Meet the talented group of writers and photographers who helped make this issue possible.
BY THE NUMBERS
A numerical snapshot of Nantucket this season.
N TOP TEN
All the places you need to be and see.
NECESSITIES
Put these items on your spring wish list.
SPRING 2026
Sail into Spring
NEAT STUFF
The Mid-Island Auto Wash
KID’N AROUND
How to keep your kiddos entertained this spring.
NBUZZ
All the news, tidbits and scuttlebutt that’s fit to print, courtesy of the Nantucket Current.
NEED TO READ
Tim Ehrenberg gives his spring reading list.
SWIMSUIT: MURRAY'S
TOGGERY SHOP
SKIRT: DÔEN
BRACELETS: SUSAN LISTER LOCKE
EARRINGS & RING: THE VAULT
NDEPTH
Photo by Charity Grace Mofsen
NVOGUE
Sailing into spring 108
NHA
Come Hell or high water 121
FOGGY SHEET
A recap of the island’ s hottest events 128
NUPTIALS
Ali Leventhal and Ben Smith tie the knot. 134
Basketball Coach Malik Moore
PUBLISHER & EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Bruce A. Percelay
EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
Brian Bushard
ART DIRECTOR
Paulette Chevalier
DIRECTOR OF ADVERTISING & PARTNERSHIPS
Emme Duncan
CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER
Kit Noble
FASHION PHOTOGRAPHER
Brian Sager
ADVERTISING COORDINATOR
Lola Piuggi
NANTUCKET CURRENT
Jason Graziadei, Editor in Chief
David Creed, Deputy Editor
JohnCarl McGrady, News Reporter
CONTRIBUTORS
Darya Afshari Gault
Jurgita Budaite
Tim Ehrenberg
Petra Hoffmann
Jen Laskey
Sally Laurencelle
Wendy Rouillard
John Stanielon
PHOTOGRAPHERS
Charity Grace Mofsen
Reece Nelson
Chris Tran
PUBLISHER N. LLC
CHAIRMAN: Bruce A. Percelay
Wear Nantucket
The Atheneum - South Church Cupola - North Church Doors - Nantucket House Earrings
The Nantucket Bracelet
at
SPRING LAST
As the world grows more and more chaotic, the allure of Nantucket as both a physical and emotional refuge becomes increasingly powerful by the day.
For those who endured a particularly harsh New England winter, the thought of the spring season on Nantucket during the dark days of February seemed like a mirage. Layering upon a winter of discontent has been our incessant exposure to media coverage around our incursion in Venezuela, controversies surrounding immigration and deportation, a war in Iran and the serious financial repercussions it has brought. Juxtaposed against a backdrop of political and financial gyrations, the thought of thousands of people gathering to celebrate daffodils brings a smile to our faces on its sheer simplicity. Indeed, the simple pleasures of Nantucket provide an antidote to the mental gymnastics we have endured over the winter and make our time on this island even more precious.
It was 50 years ago when island summer resident Jean MacAusland crafted the idea of a flower show, followed by the addition of a car parade three years later, with help from Flint Ranney. The automobile portion of the event has drawn a wide array of classic vehicles to the island over the years, from whimsically decorated Jeeps and Land Rovers to a fully restored
Stanley Steamer and a Concours-quality vintage Mercedes Gullwing. The event is the unofficial kickoff to the season and is one of the constants about life on Nantucket that gives us a sense of consistency and comfort.
BRUCE A. PERCELAY Publisher
While N Magazine serves as an escape during the summer and shoulder season, we also strive to be informative and timely. This issue will include two new regular sections that will appear in alternating issues of the magazine: Financial NSights and NSide Politics, which will provide first-hand perspectives from people on this island who help shape the world around us. During politically and economically uncertain times like these, it has never been more important to stop and smell the daffodils. Enjoy the launch of a new season.
Sincerely,
Bruce A. Percelay Publisher
Sally LAURENCELLE
Sally Laurencelle is a fourth-year English major at the University of Virginia with a passion for storytelling that captures the intersection of people, place and lifestyle. A former Nantucket resident, Laurencelle moved off island with her family and loves to return to the island every summer. When she’s not writing or reading she loves spending time with her loved ones. For this issue of N Magazine, she writes an NDesign feature on a rare Nantucket mid-century modern home in Pocomo.
Wendy ROUILLARD
Wendy Rouillard, a longtime Nantucket resident, is the creator of the Barnaby Bear children book series and the writer behind N Magazine’s regular column, Kid’N Around. Her stories and artwork have graced the covers and pages of several magazines and newspapers, as well as more than 25 children’s books. Rouillard is the owner of Barnaby’s Toy & Art, a downtown Nantucket art studio and toy store for children of all ages. Her recently launched Barnaby’s Cares program also provides art kits for children in need.
Jen LASKEY
Jen Laskey is an awardwinning writer, editor and content strategist, specializing in food, wine and spirits, travel, health and the arts. She began writing for N Magazine in 2012. Her work has also appeared in Saveur, EatingWell and Snow magazines, as well as NBC’s Today, Everyday Health and Fodor’s Travel Laskey studied writing at Bennington College and received her master’s in fine arts at Columbia University. She also is a Level 4 Diploma candidate with the Wine & Spirit Education Trust. She has traveled extensively throughout Europe and the U.S., interviewing winemakers, distillers and bartenders, and sipping some of the finest liquids imaginable.
nantucket by the numbers
2 Million
For a cleanup of the former U.S. Navy Base at Tom Nevers Beach that began this winter.
500
$ %
125,000
For a 9.5-inch scrimshaw whale tooth sold by Rafael Osona Nantucket Auctions late last year.
11,000
Homes and businesses without power during the peak of Winter Storm Hernando in February.
3,000
Nanograms of cocaine per liter in Nantucket’s sewage during a spike late last year, according to wastewater data—three times the national average.
999
Deer killed during the recordbreaking hunting season on Nantucket that ended in January.
The surge in energy bills at some island homes with new smart meters. (National Grid does not attribute the increase to the new meters.)
99
Years the brick Nantucket Electric Company building stood downtown before its demolition in January.
.005
The approximate odds of five winners in two years at the Old South Diner.
5
46Feet %
The size of the sperm whale that washed up on Nantucket over the winter, likely the result of a ship strike.
Million-dollar lottery winners in just two years at the Old South Diner.
Events for Spring 10
4/13-20
INTERNATIONAL DARK SKY WEEK
Of all of Nantucket’s beauty, there might not be a single thing more phenomenal than the unobstructed nighttime view of the Milky Way Galaxy, a view once common across the country that’s been relegated to only a few remote areas. Look up in awe during community
4/25
50TH DAFFODIL
FESTIVAL ANTIQUE CAR PARADE AND PICNIC
Nothing says spring on Nantucket quite like the Daffodil Festival. Celebrating 50 years, the annual festival has a bit of something for everyone, from the antique car parade from downtown Nantucket to Sconset, children’s activities and the classic picnic on Main Street in Sconset. Festivities last all weekend. nantucketchamber.org
4/24
DAFFODIL
FESTIVAL BAZAAR
Preservation Hall
Shop to your heart’s content, with local gifts galore available at the Daffodil Festival Bazaar. Find jewelry, artwork, photographs and a host of offerings upstairs in Preservation Hall on Centre Street on the Friday of Daffodil weekend (10 a.m.-3 p.m.). nantucketchamber.org
4/24
NHA FLOWER POWER
Whaling Museum
Kick off the spring season in your finest Daffodil weekend attire at the Nantucket Historical Association’s Flower Power party as the Whaling Museum blooms into a festive spring celebration. Attendees must be 21 or older. nha.org
DAFFODIL DOG PARADE AND CHILDREN’S BIKE PARADE
Children’s Beach e Daffodil Festival isn’t just about cars and bubbly. The children’s bicycle parade and daffodil hat pageant return to Children’s Beach, and don’t miss some of the island’s most dapper dogs at NiSHA’s Daffodil Dog Parade. (10 a.m.-12:30 p.m.) nantucketchamber.org
4/25-26
DAFFODIL FLOWER SHOW
Nantucket Inn
Now at the Nantucket Inn, the Nantucket Garden Club’s annual Flower Show provides a one-of-a-kind opportunity to peruse through hundreds of beautiful daffodils in all shapes, sizes and colors. (2-5 p.m. Saturday; 10a.m.-3p.m. Sunday)
4/23-5/12
SPRING FORWARD
Cecelia Joyce & Seward Johnson Gallery
Spring is in the air with the Artists Association of Nantucket’s exhibition at the Cecelia Joyce & Seward Johnson Gallery, aptly named “Spring Forward.” The exhibition offers an early peek into the fresh directions that Nantucket artists have been exploring during the offseason.
4/20-11/1
THE WIDER WORLD & SCRIMSHAW
Whaling Museum
The Nantucket Historical Association’s feature exhibition this year dives into the fascinating folk art of scrimshaw. Opening April 20, The Wider World & Scrimshaw at the Whaling Museum, comes to the NHA on loan from the New Bedford Whaling Museum, with over 300 objects on display. nha.org
4/30
ATHENEUM LECTUREJASON REYNOLDS
Atheneum (online)
NewYorkTimesbestselling author Jason Reynolds returns to the Atheneum for an insightful conversation on his latest novel, Coach, as well as the creative process of writing beloved characters and powerful portrayals of resilience. nantucketatheneum.org
5/11
HOSPITAL THRIFT SHOP OPENING DAY
Looking for that new sweater, jacket, or really anything you can think of? The Hospital Thrift Shop has you covered, starting May 11. Arrive early, because this line is bound to bend all the way to the corner of India and Centre Streets and then some. Proceeds benefit the Nantucket Cottage Hospital. hospitalthriftshop.org
DAVID WEBB
BRUNELLO CUCINELLI
IRENE NEUWIRTH
OSCAR DE LA RENTA
MARLA AARON
SILVIA TCHERASSI
CAROLINA BUCCI
FOUNDRAE
SPINELLI KILCOLLIN
CATHERINE REGEHR
BUDDHA MAMA
CHRISTY LYNN & MORE
LABRADORITE SARDINE CHARM
Thought to aid intuition, this hand-carved labradorite sardine charm is accented with a Tahitian pearl. The perfect stand alone for a gold chain or addition to a stack of charms!
Every lounge space needs a cozy throw! Made in Portugal from soft brushed cotton with a fun fringe trim, this blanket works in both modern and traditional spaces.
MARINE HOME CENTER
BOSTON GARDEN BASKETBALL FLOOR WATCH
Crafted from authentic Boston Garden parquet basketball floor from 1947-1995, this watch was made for the New England sports fan. The wood features scuffs and scratches of the floor on which the Celtics won 16 of their 18 championships.
WISH LIST SPRING
TOKENS & ICONS
@tokensandicons tokens-icons.com
A refined, all-in-one picnic set designed to make outdoor dining effortless. Finished with premium materials and thoughtful details, it includes melamine plates and cups, bistro-style cutlery, a hardwood board and coasters, all neatly organized within a structured case with vegan leather accents.
BUSINESS & PLEASURE CO. @businessandpleasure_co businessandpleasureco.com
DAFFODIL BUCKET HAT
PAVIMENTO MODERN WEDGE ESPADRILLES
A sweet spring and summer must-have for any island little one, this gingham seersucker baby bucket hat is inspired by Nantucket Daffodil Festival. The secure Velcro closure ensures a snug, comfy fit while providing sun protection and style.
Made with authenticated Emilio Pucci silk scarf upper, these espadrilles from Respoke are as unique as they are stylish. Each pair is handcrafted and one-of-a-kind, exemplifying sustainable luxury.
RESPOKE
@respokeofficial respoke.com
SQUEAKY CLEAN
AT THE MID ISLAND AUTO WASH
With a winter of heavy storms, over a dozen days of high-tide flooding and relentless salt spray ripping across the island, it’s no wonder one of the most popular spots on the island has become the Mid Island Auto Wash. As Nantucket’s only automatic car wash, the facility on Sparks Avenue is a necessity for islanders, whether they drive a vintage Bronco or Jeep, a Tesla, or anything in between.
“We love this beautiful island of Nantucket, but as we all know, living on the island presents unique challenges for vehicle owners,” said Volney Sinclair, manager of retail operations at Mid Island Auto Wash. “From tree sap in the spring and salt spray or sand during the summer months, to snow, sand and road salt in the winter, vehicles are constantly exposed to harsh elements that can affect both appearance and longevity.”
In addition to its automatic lane, Mid Island Auto Wash—owned and operated by Island Energy Services—
also provides two fully equipped selfservice bays with high-pressure and low-pressure soap and rinse options, specialized tire cleaner, a foaming brush, triple-foam conditioner and high-pressure wax. As a one-stop shop, Mid Island Auto Wash also provides an Air Shammee dryer and on-site vacuums, while next door at the Shell gas station, customers can also find a wide range of vehicle care products, including drying cloths, glass and window cleaners, tire dressings, air fresheners
and everything needed to complete the detailing process.
Now four years into its state-of-theart facility, Mid Island Auto Wash also features a variety of daily specials designed to make maintaining a clean vehicle more affordable and accessible for everyone. On Mondays, customers can take advantage of a 50% discount on washes from opening at 9 a.m. (8 a.m. starting Memorial Day weekend) until 11 a.m., while senior customers receive a dedicated senior discount seven days a week. Year-round residents are also eligible for a Local Card for unlimited washes, bringing the price of the top-tier “Nantucketer” wash down to $29, a service that normally costs $40. For anyone out toward Nantucket Memorial Airport, Island Energy Services also offers three fully equipped self-service washing bays and vacuum stations at its Airport Gas location on Airport Road.
“Look for the open flag flying, pull in with confidence and drive away knowing you’ve taken an important step in protecting one of your most valuable investments,” Sinclair said.
WRITTEN BY BRIAN BUSHARD
PHOTOGRAPHY BY KIT NOBLE
With another Nantucket season on the horizon, we’re grateful to welcome our clients, friends, and community back to Nantucket. Whether you’re returning home, discovering the island for the first time, or planning your next chapter here, the team at Lee Real Estate is honored to help guide the way.
