Thanks for visiting my website. Hope
you enjoy the tour of Nantucket.
Below are some pictures I took during my research for Nantucket Ghost Writer.
Virginia Lee
Nantucket Island
School of Design and Art Courtyard
Nantucket Island School of Design and Art (depicted in the novel as The Writers
Compound) consists of ten cottages, arranged on three sides of a block-long
grassy courtyard. A wooden fence encloses the community rendering the courtyard
completely private. The well-kept grounds hold picnic tables, Adirondack
chairs, and a supply of bicycles. A Children’s Beach and small wharf are across
the street, but no large cabin cruisers or ocean-going yachts moor there; only
small sailboats and a few rowboats float about in the cove. What a perfect spot
in early evening, to watch the sun set and enjoy the best of Nantucket. The
School of Design encourages visiting writers and artists to share a cabin or to
bring family members or a friend to share a retreat-vacation.
HARVESTING
CRANBERRIES
The cranberry, a bright red berry
about the size of the tip of my little finger, ranks as one of three authentic
native-American fruits, the other two being the Concord Grape and the blueberry.
Legend has it that the name comes from the pink cranberry blossom that resembles
a crane’s head. The whalers of Nantucket learned from the Indians the importance
of Pemmican, a paste made of ground berries, dried meat, and fat. At first,
whalers carried the berries only for the ship’s stores, but later, they used
them as a staple export in the China Trade.
Cranberries have always grown wild in the
low, wet areas of Nantucket. However, in 1857, when the economy of the island
suffered from the depleted demand for whale oil, the commercial growing of the
cranberry came to the rescue. The sandy, acidic soil was not conducive to
growing other vegetables, but the environment at Gibbs Pond proved to be perfect
for the commercial production of cranberries.
Harvesting the berries occurs in
mid-October, when the brisk breezes blow and the low-growing bushes are loaded
with bright red balls. Cranberry growers use various methods to harvest the
crop, but the beauty of water-harvesting is almost breath-taking.
This picture shows a
man at Gibbs Pond harvesting Nantucket’s jewels. An irrigation system floods
the bogs containing ripe berries. Workers drive a mechanical device (called a
“bush shaker”) through approximately three feet of water shaking the bushes
until they give up their red fruit. The berries gradually float to the surface
of the water creating acres of rubies bobbing along on an azure lake. Workmen
in hip boots gently push the precious crop to the end of the bog where a
conveyor belt moves the berries to waiting trucks to be transported to market.
No artist has ever painted a landscape as well as Mother Nature does during
cranberry harvesting time.
NANTUCKET ISLAND
STEAMSHIP AUTHORITY
In the novel, Louise drives to the parking lot where she awaits the arrival of
her childhood friend, Mary Kate Flanagan. The building reflects the
architecture of the island: low structures, unadorned by commercialism.
Ah, it’s vacant, thank goodness.
Louise sighed as she slipped the car into the handicapped parking spot. On such
occasions, she was thankful for the arthritis that entitled her to park directly
in front of a gray-shingled building trimmed in white. The gold-lettered sign,
Steamship Authority, prominent but unobtrusive, stands as a reminder of
Nantucket’s rigid building code restrictions. No business displays a gaudy
sign, and even the restaurants hide behind a façade of “nobody lives here
anymore.”
VIRGINIA LEE’S
DESK IN CABIN #5
The cabins surrounding the
courtyard are rustic! No telephones, TV, radios, nor any fancy dishwashers and
microwave ovens. Nevertheless, what a glorious getaway for a writer! The light
and airy interior had been freshly-painted white, colorful chintz curtains hang
at the windows, and electric heat is available for the cold October nights.
The missing link for a writer is a suitable desk. I could have used the large
table for my computer, but it was not the proper height for typing. Also, that
table was for dining and I had planned to have guests for dinner. Enter the
amazing solution: the Virginia Lee Writing Desk!
In the novel, Mary
Kate Flanagan comes to Nantucket to visit Aunt Louise. She has just arrived on
the ferry from Hyannis, and Louise is explaining where Mary Kate is to sleep.
“All right. I want you to have the bedroom, and I’m sleeping out here on this
day-bed. This way, I won’t disturb you when I work late at night. All these
summer cottages utilize the main room as a sleeping room. Besides, I have my
computer set up there at the magnificent nineteenth-century writing desk.”
Louise pointed to a strange arrangement of a straight-back kitchen chair, a pile
of wooden blocks and plywood. A laptop computer rested on the four-foot square
of plywood arranged at proper height for typing. In addition, Louise had
connected a standard sized keyboard to complete an efficient office for writing.
