 1895 to 1920. Charlotte owned a property on Orange Street that was her primary residence.

The weather is still warm here on Nantucket, but many of our island visitors and friends have begun their journeys home as the new school year looms on the horizon.

With that in mind, this week’s post looks at the history of the Academy Hill School building on Nantucket.

Did you know that Academy Lane was not named for the big brick building that sits atop it? Instead, it was named for an earlier private school called The Academy, situated north of the public school. The Academy was in existence by 1800, but by 1818 the building had been sold to the First Congregational Church.

In 1856, the first class at Academy Hill had 129 students.  The original Academy Hill building was wood construction and opened on December 2, 1856. The firm of Easton and Thompson constructed the building for a cost of $20,000.

The wooden Academy Hill school underwent modernization and alterations in 1904, totaling $10,700 in improvements. Ten years later, in 1914, further alterations were made, including the addition of a south wing.

But by 1927, there was a need for a new school building. The town was split on what to do about Academy Hill. Some thought the site was too small, others wanted the new building to remain in the same location. The wooden structure was taken down and reconstructed as a three-story brick school building, opening for the school year 1929.

By 1977, the grand brick building was showing its age. It was far too small to keep up with the population on the island. That year, one-third of all Nantucket children went to school in temporary facilities.

In 1979, the Town of Nantucket sought proposals from bidders to transform the old school building into housing for the elderly. In 1986, Academy Hill reopened with 27 apartments for senior citizens on Nantucket, finding new life for the old building.

92 Hulbert Ave “The Bug-Lights”: Ernestine Gilbreth Carey & Frank B. Gilbreth, Jr.

The twin lighthouses that dot the extension of Hulbert Ave are officially called the Nantucket Cliff Beacons but more often called the bug-lights (1838). These structures were the unlikely summer home of industrial engineers and efficiency experts Frank B. Gilbreth, Sr., Dr. Lillian M. Gilbreth, and their 12 children.

Originally located on Cliff Beach, the lights worked in conjunction with the range lights on Brant Point and buoys to guide vessels into the channel. The bug lights were decommissioned in 1908.

The Gilbreths purchased the property with the keeper’s toolhouse and the smaller light in 1921. By 1952, the keeper’s toolhouse was replaced with a larger cottage. The larger light tower was moved (by horse!) to the Gilbreth property. The towers were converted to dormitories for the many Gilbreth children.

Frank Jr. and Ernestine wrote two books together chronicling their unique family, Cheaper by the Dozen and Belles on Their Toes. Frank Jr. authored other books inspired by his life on the island, including Innside Nantucket and Of Whales and Women. Ernestine wrote Jumping Jupiter and Rings Around Us.

In 1991, Frank Jr. wrote “We have lovingly preserved [the bug lights], but I can’t overstress how well the structures were built and how amazingly sound they are today. In the seventy years we’ve had them, not a single shingle has needed to be replaced on the sides of either structure.” The bug lights and cottage are still in the Gilbreth family today.

In honor of Preservation Month & the upcoming Nantucket Book Festival,  this week we’re taking a look at some of the architecture of Nantucket’s literary history. Our short series continues…

7 Silver Street: John Guare

From 1975 to 1978, 7 Silver Street (ca. 1830s) was the home of playwright and author John Guare. Guare wrote Landscape of the Body and Marco Polo Sings a Solo during the years he owned 7 Silver Street.

The 1970s saw a bustling theatrical scene on the island, with many of Guare’s plays performed at the island’s local stages. Guare’s time on the island informed his “Nantucket” series of plays: Gardenia, Lydie Breeze, Women in the Water, and Judith.

Guare met his wife Adele Chatfield-Taylor, an architectural preservationist, in 1975 on Nantucket.

Guare came to Nantucket in the 1960s while a student at Yale Drama School, as a caretaker for C.L and Marion Sibley at 111 Main Street (1746). He returned to the island throughout the 1980s to work on his plays.

Nantucket has been home to many novelists, poets, playwrights, and lovers of words over the years. It’s currently the year-round home to (at least) three New York Times bestselling writers, and the summer home of countless others.

This month, we honor Nantucket’s literary history through buildings where great writers found inspiration.

31 Pine Street: Tennessee Williams & Carson McCullers

“It was a crazy but creative summer.” –Tennessee Williams

How did two of the 20^th century’s greatest southern writers find themselves 30 miles of the coast of New England?

In June of 1946, Tennessee Williams rented a house on the island for the summer. “I seldom remember addresses, but this was 31 Pine Street in Nantucket, an old gray frame house with a wind-up Victrola and some fabulous old records, like Santiago Waltz and Sousa band numbers,” he said in an interview with Rex Reed.

The Glass Menagerie was on Broadway, but Williams and his partner Pancho Rodriguez were looking to get out of New York. Williams had long admired Carson McCullers—he called her the greatest living writer—and wanted to meet her.

Williams was in poor health when he wrote a characteristically dramatic letter to McCullers, declaring that he had gone to Nantucket to die, and he’d like to meet her before his death. The two had never met before, but McCullers took him up on his offer and arrived on the boat.

“This tall girl came down the gangplank wearing a baseball cap and slacks. She had a radiant, snaggletoothed grin and there was an immediate attachment,” Williams said.

The two writers found inspiration at 31 Pine (ca. 1850). Williams recalled “…The fireplace was always filled with beautiful hydrangeas, and we sat at opposite ends of a long table while I wrote Summer and Smoke and she wrote The Member of a Wedding as a play.”

Williams and McCuller’s time in Nantucket has inspired two contemporary plays, 31 Pine Street and Rancho Pancho.

Need some inspiration for your Daffodil Festival tailgate picnic next week? You’re in luck! We’ve recently received a collection of vintage recipe cards, books, and clippings from the early 1900s to the mid-1940s.

America’s relationship to food changed drastically during those 40 years. By the end of the 1930s, many homes had replaced ice boxes with modern refrigerators, ushering in a new era of “cooking with cool,” even on the faraway island. Gelatin and mayonnaise factor heavily into these recipes, creating savory or sweet salads for all occasions.

Early refrigerators were smaller than the ones we have in our homes today (8.6 cubic feet of space for food compared to 18 to 26 cubic feet today). The design of refrigerators has changed. Once the centerpiece of the kitchen and a point of pride, today many favor appliances that blend in with their kitchen surroundings. Still, there are those who like the look of the retro “futuristic” appliances that hearken back to a time when refrigeration was a modern marvel.

While you’re planning your ‘Sconset tailgate picnic, take a look at some of our vintage recipe finds.