Jeff Lee • Carolyn Durand • Bruce Beni • Dan Dunlap • Shellie Dunlap
Peter Engen • Hal Herrick • Sam Herrick • Jeanne Hicks • Mimi Huber
Maya Kearns • Bob Lang • Kiri McPoland • Shawn McPoland • Drew
Kelley Noonan • Liza Ottani • Jody Preusser • Jonathan Raith
Moore
STARGAZING THIS SPRING WITH THE MARIA MITCHELL ASSOCIATION
One of the island’s must-do activities is to visit the Maria Mitchell Association’s Loines Observatory, located at 59 Milk Street Extension. Guests can enjoy an unforgettable tour of the night sky led by the association’s expert astronomers. Families are welcome to participate in the popular “Look Up!” program, a free stargazing event designed for children and students, as well as the highly anticipated public stargazing sessions, where guests can observe the moon, planets, star clusters, nebulae and even a distant galaxy. Visitors can also gain insight into the cutting-edge research conducted by the observatory’s astronomers and interns. The MMA’s Aquarium, Hinchman House Natural Science Museum and Historic Mitchell House open for the season on June 11. mariamitchell.org, @maria_mitchell_association
SPRING INTO BARNABY’S TOY & ART
Barnaby’s has been inspiring young artists on Nantucket since 2021. This year, Barnaby’s is welcoming the season with over 100 thoughtfully curated art classes for children of all ages. Each class is led by professional educators and artists who inspire creativity while guiding technique in a warm, supportive environment in downtown Nantucket. Whether your child joins a scheduled class or simply drops in to create, Barnaby’s offers a space where imagination comes to life throughout the day. In addition to its in-studio experiences, Barnaby’s offers a wide selection of toys and its Barnaby’s Art Kits for all ages, carefully chosen and designed to spark creativity at home or on the go. Barnaby’s fosters imagination, sparks creativity, builds friendships and, of course, creates lots of smiles. barnabysworld.com, @barnabyworld
DISCOVER AT THE HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION
Make time this season to explore the Nantucket Historical Association’s Whaling Museum, a must-visit for families and visitors alike. The Whaling Museum’s Discovery Center for children offers a welcoming space for imaginative play. Throughout July and August, museum educators will lead engaging hands-on crafts each weekday. New this year, the Family Connections Tour invites families to experience the museum together across several galleries, including the 2026 special exhibition, “The Wider World and Scrimshaw.” Through interactive visual and tactile elements, participants will discover Nantucket’s deep connections to the Pacific, explore the art of scrimshaw and learn about the diverse cultures encountered along historic whaling routes. The experience concludes with a takehome craft activity for all ages. The NHA offers family memberships, and island families enjoy free admission year-round. nha.org, @nantuckethistoricalassociation
Stop by for all your Nanpuppet merch before the show. Open daily, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., at 19 Main Street. peachtreekidsnantucket.com, @peachtreekidsnantucket
LET YOUR CHILD’S CREATIVITY SHINE AT AAN
The Artists Association of Nantucket is a vibrant hub of creativity, offering a full schedule of engaging summer programs for young artists of all ages. Morning sessions feature Adventures in Art and Clay Sculpture camps for ages 6–9, each inspired by a new weekly theme. In the afternoons, the AAN’s program Exploring Art welcomes children ages 4–5, while older students (ages 10–14) can dive into studio classes like Animation Fun, Drawing and Let’s Create with iPad Procreate. For those interested in ceramics, students ages 10–18 can explore building by hand and the fundamentals of wheel throwing. All classes take place in AAN’s fully equipped studios at the Visual Arts Center, 24 Amelia Drive. Young artists will experiment with drawing, painting, ceramics, printmaking, crafting and construction, and build creative confidence, resourcefulness and persistence along the way. These programs not only develop new skills and forms of self-expression but also foster meaningful friendships. nantucketarts.org, @ackartists, (508) 228-0722
Rare Harborfront Estate in Monomoy
Harborfront in Monomoy | Offered at $34,500,000
Set on 1.25 acres in Monomoy, 52 Monomoy Road is a rare harborfront estate with sweeping views across Nantucket Harbor to Town, Brant Point, and Coatue. The property offers 10 bedrooms across a seven-bedroom main residence and separate guest accommodations, along with a waterside boathouse, approximately 175 feet of direct waterfront, and a private sandy beach. Distinguished by irreplaceable grandfathered features that could never be replicated today, this is one of Nantucket’s most exceptional waterfront offerings.
1.25 Waterfront Acres 10 BR | 7 Full, 2 Half BA Approx. 175’ Direct Waterfront Private Sandy Beach
Waterside Boathouse
Guest Accommodations
Rare Grandfathered Features
REPORTED BY THE NANTUCKET CURRENT
SCONSET BLUFF GEOTUBES APPROACHING ‘COMPLETE
FAILURE’
After a section of the Sconset Beach Preservation Fund’s geotextile tubes at the base of the eroding Sconset Bluff collapsed—and another part was allegedly vandalized—the erosion-control project could be approaching “complete failure,” according to Conservation Commission chair Seth Engelbourg. The multi-million-dollar project was approved and installed over 10 years ago to protect Baxter Road and the homes on it from crumbling over the bluff, and was paid for by the SBPF. Since its installation, however, it has become a hotbutton topic pinning its proponents against a group of opponents who argue the project accelerates erosion down the beach and will eventually deplete the beach in front of the bluff. The 900-foot geotubes have fallen out of compliance with its permit before, notably leading the Conservation Commission to order its removal in 2021. The project is still seen by others as a necessary measure to protect Baxter Road. Town officials are now working with the SBPF on a proposed expansion to the project, and have simultaneously been working on a plan to relocate Baxter Road away from the bluff, though that project, like the geotubes, has proven to be controversial.
FUSARO’S RESTAURANT
TO REOPEN UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT
As Nantucket slowly loses more year-round restaurants, cafes and shops, islanders took a sigh of relief this winter when the owners of Fusaro’s Restaurant on Old South Road announced the Italian-American establishment would remain open, after some uncertainty around the future of the restaurant. That uncertainty came last year, when longtime owners Tom and Stacy Fusaro said they would be closing the year-round restaurant at the end of the 2025 season and not reopen until the spring. Under new manager Mark Smith—who manages the beverage program at Billie’s Steakhouse with his wife, Anna Worgess-Smith— the restaurant is set to open later in 2026. Smith told town officials in March Fusaro’s will keep the Fusaro’s name for the 2026 season, though a rebrand could come later. Smith said the restaurant will serve similar food and target a similar clientele as it has under Tom and Stacy Fusaro’s leadership. Smith added he would try to keep as many of the restaurant’s current employees on staff as possible. A specific date has not been set.
SCONSET BLUFF WALK
HOURS RESTRICTED
The Sconset Bluff Walk will have new recommended hours this summer—8:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.—following a vote by the Select Board intended to manage the impacts of increased foot traffic of the popular public walking path. The hours are advisory only, and there is no ability to enforce them, meaning that anyone can still access the trail before and after the recommended hours if they choose. The Select Board also voted to allow the Sconset Civic Association to hire so-called “Bluff docents” to educate the public about the walk— which runs in front of private properties along the bluff—and recommended usage restrictions. These docents will not have any enforcement power. The Sconset Civic Association contends that the restrictions are necessary to ensure the peace of the homeowners in the area and protect the bluff from the excess erosion that overtourism could potentially cause.
A large swath of The Strip on Broad Street is on the market for the first time in more than four decades.
THE STRIP HITS THE MARKET FOR $35.9 MILLION ISSUES WIN RECEIVES $1 MILLION USDA GRANT FOR SURFSIDE STATE
The properties—4 and 10 Broad Street—were first listed through a display advertisement in a January edition of The Wall Street Journal announcing the sale of “rarely available” pieces of real estate on Nantucket. The advertisement described two commercial buildings currently housing seven storefronts, including four leased restaurants, that are being put on the market at $35.9 million. The properties currently house some of the island's most popular and recognizable businesses, including Island Coffee, the Nantucket Bike Shop, Steamboat Pizza, Walter’s sandwich shop and Scooters. The owners of the two parcels are Billy and Kay Cameron, according to property records. The Camerons have owned 4 Broad Street since 1979, when they purchased it for $148,000. They acquired 10 Broad Street in 1986 for $500,000.
NOURISH NANTUCKET
Less than a year after relaunching, Nourish Nantucket received a $1 million grant from the United States Department of Agriculture to fund renovations at its new food security hub on Boynton Lane. With the funding, Nourish Nantucket stated it can move closer to a “centralized, sustainable, and welcoming hub where all Nantucket residents have access to nutritious food.” The funding marks the second time in months that Nourish Nantucket received $1 million from a single source, the first coming from an anonymous donor in September. The Boynton Lane property was jointly purchased by Nourish Nantucket and the Land Bank for $6.5 million last year. In addition to housing the Nantucket Food Pantry, the facility also serves as an agricultural processing facility. It is currently used to process deer donated by local hunters for food-insecure island residents through the state’s Hunters Share the Harvest program. The facility has already helped Nantucket set a new single-season record for deer harvested.
CROSSING
The state Housing Appeals Committee issued a proposed decision in favor of Surfside Crossing's developers in March—the latest foray in the protracted legal fight over the controversial 40B housing development off South Shore Road. The appeal to the HAC was filed by Surfside Crossing developers Jamie Feeley and Josh Posner last April, after the Nantucket Zoning Board of Appeals voted unanimously to deny its application for a 156-unit condominium complex. The state’s proposed decision would overturn the ZBA’s denial and allow the project to move forward, though it has not yet been released publicly by the HAC. In response to the decision, Nantucket Tipping Point—which has long opposed the development—said it will be “weighing all available legal options regarding the Surfside Crossing matter.”
WRITTEN BY TIM EHRENBERG
LOST LAMBS BY MADELINE CASH
The beginning of 2026 was one of the best reading seasons I’ve had in a decade. It started with the wittiest debut novel I have ever read by Madeline Cash, Lost Lambs
I’m not joking when I tell you I laughed out loud on almost every page in this zany family drama filled with characters and situations you won’t soon forget. It was so cleverly curated and felt fresh in a way you will understand when you read it. I read so many books and I am rarely surprised, but Lost Lambs knocked my socks off. It played out so visually that it felt like watching a movie in my mind and I still smile when I think of its quirkiness.
KIN
BY TAYARI JONES
February may be the shortest month, but it packed a punch with stellar titles. The author of An American Marriage (one of my favorite novels of 2018) is back on our shelves in 2026 with Kin. It’s the tale of two motherless girls who grow up together in 1950s Jim Crow Louisiana, but take different paths in life. Vernice and Annie, the book’s leading ladies, are so fully imagined that I am still thinking about them two months after I closed the book. Their voices and spirits linger in your heart. Kin is about found family and the search for belonging, and it’s told to us by one of the brightest voices in contemporary fiction.
For even more book recommendations, follow @timtalksbooks on Instagram. All books available at Mitchell’s Book Corner and Nantucket Bookworks or online at nantucketbookpartners.com.
SCAN HERE to connect with @TimTalksBooks
MORE THAN ENOUGH BY ANNA QUINDLEN
February also brought us More Than Enough by Anna Quindlen. I don’t know where I’ve been, but I had never read a novel by Quindlen, and I have been missing out. More Than Enough has a little bit of everything: ancestry tests, aging parents, the meaning of family, friendship and marriage, as well as book clubs and fertility issues. You come to care for these characters as you do for people in your own life, hoping everything works out for them in the end.
GOOD PEOPLE BY PATMEENA SABIT
Another title to note if you missed it is Good People by Patmeena Sabit. I read it in one sitting because of its short chapters, suspenseful plot and an obsession to know exactly what was going on. It examines Islamophobia, xenophobia and generational differences, with a plot that unfolds like a literary game of ping pong where the reader is led to believe one thing on one page, only to be confronted with the complete opposite on the next. I quite literally couldn’t turn the pages fast enough.
A VIOLENT MASTERPIECE BY JORDAN HARPER
For my mystery and thriller buffs, don’t let this Violent Masterpiece slip by. Jordan Harper turns the city of Los Angeles into an entire character in this powerfully written and gripping literary thriller of the highest order. You feel like you took a trip to LA with the best tour guides, stuck in traffic and spotting celebrities everywhere you look. Our official tour guides in this story are a live-streaming nightcrawler, a street lawyer and an underground concierge who come together to solve a crime and navigate a cityscape of drug-fueled celebrities, riots, a serial killer, a missing friend, secret vaults, orgies and violent circumstances. On a shelf full of thrillers, this one stands out.
AMERICAN FANTASY BY EMMA STRAUB
As spring slowly showed its colors here on Nantucket, I took a cruise—a literary cruise that is—in Emma Straub’s American Fantasy. I haven’t had this much fun with a book in quite some time. I had a perma-grin on my face during the entire reading experience. It’s about a newly divorced woman who rediscovers herself on a cruise with a ’90s boy band (think New Kids on the Block or NSYNC) that she loved as a teen, exploring themes of nostalgia, aging, celebrity, fandom and second chances. It’s also pure Emma Straub, who has been coined as “sunny delight in human form” by my own personal book whisperer, Jenna Bush Hager. I will always be first in line at the bookstore for whatever Emma publishes.
LONDON FALLING BY PATRICK
RADDEN KEEFE
One of my favorite nonfiction writers and past Nantucket Book Festival presenters, Patrick Radden Keefe, is back with London Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family’s Search for Truth. It’s a true crime narrative investigating the mysterious death of 19-year-old Zac Brettler, who jumped from a London tower in 2019, and his family’s subsequent investigation into his secret life, which led them into London’s criminal underworld. Keefe knows how to consume you with whatever subject he takes on, and you fall under his spell in London Falling
THE CALAMITY CLUB BY
KATHRYN STOCKETT
April showers bring May flowers, as well as some incredible spring reads. The multimillion-copy bestselling author of The Help returns after 17 years with The Calamity Club, a big (600-plus pages) and big-hearted saga about friendship and resilience in 1930s Mississippi. Stockett balances humor and heartbreak with an ease that makes the pages fly. One moment you’re laughing at a perfectly observed social disaster—the next you’re sitting with a character in a moment of raw vulnerability. If you’re looking for a character-driven novel with southern charm, biting social observation and a cast of women you’ll fall in love with, The Calamity Club absolutely delivers.
THE THINGS WE NEVER SAY BY ELIZABETH STROUT
What can I say about Elizabeth Strout? Her writing and characters are like a love letter to why I read and enjoy fiction. The Things We Never Say is new this month and introduces a new group of characters and a new town for Strout. In its pages we meet Artie Dam, a high school history teacher, husband and father who seems like he couldn’t ask for more out of life, even though inside, he struggles with isolation. He consistently asks himself: How is it that we know so little about one another, even those closest to us? This novel does what Elizabeth Strout does best. It explores the human condition, how we love and why we love, how we interact with one another, the emotions we feel and the emotions we share with others. I always feel a little more connected after finishing one of her novels.