“I spied your ingenuity
right away! Only you would think of using the steps to the loft as shelves for
reference books and stuff. Quite clever.”
“I would have done
better, but I’ve been here only one day. I need to pick up a small lamp. The
lighting is very poor for writing at night.”
STILL LIFE
ARRANGED BY VIRGINIA LEE
All of New England is ablaze with
color during September and October, but no area is as stunning as that found on
Nantucket. In addition to the red berry-covered bogs during cranberry
harvesting season, I brightened up the otherwise boring décor of the cabin with
a purple flowering cabbage plant, a green speckled goose-neck squash, orange and
yellow chrysanthemums, saffron-yellow pumpkins, and dried hydrangeas.
The fading green and lavender
hydrangeas sit in a Lightship basket, Nantucket’s trade-mark throughout the
world.
Before lighthouses were constructed on
Nantucket, ships served as guiding lights for the heavy nautical traffic in the
Sound and at dangerous parts of the Atlantic coast. Sailors aboard such
vessels spent long idle hours and days. They learned the craft of basket weaving
from the Indians, and soon the unique “lightship baskets” became world famous.
These treasures are so valued they are frequently named in wills to be left to
family heirs.
COTTAGE ON TOM
NEVERS ROAD
This
isolated cottage on Tom Nevers Road reminded me of a ghost story I had read in
The Ghosts of Nantucket: 23True Accounts, by Blue Balliett, a resident of
Nantucket. Although this particular house is not mentioned in Balliet’s book,
it proved to be the inspiration for Hamlet House, the cottage Aunt Louise and
Mary Kate visit in this scene from Nantucket Ghost Writer.
“Looks plenty deserted now. Are you certain
Genie’s cottage is here?”
“Yes, she gave me a picture, plus she said it’s the only cottage on the bluff
right over there!” Louise pointed to a building several hundred yards on the
other side of the road. Approaching the house from the backside, they could not
see the height of the bluff as it faced the water. Louise drove slowly along
the private road for fear she would get stuck in a rut or sand trap. The new
gravel driveway wound around the back of the house to a vacant parking area.
“Louise, look! No cars
or trucks. The workmen aren’t here.”
“Let’s go in anyway. I want to see the inside of this cottage.”
“I suppose this place was built in the twenties when rich people would call
this a summer cottage.” Mary Kate slipped on the gravel as she walked around the
side of the house to climb up on the porch.
Once on the porch, which stretched across the width of the building and around
two sides, both women gasped in admiration at the magnificence of the ocean. Tom
Nevers beach braved the swirling, purple and deep blue high waves of the
Atlantic, unlike the beaches which huddled within the curving arm of Coatue and
faced Nantucket Harbor. The bluff, created by the hungry waves eating away at
the sand, rose thirty feet above the barren beach. Uninterrupted erosion was
winning the centuries-old battle staged by the gallant island.
“Oh, Louise! It’s
breath-takingly beautiful.
“Indeed it is. Who would have thought such pockets of solitude could exist on
this tiny island now given over to tourism. Genie and David are so lucky to
have this.”
GAMBEL HOUSE – END
OF POCOMO ROAD
Another house perched atop a
cliff was the inspiration for the description of Hamlet House. A travel
agent told me that this house was built by the widow of Mr. Gambel (of Proctor &
Gambel). Unfortunately, her neighbors thought it was too ostentatious, and they
snubbed her! The rich are a funny lot!
NOTED JOURNALIST’S
KOI FISH POND
Koi fish pond in the yard of David Halberstam’s summer home on Nantucket.
Halberstam, famed journalist and author of The Best and The Brightest, The
Powers That Be, The Unfinished Odyssey of Robert Kennedy, and The Breaks of The
Game, enjoys his vacations at his Nantucket home.
When the caretaker was kind enough to show
me the beautiful Koi fish, Mr. Halberstam was not at home. I was very careful
not to touch anything!
NELSON DOUBLEDAY’S
YACHT
During the summer months, you can see any number of yachts, sailing vessels, and
even rowboats anchored in the main harbor. This particular yacht is reported to
be valued at ten million dollars. I say reported because I have no idea how
accurate that figure is. No, I was not a guest on this fabulous yacht, but I did
get close enough to take this picture.
BRANT POINT
LIGHTHOUSE
One delightful excursion on the island is a short tour around the harbor. While
on such trip, I took this photo of the Brant Point Lighthouse, whose original
structure in 1746 was the second lighthouse built in America. For centuries it
led the whaling ships into Nantucket’s harbor; no longer in service, this
tourist attraction still stands guard at the entrance to the harbor.