JOHN OF JOHN BY DOUGLAS STUART
If I had to sum up John of John by Douglas Stuart in one word, I would choose lyrical. Stuart manages to write about the simplest of moments in the most artistically expressive way. By the author of the Booker Prize winning novel, Shuggie Bain and sophomore book Young Mungo, this is a tale of a father’s expectations and a son’s desires. This is more of a quiet story than some others on this list. Its beauty is in the writing and emotions of the characters that bleed off the page.
THE ALLURE OF
BASS
WRITTEN BY BRIAN BUSHARD PHOTOGRAPHY BY KIT NOBLE
A
new hook on a local favorite
A
s the waters around Nantucket warm up and the island seems to be swimming in striped bass, private chef John Richard Eboli has taken a different approach on an old classic. For Eboli, who cut his teeth at Thomas Keller’s three-Michelin-star Manhattan restaurant Per Se preparing “Oysters and Pearls” and salmon tartare cones, experimenting with old-school dishes is often what it takes to breathe new life into something so tried-and-true. This recipe is one of those cases where the old maxim, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” has its limitations. Instead of a traditional sear in lemon and butter, Eboli places seared striped bass fillets on a bed of locally grown spring vegetables with a coconut-base broth, giving the dish a rich and balanced profile. Using local ingredients makes the difference with this one.
Nantucket Chef John Richard Eboli
Striped Bass and Spring Vegetable Coconut Broth
STRIPED BASS & SPRING VEGETABLE COCONUT BROTH
• 3 tablespoons grapeseed oil (or vegetable oil)
• 1 tablespoon chopped ginger
• 3 scallions, chopped (white parts only)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1½ teaspoons red curry paste (more if you like it spicy)
INGREDIENTS
• 1 can (12 ounces) coconut milk
• ¼ cup water
• 1 lime, zested and juiced
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 4 small heads bok choy
• 4 medium carrots
Make the broth: In a saucepan on low-medium heat, add 2 tablespoons of oil and let it heat for 1 minute. Add the garlic, ginger, scallion and a pinch of salt, stirring frequently for 2-5 minutes until slightly browned. Add the curry paste and stir, for 1-2 minutes. Deglaze with ¼ cup water and stir to remove anything that has stuck to the bottom of the pan. Add the coconut milk and bring to a simmer, before reducing the heat to a very low simmer, stirring occasionally for 1½ to 2 hours. Remove the saucepan from the heat and let it infuse for another hour.
Blanch the bok choy: Bring a medium pot of water to a boil. Separately, prepare a small bowl of ice water. Slice the bok choy in half lengthwise and rinse with cold water to remove any dirt. Once the water reaches a boil, add a couple of generous pinches of salt and the bok choy. After 2 minutes, blanch the bok choy by placing it directly in the ice water. Remove the bok choy and place on a plate with a paper towel. Reserve the hot water and the ice bath for the carrots.
INSTRUCTIONS
• 2 cups chopped mushrooms (shiitake or oyster work best)
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• Kosher salt, to taste
• Cilantro leaves
• 4 six-ounce pieces of striped bass (halibut also works well)
Prepare the carrots: Shave medium carrots on a mandoline or slice thinly with a sharp knife into ¼-inch rounds. Place the carrots in the boiling water for about 90 seconds, then blanch in the ice water. After a few minutes, remove the carrots and dry.
Prepare the mushrooms: Heat a sauté pan on medium, with 1 tablespoon grapeseed or vegetable oil and 2 tablespoons butter. Add the mushrooms and a pinch of salt and cook until slightly browned, about 5 minutes, tossing frequently. Remove the mushrooms from the pan and place on a plate with a paper towel.
Sear the fish: Heat a sauté pan on high for 1-2 minutes and add the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil. Lay the fish down (if it has skin, sear with skin side up) and sear for a few minutes until golden brown. Flip the fillets over and finish with remaining 2 tablespoons of butter. Remove from heat and let the fish rest in the pan for a couple of minutes.
Plate the dish: Strain the broth through a sieve into a saucepan and add the lime juice, brown sugar and salt, to taste. Reheat the carrots, bok choy and mushrooms in the broth, bringing it to a quick simmer and removing the saucepan from the heat. Plate the broth and vegetables in a bowl, placing the fillet on top and garnishing with cilantro leaves.
Note: You can substitute your favorite local vegetables for this dish. Snap peas, kohlrabi or green cabbage would work great, as well. Eboli frequents Moors End Farm, Bartlett’s Farm and Sustainable Nantucket’s farmers market downtown and farmstand on Hummock Pond Road for the best of Nantucket’s produce.
AA TASTE OF SPRING
WRITTEN BY JEN LASKEY
Three fresh pours to help you savor spring.
fter a long, frigid winter and more snow than Nantucket has seen in a decade, the arrival of spring feels like an even bigger miracle than usual—like we really earned it this year. But spring on the island is always fast and fleeting—blink and there’s a harbor full of boats and beach traffic backed up to the rotary. Don’t let the season slip by without relishing some of its sensory pleasures, starting with a zippy white wine from Portugal, a citrusy white wine blend from southern France, a passion fruit-forward, chili-spiced tequila cocktail, and a flowery non-alcoholic kombucha.
ERUPTIO, ARINTO DOS AÇORES, VERDELHO AND TERRANTEZ DO PICO BLEND, 2021
($44/bottle at Hatch’s Package Store)
DOMAINES
PAUL MAS, CÔTÉ MAS, SAUVIGNON VERMENTINO, 2024
($14.99/1-liter bottle at Hatch’s Package Store)
Recommended by ZACH HELD, manager, Hatch’s Package Store
For wine lovers looking to lighten things up after a long winter of big, bold reds and weighty whites, Zach Held, the manager of Hatch’s Package Store, is excited to steer customers toward Portugal and France. The Eruptio is made with three grapes—Arinto dos Açores, Verdelho and Terrantez do Pico—which are all native to the volcanic soils of Pico, an island in the Azores with rich historical ties to Nantucket. “The wine is refreshing and crisp, and defined by bright citrus notes, vibrant acidity and pronounced salinity,” said Held. The acid and saltiness make it a great match for creamy cheeses like brie and chèvre drizzled with spring honey on a charcuterie board, as well as for shellfish and other seafood.
Staying in the spirit of the season but embracing a different expression, Held recommends the one-liter bottle of Côté Mas Sauvignon Vermentino from Domaines Paul Mas in the Languedoc region of southern France. The blend is 70% Sauvignon Blanc and 30% Vermentino, and features vibrant notes of lemon, grapefruit and green apple, Held said. “The dominant Sauvignon Blanc delivers a fresh citrus nose and the Vermentino adds roundness to the texture.” Sip it with spring salads, grilled shrimp, ceviche or freshly shucked oysters.
Courtesy of Zach Held of Hatch’s Package Store
Courtesy of Zach Held
UNIFIED FERMENTS, JASMINE
GREEN, NON-ALCOHOLIC KOMBUCHA
($26/bottle)
As the island turns its brightest shade of green, it feels fitting to pour something equally verdant. This non-alcoholic fermented green tea from Unified Ferments in Brooklyn, is about as fresh and floral as it gets. Made from a single-varietal green tea base, Jasmine Green is perfumed with jasmine flowers in a traditional scenting process that involves eight rounds of infusions, each with a fresh batch of whole jasmine buds. The flowers and tea ferment, resulting in an intensely aromatic, deeply floral and mildly effervescent beverage that truly smells and tastes like spring. Grab a nice piece of stemware (it’s worthy!) and give it a swirl. Unlike many commercial kombuchas, Jasmine Green is super mellow with a slightly sweet undertone and only a hint of sourness. Pair it with miso-butter and panko-crusted cod, spring pea risotto, a fresh salad or bowl of strawberries.
BETINA MITKOVA, manager, Lola Hospitality ($20 at Lola 41)
Spring on Nantucket arrives with a certain buzz in the air. Lola 41’s cocktail, called Checks Out, captures that spirit in a glass. A tequila sour with a tropical twist and a kick, this cocktail is built on a base of serrano chile-infused reposado tequila (Lola 41 uses its own proprietary batch of reposado tequila made in partnership with Código 1530). Fresh lemon juice and honey syrup are added, along with splashes of passion fruit purée and wild strawberry liqueur. In addition to the green heat of the serranos, the citrus-chili-salt rim gives a tangy snap to each sip. “It’s just a little spicy and more sour than sweet,” said Betina Mitkova, the
She recommends enjoying the Checks Out with Lola’s spicier sushi, like the Honshu or Asahi rolls, the Korean Beef Bulgogi, the Grilled Salmon Lo Mein or even their Tres Leches dessert. “I can also definitely see people going to a little picnic, and bringing a bar shaker and whipping it up somewhere outside,” she said. And since its red-orange hue is reminiscent of the crowns on some of the island’s rarer daffodils, it could be a fun drink to mix up in batches for a Daffodil Day tailgate party.
• Splash of strawberry liqueur (Giffard Fraise des Bois)
• 2 slices of serrano pepper
• Citrus-chile-salt blend* (or Tajín Clásico Seasoning) for rim
INSTRUCTIONS
• Combine the first six ingredients in a shaker with ice.
• Rim a rocks glass with citrus-chile-salt blend* (or Tajín Clásico Seasoning) and add ice.
• Shake and strain the liquid into the glass.
* For the honey simple syrup: Combine equal parts honey and water in a small pot on the stovetop on medium heat, and whisk them together as they warm.
* For the citrus-chile-salt blend:
Combine 2 tablespoons kosher salt, 1 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes, 1 tablespoon paprika, 1 tablespoon smoked paprika, ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper and the zest of 3 oranges. Mix together, then pour onto a small plate. Rub an orange wedge on the rim of the glass, and dip the glass into the mixture.
Photo by Jen Laskey
Courtesy of Lola Hospitality
Kayak / Boat Launch
Returning to THEIR ROOTS
WRITTEN BY BRIAN BUSHARD
TASTE OF
PHOTOGRAPHY BY KIT NOBLE
A
IRAN AT LEMON PRESS
Lemon Press co-owners Darya Afshari Gault and Rachel Afshari
When Darya Afshari Gault flips through her mother’s old photographs from her childhood in Iran, she can’t help but feel a profound sense of nostalgia for the country her family left behind. In one sepia-toned photo, her mom wears bell-bottomed jeans, a double-breasted blue coat and sunglasses, as her full head of hair flares up in the wind on the shores of the Caspian Sea in northern Iran. In another shot, she wears the same blue coat in a grove of persimmon trees. In another, she’s on a blanket,
Iran for the United States. They never returned. Now that Iran is at war again, its economy in shambles and its residents killed for protesting the government, the fond memories Darya has have become bittersweet.
“For many Iranians, including myself and my family, there hasn’t been much freedom to proudly celebrate the food or celebrate the culture without the political shadow following us,” said Darya, who opened Lemon Press in 2015 with her cousin, Rachel Afshari. “Sharing Persian cuisine, something that should be happy and joyous, wasn’t comfortable. What’s changed now
picnicking on the beach.
These were the bygone days of 1970s Iran, when young people embraced modern fashion, and women could let their hair down. Darya remembers these times fondly—the family vacations to the mountains, the dancing and the feasts of Persian food. By 1979, however, those customs would be all but erased by the Islamic Republic that took power, suppressing freedoms for its citizens, especially women, who have had educational and career opportunities taken away and been mandated to conceal their hair in hijabs since the Islamic Revolution. In 1986, Darya and her family left
“Food is one of the most powerful ways to reconnect with our identity.”
– Darya Afshari Gault
is that people in America are becoming aware of the differences between the regime and the Iranian people. They’re seeing the courage of the Iranian population and understanding the culture has been living under oppressive systems for decades. Awareness has created space for us to be proud and share our heritage.”
Last summer, Darya and Rachel decided to fully embrace Persian cuisine on their dinner menu in a way they had not in their first decade in business. The menu now includes dishes like lamb shoulder, called Khoresht Gohmeh Sabzi, saffron rice, cucumber mint yogurt, Persian mussels, tomatocucumber salad and skewers of Joojeh Chicken, Steak Barg and Lamb Koobideh.
Right: Reza and Susan Afshari at the Caspian Sea. Bottom: Darya Afshari Gault with her grandfather, Ahmed Afshari.
Left: Darya holding her younger sister, Sara.
“Food is one of the most powerful ways to reconnect with our identity,” Darya said. “Persian cuisine is deeply rooted in history, family and hospitality. For us, embracing it fully at Lemon Press is really about regaining that confidence and saying, ‘This is who we are, this is our culture, and we’re proud to share it.’ And honestly, Persian food is just insanely delicious, period.”
For months, Iran has been in headlines on the world stage, with widespread protests over the economy’s collapse, political executions, women’s rights and the repressive so-called moral police of the Islamic Republic. In February, the United States and Israel bombed
Iran, killing Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and prompting widespread Iranian retaliation. As tensions in the country escalated, the owners of Lemon Press have offered their support for the Iranian people from afar, spreading the message that Iran’s culture cannot
be suppressed by people in power. It’s not lost on them that a woman-owned business like Lemon Press simply would not exist in Iran.
“If our family didn’t leave, I would not have the same freedoms,” said Rachel, whose father was born and raised in Iran. “[The Persian menu] is about sharing the story and drawing attention to the culture and heritage, and showing that Iranian culture is not the Iranian government. This regime does not reflect what we believe in. The culture and the heritage are so old and so beautiful and deserve to be celebrated. The way that we can do that and support our culture is by sharing this in our community and honoring our traditions.”
“If our family didn’t leave [Iran], I would not have the same freedoms.” – Rachel Afshari
MEMORIES OF IRAN
Food has always been central to Persian culture. Growing up, some of Darya’s core memories were formed around the dinner table at the family house in Khorramdarreh. Less than 100 miles from the Caspian Sea in northern Iran, Khorramdarreh was where she learned to ride a bike, where she picked from the almond and cherry trees in the yard and where her dog Goorgie would escape to the neighbors’ chicken coop. One time, she climbed to the rooftop with the neighbor kids to watch what looked like fireworks. She didn’t know it then, but they were watching bombs explode on the horizon—part of the Iran-Iraq War. From a distance, they were beautiful.
Darya Afshari Gault, chef Lyall Clint Frosler and Rachel Afshari at Lemon Press
The bombings would come closer to home, where Darya and her sister would hide in the basement. The marble and glass in the house would shake violently as the explosions set off outside. Nothing would calm her sister, who wanted nothing else but her Raggedy Ann doll. “For me to look at it as an outsider, the only thing different between me and an Iranian girl there now is that I got to leave in 1986,” Darya said. “I would be a different woman if I didn’t get to leave. Iran would be a different country if [Ayatollah] Khomeini didn’t take over.”
Darya’s parents took her to Florida, where she attended middle and high school before moving to Nantucket. The daughter of an engineer and an entrepreneur, Darya always knew she wanted to start a business, and she has now established two on the island: Darya Salon + Spa and Lemon Press. But for years, she kept the Persian side of her on the back burner. Until the menu change last summer, Lemon Press had offered only hints of Persian spices like saffron and sumac, with the menu primarily a fusion of flavors from around the Mediterranean and the Middle East.
menu is firmly Persian. “We always would say we’re Mediterranean and Middle Eastern flavors, but every time we go to a dish that we love, it’s Persian,” Rachel said. “It’s herbs, it’s saffron, it’s yogurt. People are hungry for this.”
PERSIAN HOSPITALITY
“It’s part of who I am and part of my culture, but for a long time there was a stigma attached to anything Iranian.”
– Darya Afshari Gault
“We’ve always wanted to fully embrace Persian food,” she said. “It’s part of who I am and part of my culture, but for a long time there was a stigma attached to anything Iranian because of the misunderstanding between the Iranian people and the Islamic Republic. A lot of people outside of Iran unfortunately associate the government with the people, and that’s simply not the reality.”
Lemon Press is keeping Mediterranean staples on its breakfast and lunch menus, but by dinner time, the
There’s a term in Farsi—the language of Iran—called taarof, which loosely translates to politeness, etiquette and hospitality. When Darya and Rachel think back to their childhood memories of food, it’s often their grandmother offering food and refusing to take no for an answer. Any time they met for a family meal, they would be sent home with Tupperware containers of leftovers. That kind of Persian hospitality is something they hold on to at Lemon Press, a way to share the cuisine they grew up with and reconnect with the cultural identity of their parents and grandparents.
They also hope the menu can serve as a message of hope for Iranians, that one day, after the war and political unrest, women will once again have the freedom to start careers, educate themselves, let their hair down and live the lives Iranians once did. “It would be great for an Iranian woman to read an article like this and say, ‘This could be us again,’” Darya said. In reconnecting with their roots through food, the move to a Persian menu has also inspired them both. “Once Iran is open,” she said, “we’re going.”
Darya Afshari Gault in a pool in Iran
Rachel Afshari’s father, Kamal Afshari
Kamal Afshari
TURNING THE CORNER
WRITTEN BY BRIAN BUSHARD
PHOTOGRAPHY BY KIT NOBLE
CAFÉ 22 OPENS ON FEDERAL STREET
Owning a coffee shop in downtown Nantucket was never going to be just about serving quick iced coffees for people on the go. In other words, the Dunkin’ Donuts model doesn’t apply, at least not for Michael Ferreri, the co-founder of ACK Roasters and the general manager of Nantucket’s newest coffee shop, called Café 22.
“We want to have a space where the community can hang out,” Ferreri said. “There’s been a trend recently in cafés, especially for hostile architecture, where you go in and they don’t want you to stay; they want you to drink your coffee and leave. We want you to come drink your coffee and hang out.”
Jonas Baker, Daisy Carnelia and Michael Ferreri, the team behind Café 22
Café 22 opened this winter at the corner of Federal and Broad streets, in the property that formerly housed The Corner Table. Remain Nantucket, which owns the building, said the next chapter for the shop is “to compound Broad Street’s role as a culinary and cultural anchor downtown, offering high-quality food and drink, a central gathering place and year-round employment opportunities.”
Jonas Baker, a veteran in the island restaurant scene and the owner and operator of Café 22, shares that goal. A partner at The Brotherhood of Thieves and former owner of Slip 14 and the former BlueFin restaurant, Baker brings three decades of experience to the new coffee shop. With Café 22, he said he wants to provide a community space where the food is freshly made and the atmosphere is inviting. He not only wants to bring the community in, but open the upstairs kitchen and dining areas for local nonprofits to host events. “We want them to use the space,” he said. “That’s the goal, that it’s here in the middle of town and people should be using it.”
“We want to have a space where the community can hang out.”
– Michael Ferreri
The grab-and-go refrigerator constantly restocked.
Café 22 took over the former Corner Table location on the corner of Federal Street and Broad Street.
The menu reflects Baker’s guiding philosophy— accessible and fresh, with the grab-and-go refrigerator constantly restocked. “We don’t want people to come in when the case is full and by 2 p.m. you’re asking when they made it,” he said. That menu includes café staples like salads, sandwiches and eggs, as well as house-made pickles and some new items like Thai curry meatballs. “My goal is to have it as global in flavor profile and as local in ingredients as possible,” said chef Daisy Carnelia, the culinary director at Café 22.
Upstairs, the café is also carrying on the tradition of culinary classes like the ones The Corner Table offered, with Carnelia teaching year-round lessons on dishes like coq au vin, dim sum, fresh pasta, tiramisu and tarte tatin. With several coffee shops going out of business in recent years—
“My goal is to have it as global in flavor profile and as local in ingredients as possible.”
– Daisy Carnelia
The Bean, Espresso to Go and Fast Forward to name a few—the new management group at Café 22 believes it’s become even more important to hold on to the yearround cafés Nantucket already has.
“The goal is to have a nice place that’s cool to come into,” Baker said. “There’s no pressure for you as a guest. The goal is we’ve created a space that’s friendly for everybody. How far do we want to ramp up? Well, eventually we’ll ramp up, but the goal is to have a nice steady growth. We want to do everything consistently, and we’ll grow as we go.”
Upstairs at Café 22
The upstairs dining room
INTERVIEW BY BRUCE A. PERCELAY
PHOTOS COURTESY OF DAVID URBAN
BEHIND CLOSED DOORS
AT THE WHITE HOUSE
INSIGHTS FROM CNN COMMENTATOR AND FORMER TRUMP ADVISOR DAVID URBAN
ith a full year of President Donald Trump’s second term in the books, where does the Republican Party go after Trump? What is the process after a president decides to go into battle and how does any president sleep at night? A regular guest on CNN and a former senior Trump advisor, David Urban provides his behind-the-scenes insights for the first installment in our new section, NSide Politics
When a president decides to go to war, how specifically is that decision implemented?
DAVID URBAN: In most instances, the U.S. Military has contingency plans on the shelf that say how many C-17 [aircrafts] we’re going to need, whether the 82nd Airborne Division will be sent, how many boats we need, how many aircraft, and how we can get them there. I am sure in each of these instances—with Venezuela and Iran—that the Department of Defense had packages saying what we need to do. The president says, ‘Give me options,’ and the National Security Council, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Department of Defense would be involved in giving the president their best advice on what is needed. Ultimately it’s up to the president. He’s got great discretion under Article 2 [of the Constitution] in exercising his authority overseas and his power to use the military overseas. It’s almost unlimited.
Decades ago, Trump mentioned the Iranian threat. Is this something he’s had in his mind for years that Iran had to be dealt with?
URBAN: If you go back and watch Donald Trump being interviewed by Larry King or Oprah Winfrey, and you listen to President Trump today, it sounds almost like the same guy from the same speech, whether it’s trade, tariffs or Iran. Trump has had the same beliefs and views for quite some time. There are certain things that stick in his mind. He’s not a guy who takes a poll and sticks his finger in the wind; he believes in what he believes in.
There are people who suggest we’re fighting Israel’s war. Is it possible that Israel talked Trump into this?
URBAN: I don’t think Israel talked him into anything. The notion that anyone talks Donald Trump into anything is ludicrous. Netanyahu may have said, ‘We know that all of these individuals are going to be in this one place and this is a very rare
opportunity.’ Our intelligence could have agreed that this is a rare opportunity and that if we want to do it, it’s best to do it now. Are those things possible? 100%. There’s a timing issue where we thought we could decapitate the regime. Whether you like Donald Trump or not, at some point, some president was going to have to act.
When things go south, what is the atmosphere at the White House like?
URBAN: The atmosphere is very somber anytime an American serviceman or woman comes home and there’s a dignified transfer of remains. Everybody involved is reminded of the incredibly realistic terms [of military casualties].
The toppling of the Iranian regime is a different kind of mood in the White House. That’s what they’re there for, to flex and bend. We have a lot of smart people who are dedicated and working in this building that you don’t see— those are professionals at work. There is an air of professionalism among a great deal of people working behind the scenes. The mood is always serious when we’re engaged overseas; the bad is when bodies come home.
How do you think the situation in Iran will impact the Midterm Elections?
URBAN: If you look at polling, people don’t care about the war. What people care about is the economy. The question is how this conflict impacts the economy and what that means to voters. Gas prices are going up, fertilizer prices are going up, and at some point those prices are going to spike. Gas prices are high, but they were also high during the Biden Administration. There’s still a lot to be determined. Is this a onemonth conflict or a six-month conflict? If we’re talking about this in September, it will have a huge impact on how things will play out.
Iran past the date [of Trump’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping outstanding issue. Everybody knows the Chinese government would love to stroll across the sea and take Taiwan. There will be a lot of questions around, ‘If we can attack Iran then why can’t Xi take Taiwan?’ There will be parallels and it will be awkward because I believe China is providing material support for Iran currently.
Any president lives under constant pressure. How do they sleep at night?
URBAN: That’s why when Obama went into office he looked like he was 40, and by the time he left he looked like his own grandfather. That’s why you see Trump posting on Truth Social at 3 a.m. Presidents sleep very little. I don’t think you can be president if you’re somebody that sleeps a lot. It takes a great physical toll, because at the end of the day, [the president] is responsible for everything. Even things you’re not responsible for, you’re now responsible for. That’s why Trump plays golf, and why Obama played basketball. You’ve got to be able to blow off some steam every once in a while, otherwise you lose your mind.
Trump watches the news quite a bit. How much is he influenced by the news?
URBAN: He is a guy who is influenced, incensed and informed by the news. He also understands television, he gets the media. I don’t think there’s been a more media accessible president. He’s informed when he sees something that doesn’t look good on television or reflect well on his administration. He understands the media and its impact on the American people.
We have never seen a president put his stamp on so many things, now with the $100 bill. What is the explanation?
URBAN: With the $100 bill, I’m sure a secretary came to him saying, ‘Let’s do this.’ Donald Trump is not shy, he’s a marketing guy. He made money not by building buildings but by marketing the Trump brand. I challenge even Trump’s haters to go to a Trump hotel, and they are world-class facilities. The branding is something he’s done his entire life. People think it’s unseemly, and to a certain extent you can argue that it is.
Every president can decorate the Oval Office the way they want to do it. Do I think there are too many gold cherubs? Probably. But the next president gets to come in and decorate however they want.
Do you think Trump is satisfied with how things have gone in his second term?
URBAN: I think the first 100 days were incredibly satisfying. You take an issue like immigration where Trump was 80% popular, and most people were happy, and then we started deporting folks in perhaps an improper way that led to two American citizens to be killed. When that plays out on national TV, Trump’s support [on immigration] goes from 80% to 20%. I don’t think the president can be happy with that. I don’t think he’s happy with the state of the economy.
Marco Rubio or JD Vance
URBAN: Maybe neither. The president may throw up his hands and say we’re having an open primary. President Trump likes both individuals, but maybe he says he’s not going to pick his successor. Maybe he wants an open primary to let the American people pick, and if that’s the case, then you’re going to see Nikki Haley, Glenn Youngkin, Ron DeSantis. You’re going to see a wide range of people.
If you’re thinking about moving, hop in with Gail, Ed and the team. Whether you’re buying or selling, they always work hard for you and try to have a little fun along the way. So call Coldwell Banker Realty’s #
THE TIDE RUNNETH OVER
The Galls, just south of Great Point, experienced two washover events this winter, temporarily making Great Point an island.
WRITTEN BY BRIAN BUSHARD
PHOTOGRAPHY BY KIT NOBLE
THE RACE TO PROTECT NANTUCKET’S BARRIER BEACH
In 1896, the narrow strip called the Haulover breached in a powerful winter storm, severing Coatue and Great Point from the rest of Nantucket with a formidable scar 15 feet deep. Sailors—looking for a faster and safer route to the open ocean— considered it a lucky break. Just over a year after the storm, a catboat called Inaz became the first boat to sail through the new opening, paving the way for larger and larger boats. That breach lasted for 13 years, measuring a quarter-mile long at its widest, according to The Inquirer and Mirror “That the closing of the Haulover inlet was an unfortunate thing for Nantucket all will admit, and it has had a disastrous effect on the island’s codfishery,” William F. Jones reported in 1909 after the opening naturally sealed itself up.
Today, the Haulover is once again at risk of breaching, but this time, as sea-level rise and increasingly stronger storms threaten the island, researchers aren’t sure how long it would take for a new breach to close up.
They also aren’t sure if a breach would remain open permanently, drastically changing not only the look of Coatue and Great Point, but leaving the harbor vulnerable to erosion and pounding waves without the protection of a fortified barrier beach. According to Katie Theoharides, president and CEO of The Trustees of Reservations, it’s not a matter of if Great Point will become an island, but when.
“[By 2100], under moderate sea-level rise projections, we’re looking at 89% of the beach [on Coatue] gone, underwater, and 70% of the dunes underwater,” Theoharides said. The Trustees own the Haulover and the Coskata-Coatue Wildlife Refuge extending out to Great Point, while the Nantucket Conservation Foundation owns the majority of Coatue. “This is a beach where thousands of visitors come every summer,” she added. “It’s a touchpoint for Nantucket residents and visitors, and its history is really meaningful. To protect it is our mission.”
Theoharides is one of a number of ecologists growing increasingly concerned about the fate of Coskata and Coatue. As a barrier beach, Coatue keeps the bay scallop population in place, provides refuge for boats in a storm and acts as a natural shield for a 10-mile stretch of the island from Brant Point to Wauwinet. Losing that protection could decimate the bay scallop population, leave harborfront property owners scrambling to protect their homes, and even cut town property tax revenue as harborfront home values drop. “There is a huge risk,” said Karen Beattie, director of science and stewardship at the Nantucket Conservation
“At the end of the day, this is uncharted territory.”
– Karen Beattie
Foundation. “If there’s a breach anywhere on Coatue, that is going to change the harbor as we know it today. It would make it a very different place.”
With each storm, Coskata and Coatue become weaker, losing long strips of beach and dunes to the sea. Just this winter, waves from the east swept over the dunes at the narrow isthmus called the Galls—just south of Great Point—
effectively making Great Point a temporary island until the storm subsided. Then it happened again, just weeks later and once again at the Galls. While washovers like these have happened before, they’re becoming more common, according to the Trustees. That’s significant for places like Coskata or Coatue, where the highest point sits just six feet above sea level.
Waves crashing on Easy Street in a winter storm.
Scientists are growing concerned the natural protection from Coatue and Coskata will be lost as sea levels rise.
“The projections are really scary,” Beattie said. “It does look like Coatue is going to disappear and it may. We don’t know. The bottom line with sealevel rise is that we’re trying to model and predict what’s going to happen as best we can given the science that we have. But at the end of the day, this is uncharted territory.”
By 2050, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration projects the waters around Nantucket to rise by another 2.68 feet and by over 6.6 feet by 2100. Since the installment of the Nantucket Harbor tidal gauge in 1965, the mean sea level in the harbor has already risen by nearly nine inches. That kind of damage could prove disastrous. An estimated 2,373 structures are at risk of coastal flooding and erosion through 2070, coming out to $3.4 billion in damages, according to data from the town’s Coastal Resilience Plan.
RJ Turcotte, ecologist and waterkeeper for the Nantucket Land & Water Council, has already seen the impacts of rising seas. Just this February, the Town Pier suffered substantial damage, three years after a round of repairs were proposed to protect the pier from stronger storm waves. “A breach somewhere like the Haulover could allow for a larger [area] for these waves to build and cause more damage than [the Town Pier] was built for,” Turcotte said.
Town officials and downtown business owners are already contemplating a gauntlet of initiatives to bolster the harborfront. The Steamship Authority is currently seeking grant funding for upgrades to its ferry terminal. Earlier this spring, the Select Board also heard proposals to elevate the harbor bulkhead and potentially raise Easy Street, where just last year, water rose to the height of the road 84 times, according to data from NOAA. That project would cost between $37.5 million and $104.9 million, depending on its scope. Nantucket Coastal Resilience Coordinator Leah Hill believes it’s money well spent. “The risk of doing nothing is way too great,” Hill said. The estimated risk of no action on Easy Street comes out to a whopping $1.2 billion by 2070, not to mention loss of access to the Steamboat Wharf. “We’re a small town with big city problems,”
Courtesy of the Town of Nantucket
Potential solutions in Polpis outlined in the town’s Coastal Resiliency Plan. Courtesy of the Town of Nantucket
IHill said.
n addition to raising Easy Street, town officials are also considering
the beach. At Coskata Pond and the Haulover, that looks like vegetation balls and artificial oyster reefs that
and creating rain gardens to absorb floodwater. Projects like these are not unique to Nantucket. Major cities are now competing for a short supply of state and federal funding for expensive erosion-control projects. In Boston, the proposed “Sapphire Necklace” sea-gate to connect the Boston Harbor Islands came with such a sticker shock when it was proposed in 2017, that the project—like the flooding Seaport—is now dead in the water.
Currently, the Conservation Foundation and the Trustees are looking into projects called living shorelines. They’re intended to work with nature to slow down the rate of erosion by accreting sand along
and empties to the harbor. The organizations have also contracted with GZA GeoEnvironmental Inc. for a LiDAR topographical survey of low-lying areas that will reveal other risk areas along Coatue. That study is funded by the Great Harbor Yacht Club.
When asked about hard-armoring Coskata or Coatue with options like sea walls, jetties or bulkheads, Theoharides said that kind of approach could do more harm than good in such an undisturbed natural environment like the barrier beach. “Not only do I feel like nature holds the key in allowing our systems to adapt, but without strengthening nature and building its resilience,
two primary risk areas for a breach: the Haulover and Coskata Pond, which sits precariously close to the ocean
would take away all of the unique geomorphology and habitat [of Coskata and Coatue]. What is unique
Two potential options to protect downtown from rising tides. Courtesy of the Town of Nantucket
about that environment is created by the lack of human intervention.”
While researchers recognize that Coskata and Coatue will almost certainly look very different by the end of the century, there is a consensus that something needs to be done to protect the barrier beach. If nothing is done, the consequences are simply too great, not just for Coskata and Coatue, but for the entirety of the island. “This is not just a beach ecosystem, it really creates the island as we know it today,” Theoharides added. “The more time we can buy with these resiliency
“ The risk of doing nothing is way too great”
– Leah Hill
Left: the Nantucket Conservation Foundation relocated its ranger station 300 feet away from the eroding beach on Coatue. Below: Water floods downtown streets.
Your One Awaits
INTERVIEW BY BRUCE A. PERCELAY
PHOTOGRAPHY BY KIT NOBLE
THE GLOBAL ECONOMY
The Financial Impacts
of the War in
Iran
GLOBAL STRATEGIST AND NANTUCKET SUMMER RESIDENT IAN BREMMER OPINES ON THE STATE OF THE ECONOMY AND BEYOND.
With surging fuel prices and uncertainty impacting world economies, Ian Bremmer gives his outlook on the severity and duration of the Iran conflict. Bremmer is a Nantucket summer resident and is the founder of geopolitical risk consulting firm Eurasia Group, which provides research analysis on global affairs.
According to Bremmer, the tumult of the international oil market resulting from the war in Iran is the biggest disruption of global energy in world history. Bremmer expresses his viewpoint that President Trump, after coming off a victory in Venezuela, has seriously miscalculated his incursions into Iran and that the resulting effects could be prolonged.
N Magazine sat down with Bremmer to discuss the current world situation in the first of our new regular section called Financial NSights
When was the last time the world has been as turbulent as it is now?
IAN BREMMER: The beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The difference is this time it’s self-inflicted, but it’s similar in that we have a massive global shock to supply chains and long-term knock-on effects to the global economy. The pandemic in some ways was much worse because so many of us had no idea what it would mean for our personal well-being. We don’t have that issue with Iran. Iran does not pose an existential threat to humanity or to the United States.
As for the international oil market, how deep have the impacts gone already and how long does it take before the damage becomes severe?
BREMMER: I think the damage is already severe. This is the biggest disruption of global energy in world history. The fact is that the Iranians now have functional veto power over the Strait [of Hormuz], and it does not appear there is any way to stop that absent escalation. You could have a ceasefire tomorrow and stop the fighting, but the Iranians would still be able with the drones that they have to prevent tankers from going through [the Strait] unless those tankers have an agreement with the Islamic Republic, and that’s not seen as acceptable to the U.S. You’ve got a serious problem and you don’t have any near-term answer.
Was attacking Iran a miscalculation by Trump?
BREMMER: Absolutely. It was the biggest foreign policy mistake he’s made. It comes off the back of enormous success in Venezuela, which went as well as anyone could have imagined, militarily, economically and politically.
Trump was enormously confident on the back of that success. He has also been constrained on tariffs, has affordability problems in the U.S., is underwater with the American people on inflation and the economy, is backing down on China after they hit him hard, and the Supreme Court overruled him on [tariffs]. When you put all of that together, suddenly he’s asking what’s his next win, so he goes for Iran. The decision wasn’t made by Israel or by his advisors; it was made by him. He was convinced that once the supreme leader was killed—someone who was making it impossible to have negotiations—and that their military leadership was killed and their capabilities were taken out, that we would have a Venezuela outcome. Trump wasn’t worried about [the Strait of Hormuz] because his thought was once we get rid of these leaders, there’s going to be a whole bunch of people begging to work with us.
The term “stagflation” is associated with the Carter administration. Are we going to see something similar for some time?
BREMMER: This is going to have long-term knock-on effects for the global economy and will hurt the poorest countries the most. When you don’t have fertilizer during the growing season, food prices go way up. You’re going to have diesel and oil shortages in the poorest countries.
In the United States, we’re going to see inflation go up. I’m not sure that’s a recession, but it’s an extended very unhappy U.S. population with where gas prices are. You’re shutting down not just the transit of energy but the products of that energy—it’s helium coming out of Qatar, it’s plastics with petrochemicals, it’s cheap textiles made with polyester that we buy as inexpensive clothing, it’s consumer packaging and auto parts. It’s going to take months for this to affect prices, but once it happens, it’s going to be very tricky.
Political scientist and global analyst Ian Bremmer
When prices go up as a result of oil shocks, can we expect them to come down to previous levels?
BREMMER: Probably not completely. It depends on what kind of damage is done to infrastructure over course of the war, as we have already seen with [liquified natural gas] in Qatar, as well as the extent of continued disruption.
Is there any room for the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates?
BREMMER: [Fed Chair Jerome Powell] said no. That’s one more constraint on Trump and something he’s not going to be able to move in his direction. The big thing and what is so surprising about all of this compared to the pandemic is that this is purely a war of choice. There was no urgency to this, no imminent threat to the United States. While Iran does represent a threat, the easy thing to do would have been to order a repeat of the 12-Day War [between Israel and Iran] last year, which would have, in turn, elicited none of the extraordinary destructive behavior we have seen from the Iranians.
Is China reveling in the situation that we now find ourselves in?
BREMMER: They don’t like the economic disruption and the major risks from escalation. But they certainly don’t mind the United States taking military capabilities out of Asia or the opportunity [for China] to be seen as less unreliable given the present perceptions of the United States and its leadership.
Equating this conflict to a baseball game, what inning are we in?
BREMMER: Maybe the third or fourth inning. The first inning was pretty big. When you assassinate the supreme leader, you’re coming out and putting some runs on the board. It’s a high scoring game. Then Israel hits [Iran’s] energy field, and the Iranians do $20 billion of
damage to Qatari [liquified natural gas], which will take three years to get back online. They’re putting a lot of runs on the board. We’re not close to a situation where ships are going through the strait. Right now, the only ships that are passing through the strait without being contested are Iranian ships. So for day-to-day life in America, things are likely to get more costly.
If there is no quick resolution in sight to the Iran conflict, what are our exit options?
BREMMER: The United States can stop the fighting and leave a coalition of the willing to negotiate transit of the strait with the Iranians. That leaves Iran devastated from the war but in a stronger geopolitical position than they entered it—not President Trump’s intention. That is why escalation remains likely, even after Trump has so many times said this war will be over in a few more days or weeks.
The economy is generally the biggest concern in an election. How will this affect the midterms?
BREMMER: Goods will get more costly because the supply chain has already been disrupted. It takes time for these things. We know costs are going up; it’s not a question of maybe they will. The likelihood that Trump is going to get pasted during the midterms is very high. It’s a layup that he loses the House in a big way. The Senate is a heavier lift, but it’s now in play.
[After the midterms] Trump will become more of a lame duck. Republicans will leave him because they understand they want a future. A president [who will be] 80 with historic unpopularity who has just lost the midterms is not going to do much for their future. The presidential Republican primary is going to be much more competitive as a consequence of that, and we’ll see that immediately after November.
Bremmer with the and late Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger (right). Courtesy of Eurasia Group.
50
THE DAFFODIL FESTIVAL
WRITTEN BY BRIAN BUSHARD
PHOTOGRAPHY BY KIT NOBLE
The Daffodil Festival celebrates five decades.
It started as one woman’s dream of planting 1 million daffodil bulbs around the island. Jean MacAusland, then president of the Nantucket Garden Club, knew daffodils would fare well in Nantucket’s sandy soil. She also knew the island’s growing deer and rabbit populations wouldn’t go anywhere near them (they contain toxic alkaloids that make them unappetizing to mammals). And to top it all off, they’re one of the easiest perennial flowers to grow. Once you plant the bulbs in the fall, you can forget about them until they bloom the next spring, and the spring after that.
MacAusland handed out brown paper bags full of the bulbs at the first Daffodil Show at the former Boys Club in 1975. All she asked was that the bulbs be planted on Nantucket. Three years later, the Garden Club planted some 30,000 bulbs. In 1979, MacAusland, then publisher of Gourmet magazine, purchased another eight tons of daffodil bulbs. Now, fifty years after that first show, it is estimated Nantucket has more than 4 million daffodils in bloom. The festival MacAusland created has also blossomed into one of the biggest community events on the island.
“[MacAusland] also knew the island needed an economic boost in the spring,” said Mary Malavase, a longtime Garden Club member and a co-chair of the 50th annual Daffodil Show at the Nantucket Inn this year. “Back then, the summer season was extremely short. With the investment of planting them, they would be around for over a year, and look at us now.”
In 50 years, the Daffodil Festival has exploded in popularity, from its roots as a collection of daffodils in soda bottles on plastic-lined pool tables at the Boys Club (now the Boys & Girls Club), to hundreds of daffodil entries on display at the flower show this year. The
Daffodil Show, which takes place April 24-26, is moving to the Nantucket Inn this year after years at Bartlett’s Farm. In other words, the show has outgrown the farm.
MacAusland’s passion for horticulture was matched by her taste in antique cars. Driving her 1966 Vanden Plas, she would toss wildflower seeds down Milestone and Polpis roads, waiting for them to bloom in the summer, her nieces Natasha Bergreen and Liza Cousins remember. She drove that same antique car down the dirt road to her house, where it would inevitably bottom out. In 1978, she introduced a classic car parade to the festival, with the help of Melva Chesrown and H. Flint and Corky Ranney.
Jean MacAusland’s 1966 Vanden Plas packed with daffodils. Photo courtesy of Mary Malavase
The first parade, from downtown Nantucket to Main Street in ’Sconset, included 19 cars, including MacAusland’s Vanden Plas, a 1920s Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost, a 1927 Pontiac and five fire engines. Dozens of cars have stalled or failed to start after being staged for the parade over the years. Longtime festival volunteer and former Sconset Market owner Mark Donato now puts the number of cars in the festival each year at over 100. “Back then, there were a lot of Model T’s in people’s garages, and now those are rare [to see in the parade],” said Donato, who is in charge of the antique car voting process. “There used to be at least eight or 10 of those. Now, muscle cars have gotten old enough that they qualify as antique cars. They’re fan favorites; people love seeing those cars.”
“The tailgates have become very lavish from the days it was lemonade and a few shortbread cookies,” he added. “Now there’s hot food and desserts. I’ve seen a few people that have a private chef back there, so they can just host and talk about their cars.”
While the Daffodil Show and the antique car parade remain the main events of the festival, the weekend has come to encompass an array of activities. The Nantucket Chamber of Commerce now organizes a Daffodil Festival Bazaar (April 24 at the Dreamland) and family events at Children’s Beach. The festival has also provided an economic jolt for shops
MacAusland, whose vision to plant thousands of
for 50 years of spring
Jean
daffodils across the island paved the way
festivals. Photo by Beverly Hall
The very first Daffodil Flower Show at the Boys Club in 1975. Courtesy of Mary Malavase
of antique cars in the 1980s. Courtesy of the Nantucket Historical Association
“ The vision is extraordinary, to cheer up the island and give a project to the kids, and the daffodil was just perfect.”
– Natasha Bergreen, niece of
Jean MacAusland
“ The tailgates have become very lavish from the days it was lemonade and a few shortbread cookies.”
– Mark Donato
A picnic in Sconset at the 1985 Daffodil tailgate. Courtesy of the NHA
Rows
John Maury decorating the Main Street Fountain with freshly cut daffodils and forsythia in the late 1970s. Courtesy of the NHA
Mark Donato presents Bruce and Elisabeth Percelay a prize for their ice cream truck, the William & Charlie Express.
and restaurants that reopen for the weekend after staying closed for much of the winter. Organizations like the Nantucket Historical Association have also embraced the Daffodil Festival, with the NHA’s annual Flower Power party.
Last fall the Garden Club planted another 50,000 daffodil bulbs at the intersection of Milestone and Polpis roads, which are now coming into bloom in time for the 50th anniversary. “The longevity of it is something people look forward to after a long gray
winter,” Malavase said. “It’s the awakening of the island. No matter who you ask, when you ask them what they think about spring, I guarantee you at least 90% of those people say they can’t wait to see the daffodils.”
A Model-T at the 1986 parade. Courtesy of the NHA
The Nantucket Garden Club decorates the Main Street Fountain with daffodils every spring.
A Legacy Estate on the Sconset Bluff
Set high on the Sconset Bluff, 37 Sankaty Head Road is a private 6-acre Nantucket estate with sweeping views of the Atlantic Ocean, Sesachacha Pond, and Sankaty Light. The compound includes a 12,000-square-foot main residence, a two-bedroom guest house, and a wraparound pool with fire pit and seating area, all within a setting of extraordinary scale and privacy. Originally built in 2006 and extensively renovated in 2024, this eight-bedroom estate is a rare legacy offering defined by quiet elegance and exceptional finishes.
BR | 8 Full, 2
SF Main Residence 2-Bedroom Guest House Wraparound Pool + Fire Pit Ocean, Pond + Lighthouse Views Extensively Renovated in 2024
THAT’S THE TICKET
Five $1 million lottery winners at Old South Diner
What are the odds? The answer is approximately 1 in 2 million.
The Old South Diner might be the luckiest place in the state, if not the country. In just two years, five people have won at least $1 million on lottery tickets purchased at the diner. “It’s insane,” said Sean Durnin, the owner of Sushi Sean 11:11 Market & Bistro, who hit the $1 million jackpot on a ticket from the Old South Diner in August 2024. “I start to feel sorry for whoever wins next. They’re going to get blasted with messages.”
Sushi Sean 11:11 owner Sean Durnin struck gold with a $1 million scratch ticket in 2024, making him one of five people to win at least $1 million at the Old South Diner in just two years.
WRITTEN BY BRIAN BUSHARD
PHOTOGRAPHY BY KIT NOBLE
The hot streak on Old South Road started in March 2024, when Boston resident Jose Fontanez stopped by the shop while visiting his girlfriend on the island. He won $1 million on a $10 scratch ticket, beating odds of 1 in over 2 million. He said he would put the prize money down on a house. Less than three months later, Hyannis resident Garen Downie became the second winner at Old South, this time for $2 million on the Massachusetts State Lottery’s “Lifetime Millions” game, a $50 scratch ticket.
quick Chinese food, now it’s a cosigner for my house. Everybody’s thinking their chances are better to win there than anywhere else.” That may well be true, though there has been a sixth million-dollar winner on Nantucket at a different location. Last December, Julio Hidalgo Perez won $1 million on a $50 lottery ticket he purchased at Mid Island Fuel on Sparks Avenue.
Then in August 2024—just two months after Downie won big— lightning struck a third time when Durnin won $1 million on a $20 ticket he bought from where else but the Old South Diner. And then this March, it happened twice, with house cleaning business owner Yancy Contreras Menjivar claiming a $2 million jackpot on the state’s new “$2,000,000 Stacked” instant ticket game, and another $2 million Powerball ticket sold at the diner—claimed by island resident Mary Haley two days later.
“It’s become a punchline at the Old South Diner,” Durnin said. “Before it was known as a place to get
“Before it was known as a place to get quick Chinese food, now it’s a co-signer for my house”
– Sean Durnin
According to Rachel Guerra, deputy director of communications for the Massachusetts State Lottery, the Old South Diner has consistently been among the top 10% of shops across the state in recent years. Only a few other locations in the state have had the luck the Old South Diner has had, including Silk’s Variety in Sheffield (three $1 million jackpots in 2024), Pride Station in East Longmeadow (two in 2024) and Ted’s Stateline Mobil in Methuen (three in 2022). For each million-dollar ticket sold, stores in the state receive a $10,000 bonus. That brings the Old South Diner’s windfall to $50,000.
Right: Jose Fontanez became the first in a lucky string of million-dollar scratch ticket winners at the Old South Diner in March 2024.
Below: Yancy Contreras Menjivar claimed a $2 million jackpot from a ticket she bought at the Old South Diner earlier this year.
Unsurprisingly, the Old South Diner leads all Nantucket shops in lottery tickets sold by dollar figure. In 2024, its net sales topped $2.7 million, and grew to $3.7 million last year. That means that last year, the Old South Diner sold $11,000 worth of lottery tickets per day. The odds of one establishment in the state selling five million-dollar tickets is still astronomical. The Nantucket Current estimates those odds come out to roughly .005%.
Durnin, who put his winnings in an account for his son’s education, said he didn’t typically play the lottery before his winning ticket in 2024. He only picked up a lottery ticket that day after scrambling to find the empty car seat that fell out of the back of his truck while he was delivering food. Durnin thought he struck gold when he found the car seat near the Old South Diner. Then came the $1 million in the scratch ticket. “It’s so weird looking back on it,” he said. “I’ll buy tickets now and know this will never happen again. One out of a million? I have better chances of getting struck by lightning or getting bit by a shark on the beach.”
“I have better chances of getting struck by lightning or getting bit by a shark on the beach.”
– Sean Durnin
EVERYTHING IN MODERATION
WRITTEN BY BRIAN BUSHARD PHOTOGRAPHY BY KIT NOBLE
Sarah Alger’s 30th year at the town meeting podium
Attorney and Town Moderator Sarah Alger is running unopposed in her 30th election for town moderator.
When Sarah Alger hammered down the gavel to start her first town meeting in 1997, her annual salary as town moderator was a paltry $175. But to Alger, an island real estate attorney, the annual and sometimes biannual meetings were never about the compensation as much as they were an opportunity to preside over arguably the most impactful—and often controversial—nights in town politics.
Alger is running this May for her 30th term as town moderator. In her 30 years at the podium, she has overseen over 3,000 town meeting articles, including some of the most controversial proposals on the island, including beach driving permits, fertilizer bans, town sewer expansions and, of course, short-term rental regulations. While the title of town moderator might be far from the most coveted position on Nantucket, Alger has not only taken it in stride but become an integral part of annual town meetings. “I’ve been doing it so long it would be hard to separate me out of it,” she said. Aside from her first election—when Alger won by a mere 200 votes over Tim Madden and Curtis Barnes—she has run unopposed every year.
meeting. Across the country, the annual tradition of open town meetings has mostly become a thing of the past. Despite numerous efforts to move on from open town meetings, Nantucket—for now—has held on to the tradition. For Alger, it’s also a family tradition. Alger grew up in Osterville, Massachusetts, attending town meetings in Barnstable as a kid, volunteering as a timekeeper while her father, John Alger, served
“I’ve been doing it so long it would be hard to separate me out of it.”
– Sarah Alger
As the moderator of Nantucket’s open town meeting form of government, Alger has become one of a dying breed of town moderators across the country. While open town meetings—described as one of the last vestiges of true democracy—were once commonplace across New England and New York, they have been steadily phased out for alternative forms of government, like town councils, mayors and another format called a representative town
as town moderator. It inspired in Alger an appreciation for town government that has never subsided. In the mid-1990s, she cosponsored a domestic partnership bylaw, making an impassioned speech while eight months pregnant with her second child.
Sarah Alger has become a fixture at Annual Town Meeting for the last 30 years.
That article, then one of the most contentious proposals presented at an annual town meeting, took four years to pass and ultimately gave same-sex couples many of the same rights as married couples.
In 1997, she decided to run for moderator after meeting the town’s moderator at the time, Tom Arnold. “He said he wasn’t going to run for moderator and had a list of people he said would be good,” Alger remembered. “I said, ‘What if I ran?’ Well, he clearly had never contemplated that.” Arnold wasn’t alone. That same election cycle, Alger was standing outside Stop & Shop when a woman pointed to her and said, “Anyone but her for town moderator,” Alger remembered. That turned out to be the only time Alger faced opposition. After her first meeting was in the books, then-Land Bank commissioner Phil Bartlett gave her a hug. “I didn’t think you could do it,” he told her.
Thirty years in, Alger has found a way to keep the meetings not only fair and balanced but entertaining. In 2021, when the town first brought in electronic voting handsets, Alger quipped: “If you mistakenly take a handset home, you will be tracked down, and I cannot guarantee what will happen to you.” Perhaps her most iconic line came one year later, in a segue from a proposal to ban plastic “nip” bottles to another on topless beaches, she joked: “Zipping right along from nips to nipples.” When asked about staying upbeat and humorous at town meetings, she remains modest. “I have no control over that,” she said.
Last year, Alger brought back another family tradition, bringing her daughter, Madeline Malenfant (who competed on Project Runway last year), to the meeting as timekeeper—the same position Alger held as a kid. “I was always interested in town meeting,” Alger said. “I was interested in community service, had been on different boards. I knew I would never run for anything else. I still enjoy it, but if there’s someone else who would like to take over and do it better or differently, I would be open to it 100%.”
“I knew I would never run for anything else.”
– Sarah Alger
Annual Town Meeting is scheduled for May 4 at Nantucket High School.
Town officials introduced electronic voting tablets five years ago.
PRESERVING NANTUCKET’S PAST, THOUGHTFULLY REIMAGINED FOR TODAY
The home at 6 Gull Island Lane is a meaningful piece of Nantucket’s architectural and cultural heritage, with roots tracing back to around 1800 when it was built by Thomas Gardner Jr. for his daughter, Hannah Gardner, on the occasion of her marriage. Remaining in the care of the Gardner and later Sheffield families for over a century, the property reflects the enduring legacy of Nantucket’s early families and the island’s commitment to preservation.
Today, this historic residence has been meticulously restored with a deep respect for its original character. Every detail has been thoughtfully considered to honor the home’s past while seamlessly introducing modern comforts. The result is a rare balance of authenticity and livability—featuring six bedrooms, seven wood-burning fireplaces, and beautifully maintained grounds including a garage, patio, and rose garden—all set along a charming, restored cobblestone lane that echoes Nantucket’s storied past.
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508.325.1526
CASTING A NEW CAREER
WRITTEN BY BRIAN BUSHARD
JPHOTOGRAPHY KIT NOBLE
JEFF ALLEN’S FISH STIX
eff Allen knew something was wrong the morning he fell out of bed at 2 a.m. Allen, a veteran Nantucket photographer, was losing not only his balance but his vision. The thing he needed more than anything else as a photographer was fading. The problem, it turned out, was an advanced case of Lyme disease that had damaged his cognitive functioning and would require months of physical therapy and vision retraining.
But he wasn’t going to let that prognosis defeat him. Allen—an artist, sculptor, photographer and craftsman—needed something to do before he went stir crazy during his months-long recovery.
If he wasn’t able to take photographs, he thought he could still work with his
hands in some way. He called up his friend, longtime fishing rod maker Barry Thurston, with an idea to make custom fishing rods himself. Thurston, who had retired from making rods, showed him the ropes. Allen was hooked.
“Some people say I’m making art, but I’m making toys; it’s just very well thought out,” said Allen, who builds rods under the name Fish Stix. “These things will last.” In the 15 years since his initial conversation with Thurston, Allen has turned his house on Somerset Road into a studio and a workshop where he cranks out 50 custom fishing rods of all sizes every year. “I didn’t want to be on my computer— I wanted to be outside,” Allen said. “I like to fish and I have fished all my life.”
Not only has Allen produced hundreds of rods, he’s also amassed a household of equipment, from lathes to sanders. It takes a special breed of craftsman to fully commit to the craft the way Allen has. Handy? He built his house, though he claims it’s still a work in progress after three decades, and likely will be until he decides he’s had enough projects for one lifetime. Resilient? He once lost three fingers in a machinery accident while making furniture. He carried his fingers in a helicopter to Boston to have them surgically reattached.
Jeff Allen teaches children at the Boys & Girls Club how to make their own fishing rods.
Jeff Allen
Currently, Allen is the only custom rod maker on Nantucket. “It’s night and day, the difference in how the rods perform compared to a commercial rod. It’s like if you bought a Ford Fiesta instead of a Hummer or a full-blown Mercedes,” Allen said. “A lot of the time I’ll go out fishing on a friend’s boat and they’ll have commercial rods that aren’t custom, which drives me crazy. I’m rarely surprised at how good they are.”
Earlier this year, Allen introduced students at the Nantucket Boys & Girls Club to the art of custom rod making, donating materials and labor to give kids the opportunity to create something all
their own, and potentially inspire a younger generation to take up the craft. Later this season, the Boys & Girls Club will take the students on a charter fishing trip where they will be able to use the new rods they made with Allen’s assistance.
“Living in a fishing community like Nantucket, there’s something powerful about getting kids out on the water, learning how to cast a line and understanding the importance of our local fisheries,” said Boys & Girls Club CEO Jamie Foster, crediting staff members Joe Headen and Ian Graiff for making the partnership with Fish Stix possible. “It’s more than just fishing— it’s about connection to place, to tradition and to new skills. This is exactly the kind of unique, hands-on programming that sets our Club apart and creates lasting memories for our kids.”
Photo by Jeff Allen
“Some people say I’m making art, but I’m making toys; they ’re just very well thought out.”
– Jeff Allen
“It’s more than just fishing— it’s about connection to place, to tradition and to new skills.”
– Jamie Foster, CEO Nantucket Boys & Girls Club
Above and left: Each custom fishing rod Jeff Allen builds at his workshop takes 16-20 hours to produce. Allen sources Portuguese cork for the grips, titanium guides and a wide array of wood to work with. He made more than 50 rods last year alone.
Photo by Jeff Allen.
“[A commercial fishing rod] is like if you bought a Ford Fiesta instead of a Hummer or a full-blown Mercedes.”
– Jeff Allen
At his studio, Allen has a stockpile of blanks, grips, reels, reel seats, threads and titanium guides. He imports Portuguese cork and has a wide array of wood to work with, like Honduran rosewood, ambrosia maple, Patagonian rosewood, Bolivian rosewood, palm and mahogany. Each rod blank (the long pole) is painted a unique color and attached with a thread color of the customer’s choice. The rods can also be accessorized with personalized scrimshaw or abalone. As for the types of rods, Allen has made them for surf casters, inshore fishermen, kayakers, fly fishermen and people who prefer the deep sea. The rods typically take two weeks to a month to produce from start to finish, starting at $895.
Allen also uses his rods, a family legacy he’s taken from his father, who taught him to fish in the lakes around Middleborough and Brockton with a custom-made rod. He still holds on to the first rod he made on his own, which he fondly calls “Number One.” Since launching Fish Stix 15 years ago, Allen said the craft has changed his approach to fishing. The idea is that a custom rod, even if it’s more expensive, will suit your needs better than any other rod that’s out there.
After a tour of his basement workshop, it’s clear making rods has become more than just a hobby. “You can catch a fish on anything,” he said. “Commercial rods are fine, but if you come to me, you’re going to get something that’s a legacy rod. If you take care of it, you’ll be able to pass it down.”
All the Care You Need is Right Here
•Walk-in Urgent Access clinic for non-life-threatening conditions
•Shortest Emergency Department average wait-time in the state of Massachusetts
•Primary Care providers accepting new patients
• Seasonal Care Coordination for part time residents
•Convenient outpatient services such as Lab, Imaging, Physical Therapy
•Virtual Urgent Care available 24/7
•Sought-after specialists who provide dozens of services such as Orthopedics, Neurology and Cosmetic Dermatology
“Accessing medical care on Nantucket has never been easier for year-round and seasonal residents. We offer patients the best of both worlds: the world-class resources of the Mass General Brigham system, paired with the comfort and familiarity of a small community hospital.”
–Amy Lee, MBA, MBHA, MJ, FACMPE
President and Chief Operating Officer, Nantucket Cottage Hospital
Top 100 Women-Led Business in Massachusetts
Nantucket Cottage Hospital is a community-supported nonprofit organization.
Giving It His
BEST SHOT
WRITTEN BY BRIAN BUSHARD
PHOTOGRAPHY BY KIT NOBLE
Malik Moore’s rebound from professional basketball to Nantucket coach
Before Malik Moore coached the Cyrus Peirce Middle School boys basketball team, he played professionally for teams across the world.
If it wasn’t for a torn ACL and a broken collarbone, Malik Moore could have become one of the greats in the NBA. “We used to play in the backyard. I would tell my cousin, ‘I’m going to make it. Once I get into college, I’m going to make it,’” said Moore, who now coaches the Cyrus Peirce Middle School boys basketball team on Nantucket. Moore has always been surrounded by the game of basketball. Growing up in Philadelphia, he cut his teeth in the driveway with friends who later become NBA stars. By his junior year of high school, he started seeing college recruiters in the stands at his games. Before his senior year in the late ’90s, he received an invitation to the New Jersey-based All American Camp, where he played against Kobe Bryant, Tim Thomas, Richard Hamilton and Shaheen Holloway. “There were so many big-time dudes,” Moore said. “It was crazy. It was about 200 guys, and all of the [college] coaches would come. Coach [Mike Krzyzewski] from Duke was there. At the time, I wasn’t even thinking about playing with Kobe Bryant. I just wanted to play basketball.”
Professional basketball was always the dream, and reaching the NBA seemed like a layup. Moore, a 6-foot-4-inch point guard, had the skills, but luck wasn’t on his side. After a stand-out high school career, Moore was recruited to play down the street at Division I Temple University. He got play time during his freshman year, until then-coach John Chaney decided to bench him. Moore sat out for the Atlantic 10 Tournament. Temple advanced to March Madness, but lost by 30 points to West Virginia in a first-round upset. In that one game, Moore didn’t see any time on the court.
It was part of the ups and downs that come with the game. Without seeing any play time during March Madness, the game he loved had started to weigh on him. Moore decided to give it up entirely for a pharmaceutical job at SmithKline Beecham. “I was just going to get a job and start working, and then my grandmother told me, ‘You’re going back to school,’” he said. It was the push he needed. Moore dropped down to Division II, where he would receive play time. In three years at American International College in Springfield, Massachusetts, Moore was able to turn the program around to one of the top Division II schools in the country and was named
first-team All-American. “I just wanted to play, and if I went to Division II, I didn’t have to sit out a year, I could just play,” Moore said.
AIC coach Art Luptowski brought Moore around to Division I schools across New England. “So of course I went there and dominated,” Moore said. “Coach and I got back in the car, and he was stunned. He said, ‘Those dudes couldn’t do nothing with you.’” Suddenly, Moore was getting attention again. He played summer ball with Allen Iverson and Paul Pierce in Philadelphia. Scouts from the Indiana Pacers, Philadelphia 76ers and Utah Jazz came to watch him play during his senior year—something rare in Division II basketball.
When it came time for the 2002 NBA Draft, Moore watched two of his good friends, Ronald “Flip” Murray and John Salmons, get drafted into the league. Moore, on the other hand, didn’t receive a call that night. A few weeks later, he was driving up to Springfield when he did receive a call— from his
AIC coach. “He said, ‘Seattle’s coach Nate McMillan is going to call you in a minute,’” Moore remembered. “He asked what’s the closest airport, and I said, ‘Hartford.’ He said, ‘Alright, are you good to fly out here tomorrow morning? I want to bring you down for the workout.’ He got me a ticket, and I drove to buy a pair of sneakers.”
But just as things were looking up, it all came crashing down. Moore was coming down the middle of the lane during a training camp exhibition game. The center came to block his shot and collided with him. Moore fell to the ground and bruised his knee. “I asked coach to give me a couple practices off and see how it goes,” Moore said. “Then it really started with the swelling so I got an MRI and that’s when I found out.”
The torn ACL was an 8-to-12-month recovery. He broke down crying.
The Seattle SuperSonics invited him back to training camp the next year, but he didn’t make the team. Without a clear path to the NBA, he boarded a flight to China, playing a year for the Beijing Ducks. His sights were still set on the NBA. But it was a waiting game. Moore bounced around to the Continental Basketball Association for a season in Great Falls, Montana, and then to the NBA’s Development League in Roanoke, Virginia.
He played for a few seasons in Germany with the Paderborn Baskets, traveling back for summers to visit his then-girlfriend who became his wife. He went to Finland, where he played with three different teams and even hit the winning layup in the championship game one year. He learned enough German and Finnish to communicate with his coaches. He bonded with other basketball expats. And he kept up his game, still hoping to make it to the NBA. “My Euro step became me,” he said.
On one of his trips home to visit family, he was riding his motorcycle when he got into an accident and
broke his collarbone. As luck would have it, the very next day, the New Jersey Nets called him, asking him to try out for them. “I was like, ‘Are you kidding me?’” he said. “I just broke down. I really had a chance to make that team.”
“At the time, I wasn’t even thinking about playing with Kobe Bryant. I just wanted to play basketball.”
– Malik Moore
“I came home, was waiting and nothing ever came about,” he said. “I’m wondering if I should keep waiting or get a job. I can’t keep sitting around waiting. I decided to shut it down. My oldest son had just turned 11, so I decided to come home and start spending time with him.”
After over a decade of traveling around the world playing professional basketball, his dream of making
the NBA had come to an end. But things have a way of working out. That’s when his wife landed a job on Nantucket. His youngest son was starting to play basketball, so Moore signed up to coach him through the Boys & Girls Club. After five years, he applied for the boys basketball coaching spot at Cyrus Peirce, where he now coaches with Sean Oberly. This year, the team went 7-1, including a 70-point win over Mashpee. Part of Moore’s goal is to redevelop Nantucket’s oncepowerhouse basketball program, starting at the Boys & Girls Club and the middle school, where Moore’s son Malikai is on the team. Meanwhile, his oldest son now plays Division I ball at Loyola University Chicago. “Coaching is a little different,” Moore said. “I see myself more as a trainer than anything. I love the game, I get the guys going and they like me. If you tell them to do something in practice and keep working on it, then you see it come together—that’s nice.”
Malik Moore playing in Finland. Courtesy of Malik Moore
Nantucket’s #1 News Source
Everything else is old news.
“Working with the Nantucket Current has been tremendously beneficial for Lee Real Estate. Their large and engaged readership, high-quality editorial content, and professional reputation have helped amplify our brand and reach new potential with our target audience.”
- Kiri Mullen, General Manager, Lee Real Estate
“An investment in Nantucket Current as a communications platform is the most targeted, strategic, and cost-effective way to connect with the various factions of the Nantucket audience-at-large. My clients have repeatedly had unparalleled results through their digital advertising vehicles.”
- Ava Rollins, Ava Rollins + Associates
“Advertising with the Current has been a fantastic experience. Their team truly understands the local audience and has helped me connect with clients who align perfectly with my brand. The process has been seamless and I’ve seen a noticeable boost in engagement since partnering with them.”
- Calista West, Private Jeweler
“When 6am comes, the Current is the first thing I read. That’s where I get most of my local news on Nantucket.”
- Jim Perelman, Nantucket County Sheriff
“The Current is my primary source for timely Nantucket news, relevant information, and articles of interest.”
- Walt Stokowski, President, Marine Home Center
“I find the Current intelligent and timely, and it is my primary source of news on the island.”
- Bob Reynolds, President & CEO, Putnam Investments
Nantucket Current provides instant news to your phone or email inbox, no paywall, no subscription fee.
The news doesn’t wait to break until Thursday, so why should you? Discover why thousands of Nantucketers view the Current as their single source of island news.
NO MOW
WRITTEN BY BRIAN BUSHARD PHOTOGRAPHY BY KIT NOBLE
The environmental benefits of skipping May mowing
Sarah Johnson wasn’t looking for an excuse to skip mowing her lawn. Then she heard about No Mow May, a national program gaining traction on Nantucket as a simple and environmentally friendly first step to bolster the health of your yard, help bees and pollinators and reduce the need for harmful fertilizers and herbicides. The grassroots initiative is as simple as its name suggests. Ditch the lawn mower for the month of May.
“We don’t have to have perfectly manicured yards,” said Johnson, a biologist and a member of the Nantucket Garden Club. “That’s the problem with the chemicals we have in our environment. Everyone thinks they need perfect hedges and perfect lawns, but that’s not what we have in nature.”
“We don’t have to have perfectly manicured yards.”
– Sarah Johnson
Instead of a manicured green lawn, proponents of No Mow May encourage property owners to allow native grasses and plants to bloom, whether it’s across an entire lawn or just a portion of one. By protecting grasses from the mower’s blades—even for just a month—islanders allow native flowers like violets, clover and dandelions to bloom. Those spring flowers provide food for critical pollinating butterflies and bees, which have experienced a catastrophic population decline nationwide as a result of pesticides, herbicides, habitat loss and viruses.
“When you participate in No Mow May, it will look like your lawn hasn’t been mowed, which I know can be daunting on Nantucket,” said Willa Arsenault,
environmental program coordinator at the Nantucket Land & Water Council. “There’s social pressure around aesthetics, and we’re proud of the way our island looks, which is important. But those aesthetics don’t have to be the be-all and endall of what a lawn is. If you do No Mow May, your lawn may look a little wild, but that’s actually really good. It’s what our environment needs and what our local habitat will thrive off of.”
This year, the Land & Water Council and Nantucket Garden Club are encouraging islanders to participate in No Mow May as an alternative to traditional, resourceintensive pristine green lawns. It comes as concerns over water and fertilizer use come to a head on the island. Nantucket currently sits in
The result of planting native plants and withholding from mowing for a few months, at a residential property in Polpis
Rose mallow, a native flower that attracts bees, butterflies and hummingbirds
a level-two “significant drought.” State officials have placed the island in at least a “mild drought” for nearly a year, prompting the town last summer to implement mandatory water use restrictions for property owners and cancel last year’s annual Fourth of July water fight. Ecologists estimate a conventional lawn requires 100 gallons of water for every 1,000 square feet on a hot summer day. Giving grasses time to grow stronger in the early months, on the other hand, allows grass roots to grow deeper, making a lawn more drought-resistant and reducing the need for watering later in the season.
There’s also the time and money saved by not mowing your lawn every week or two, as well as the reduction in noise and carbon emissions, and a drop in fertilizers and herbicides, which are not needed for native plants. Cutting back on chemical applications to green lawns can reduce the flow of nutrients into the harbors, which has been associated with habitat decline for marine life, especially eelgrass needed by Nantucket bay scallops. Reducing fertilizer and herbicide use also has positive effects on freshwater bodies, which have seen an increase in harmful algal blooms. Those blooms, which often appear as a blue-green scum at the surface of freshwater ponds, have been linked to skin rashes, headaches, stomach pain and coughing, and can be fatal to wildlife and pets that come in contact with the algae.
“With Nantucket, we know that our lawn care is a source of our present environmental concerns, like nutrient loading in the harbors and the ponds,” Arsenault said.
“Every year we see harmful algal blooms. People have noticed our freshwater ponds are not doing as well as they could, and a big part of that is lawn fertilizer. By starting to have your lawn be a little more naturally resilient and more native, it will give people a more balanced lawn, so they can rely less on mitigation techniques like fertilizers and herbicides.”
When the month of May ends, the Nantucket Land & Water Council suggests using additional environmentally friendly measures on your lawn that can last throughout the season. That could
mean mowing your lawn every other time you otherwise would or setting your lawn mower blade to a higher setting off the ground. It could also mean introducing more native plants, which require fewer chemicals and water.
“You start realizing that not only do you have butterflies and wildlife in your yard, that it’s the beauty of nature to allow [yards] to become wild again,” Johnson said. “Nature does everything. It suppresses weeds and requires less fertilizer. What’s supposed to be there doesn’t take nearly as much work or money.”
A monarch caterpillar grazing on milkweed in bloom
Native yellow helianthus, an alternative to sunflowers
Timeless Charm
The Kennedy charm at Julia Amory
INTERVIEW BY BRIAN BUSHARD PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF JULIA AMORY
Thanks to the overnight sensation series “Love Story,” the entire world seems to be nostalgic for Carolyn Bessette Kennedy and New York City in the ’90s. Julia Amory, the lifestyle influencer and founder of the clothing brand that bears her name, remembers that time for Carolyn’s timeless grace. Three years ago, she developed a white Oxford shirt and named it the Carolyn shirt. It’s been her top-selling item ever since. “Good taste never goes out of style,” she said. This spring, Amory is launching her fourth brick and mortar location, on Nantucket. N Magazine caught up with her to discuss her style and Nantucket aesthetic.
Why are you setting up a store on Nantucket?
Julia Amory: Nantucket represents a legacy of American style that is in keeping with the direction and fiber of our brand. We have used our customer base to help guide us to every store location we have, and Nantucket was just that.
Have you spent any time on the island?
Amory: I didn’t begin to spend time on Nantucket until I was in my college years. Having spent a summer living on the Vineyard, we would pop over to visit my roommate from Trinity who was a bartender at Cisco Brewers. Over the years I’ve been lucky enough to visit the island many times in many chapters of my life and now look forward to being able to spend more time there with my children, and introducing them to the magic of the island.
How would you describe Nantucket fashion? Are there any hidden gems that stand out to you?
Amory: While there is an elegance to Nantucket style, there is also a truly authentic ease to the way people dress. In an era of fast fashion and ever-changing disposable garb, Nantucket represents a timeless elegance that I think now more than ever we are craving: Real people with real style wearing real clothes. We aim to create a product that will stand the test of time and trend.
Has Nantucket inspired your aesthetic?
Amory: We are of course consistent in our branding and my own style, which is very much inspired and shaped by where and when I grew up. My father is European, but went to boarding school here in the states, as did my mother. There is an elevated casual sophistication that they both have that has very much shaped my approach to style. Old J. Press shirts and worn-in Levis. Peter Beaton hats and old boat totes are usually stained with ink and paint.
What is the story behind the Carolyn Shirt? Are there elements of the Kennedy style that you’ve brought to your brand?
Amory: I grew up in New York City in the ’90s. My father worked with [Jacqueline Kennedy] Onassis at Doubleday and my grandfather had overlapped at Yale with some of the Bouviers in East Hampton. He gave me a note she once wrote him, thanking him for some material he sent to her about her father’s time at Yale with his own father which I still have on her 1040 [Fifth Avenue] stationery.
When Carolyn came along, I, along with the rest of the world (Ralph Lauren included), was enamoured by her timeless grace. Three years ago when we decided to develop a white Oxford shirt—always a staple of my own wardrobe—it felt fitting to pay tribute to someone who wore it a notch above the rest. And that is the genesis of the Carolyn shirt which remains our top selling item—proof that good taste never goes out of style.
What sets your brand apart?
Amory: I think an adherence to our core styles and customer versus a need to chase trends. We work in only natural fibers and aim to create clothes inspired by an American legacy of refined style that our customers will reach for in their closets for many seasons to come. We aim to balance timelessness but also maintain a playfulness with color and print in our collections.
Has social media and e-commerce changed the game for entrepreneurs?
Amory: We wouldn’t have a business if it were not for social media. It has enabled us to build a customer base that has grown and evolved with us over the years, allowing us to thrive as a directto-consumer brand. In an era where there is increasing complexity associated with the wholesale model, this has given us the ability to stay nimble and march to the beat of our own drum. There of course is the demand to feed the content machine, which is exhausting at times, but it also means we are the master of our own destiny.
CELEBRATE, GATHER & STAY YOUR NANTUCKET DESTINATION AWAITS
Moments from Nantucket’s South Shore beaches and downtown, The Nantucket Inn is where island getaways and unforgettable gatherings come together. Since 1986, we’ve welcomed guests with a seamless blend of comfort, convenience, and resort-style amenities—perfect for both relaxing escapes and memorable celebrations.
Our newly appointed Grand Ballroom—boasting the island’s largest flexible, mixed-use event space—designed to host everything from elegant weddings to corporate retreats. With versatile spaces, your Nantucket event unfolds effortlessly, all in one place.
Guests can unwind with a dip in our indoor or outdoor pools, enjoy a lobster roll from the Nobadeer Cafe, sip an après-beach cocktail at NobaBar, or rally on our Har-Tru tennis courts. With complimentary shuttle service to town and the beaches, every detail is thoughtfully in place for your Nantucket stay.
With record-breaking sales of multi-generational estates, iconic oceanfront compounds, and charming rose-covered cottages, Marybeth represents the finest Nantucket properties for sale and rent. Known for her relatable approach, sharp business acumen, and trusted guidance, she helps clients navigate Nantucket’s nuanced and competitive real estate landscape with confidence.
An Island Advisor in the truest sense, MBG blends local insight with strategic expertise to guide every stage of the Nantucket journey.
NAVIGATING NANTUCKET
A Strategic Approach to Nantucket Real Estate
As Nantucket enters the spring market, activity is already underway. Homeowners are preparing properties for both sale & rent, aligning with the timing that drives the strongest results.
Marybeth brings deep local insight and an elevated, highly strategic approach, advising clients through every stage, ensuring each property is positioned with precision, purpose, and results. Offering complimentary pricing guidance, along with access to off-market opportunities as well as all current listings for sale & rent.
Photo Credit: Holly Matteson Pagon
Hunger on Nantucket is Real.
The high cost of living poses a challenge to island residents from teachers and nurses to Coast Guard members and service industry workers. Without those who make Nantucket work, the island simply cannot function.
Nourish Nantucket is addressing the hunger crisis on the island by coordinating 14 food agencies along with our new Food Hub. With your support, we can end hunger on Nantucket once and for all.
For further information scan the code, visit nourishnantucket.org, or call Meg Browers at 508-825-6872.
Architectural Anomaly
Mid-century modern on Nantucket
Architect: Chip Webster Architecture
Builder: Reid Builders
Interior Designer: Melanie Gowen Home + Design
Landscape Designer: Miroslava Land + Design
INTERVIEW BY SALLY LAURENCELLE
PHOTOGRAPHY BY KIT NOBLE
Anyone who’s taken a drive down any street on Nantucket is well accustomed to the cedarshingled stately homes and cottages that define the island’s architectural style. Save for a few brick and Victorian homes downtown, island homes are known for uniformity more than anything else. But there was a moment when architects broke from uniformity on Nantucket, leaving behind a few mid-century modern homes scattered across the island. The house at 84 Pocomo Road is one of them. Originally
built as a kit house assembled on-site, the house—a rare example of mid-century modern architecture on Nantucket—had fallen into disrepair. When it first hit the market, it was considered a teardown, though its new owners saw the importance of keeping the house intact. Architect Chip Webster sat down with N Magazine to discuss the opportunity to restore not just the house, but a distinct moment in Nantucket’s architectural history.
The main entry reflects the simplicity of mid-century modern design. Which elements of mid-century modern design felt naturally compatible with a Nantucket setting?
CHIP WEBSTER: It would be challenging to design a mid-century modern house in many places on Nantucket, given the Historic District Commission’s guidelines. What made this project unique is the opportunity to restore and preserve an important part of Nantucket’s architectural history. History is a moving target. What’s not that old now becomes very old down the road. To accurately preserve the history of a place, one needs to recognize that architectural designs and lifestyles change over time. The mid-century modern style occurs in this area of the island because it was during this time period when vacation homes were being built in Pocomo. One of the things that led to mid-century architecture was a desire to maximize light, views and connection to the outdoors.
The main living room showcases a mid-century modern aesthetic.
How did you adapt the historical design of mid-century modern to the owner’s way of life?
WEBSTER: The [owners are] avid kiteboarders, and one of the reasons they chose Pocomo was because of the world-class kiteboarding only steps away from their property. The new basement incorporates a large room for kiteboarding equipment and additional sleeping space for the family. Additionally, the home had to meet the current standards of building code requirements such as egress, structural integrity and energy and insulation requirements.
How does your architectural style guide your decisions from concept to completion?
WEBSTER: There is a responsibility for anyone designing structures used by humans to make them into functional spaces while fostering a positive relationship with the people using the building. That means the light-air relationship of the rooms and the flow of circulation through the building must work in harmony.
The pool level living space extends seamlessly to the outdoor pool.
A new guest house utilizes the roof form and details from the main house.
Striking landscape elements tie the structure into its setting.
Do you see this house as an outlier on the island or as part of an evolving architectural trend?
WEBSTER: This property is certainly an outlier. Mid-century modern houses represent a minimal percentage of homes in Nantucket. It would be interesting to see how the Historic District Commission would react to a proposal for a new design based on mid-century modern.
The primary bath orients towards the morning sunrise.
What overarching architectural themes guided the design of this house?
WEBSTER: The overarching architectural theme was the restoration of the original design, which focused on light, views, open spaces and connection to the outside. In the original design, there was a large fireplace in the middle of the house, which separated the kitchen from the living space. To open and connect the spaces, we removed this fireplace. However, we wanted to keep the exterior architectural integrity of the original design, so we kept the chimney and made it into a skylight to bring light into the middle of the house. We carried this skylight theme to the exterior deck where we integrated flush glass to allow light down to the lower patio.
The primary bedroom opens directly to the harbor-facing deck.
The kitchen island “happens to be” the size of a regulationsize ping pong table.
How do you feel that light and materials work together in this space?
WEBSTER: We worked closely with the interior designer, Melanie Gowen. [We] kept the architecture clean and simple. Melanie chose to use white as the primary wall color to act as a canvas for the artwork, furniture and fabrics to bring brighter colors into the space while reinforcing the mid-century modern aesthetic.
Are there details in this project that might go unnoticed by others but feel especially important to you?
WEBSTER: One of the themes is simplicity and minimalism. There are no moldings, no baseboards and no trim around the doors. Surfaces are smooth and clean; ceilings and beams create the detail instead of additional moldings.
Interior Designer Melanie Gowen utilized a pop of color to accent an alcove bar.
11 Sesapana Road
Sun-drenched living meets 100+ acres of serene conservation land. This 3-bedroom, 3-bath gem sits on nearly an acre in the sought-after Middle Moore’s neighborhood. Enjoy immediate access to walking trails and bike paths, all while being less than 10 minutes from both Main Street and South Shore beaches. The unique, open layout features three bedrooms and three full bathrooms, complemented by an expansive second living room. A significant value-add is the brand-new four-bedroom IA septic system, which supports the home’s future growth.
$2,995,000
Sheila Carroll Agent | Sales & Rentals
Sheila@maurypeople.com
508.560.0488 cell
508.228.1881 x129 office
42 North Liberty Street
Tucked away down a private, shell-lined driveway in the heart of Nantucket’s Historic District, this retreat balances a prime location near Main Street with secluded tranquility. The light-filled interior is centered around a classic wood-burning fireplace, while the open kitchen and dining area— featuring cathedral ceilings and pine flooring—flow seamlessly into the outdoors. This exterior sanctuary includes a private brick patio enveloped by lush gardens near Lily Pond, providing a serene space for relaxation. Currently a two-bedroom, two-bathroom home, the property offers a rare opportunity to be enjoyed as a cozy escape or expanded using the remaining ground cover.
$2,895,000
www.maurypeople.com
76 Main Street, Nantucket, MA 02554 | 508.228.2533 | 76MAIN.com
76 Main Ink Press Hotel provides a fascinating glimpse into Nantucket’s media past within a totally redesigned seacoast environment. With its subtle blue hues and textured surfaces, 76 Main is more than simply a luxury hotel—it ’ s one that showcases the fascinating past of this historic island through a media lens over the centuries. Come experience a one-of-a-kind adventure while being pampered with luxury linens, crafted continental breakfasts, and a calming outdoor lounge. Luxuriate today while savoring the richness of Nantucket’s past.
Maury People Sotheby’s International Realty | 37 Main Street, Nantucket, MA 02554 |
The Nantucket Book Festival is grateful for our 2026 sponsors.
Nantucket’s newspaper since 1821
Liaquat Ahamed
Belle Burden
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Ruta Sepetys
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Sailing Spring into
PHOTOGRAPHER: BRIAN SAGER
EDITORIAL STYLIST: PETRA HOFFMANN
HAIR STYLING: DARYA AFSHARI GAULT AND JOHN STANIELON OF DARYA SALON + SPA
High tide rises to the base of the homes on Old North Wharf.
A 1990s flood on Old North Wharf
Broad Street inundated in 1962
Easton Street in a winter flood, 1970s
The high water mark on Broad Street in 1978
Flooded wharves in a 1933 storm
The 1933 storm also flooded several boathouses.
1970s through downtown Nantucket
Flooding on the North Shore during the Hurricane of 1938
Aftermath of the No Name Storm in 1991 on Broad Street
Trudging through a flood, 1933
High tide rises up to Steamboat Wharf, 1970s.
The 1933 flood in town.
Shoot for the Stars
A night to celebrate the difference and support Nantucket S.T.A.R.’s programming for individuals with special needs
Saturday, June 20, 2026
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Great Harbor Yacht Club
TICKETS ON SALE NOW
June 26th - 28th, 2026 The Dreamland
One island One weekend Endless possibility Join us for a celebration of movement, mindfulness, and meaningful conversations guided by some of the most inspiring voices in wellness today
Fresh cut flowers are pretty to look at but are bad for the environment. From high water requirements to pesticide usage to high transportation and refrigeration costs, to damaging microplastic floral foam for creating arrangements, fresh flowers actually hurt the environment.
The Silk Solution provides real-touch floral arrangements that are reusable and can be customized for your event or gala. Popular in Europe, our guilt-free flowers are leased and reused, reducing waste and environmental damage.
For further information visit us at silksolution.com
NANTUCKET WHALERS
The Nantucket Whalers wrapped up an eventful winter sports season, with the recently created winter track team, as well as the swim and dive team, advancing to the league championships. Boys and girls basketball and
NANTUCKET LIGHTHOUSE SCHOOL PROM
The glamour of the 1960s was back for one night at Prom Royale, the Nantucket Lighthouse School’s annual fundraiser at The Nantucket Hotel. The night featured music, dancing, a silent auction and a Fund-the-Need campaign in support of the school.
WINTER COMMUNITY WELLNESS DAY
The Nantucket Wellness Festival, formerly the Yoga Festival, launched a Winter Community Wellness Day in the spirit of renewal for a day in January at the Dreamland Theatre. Designed to energize and inspire, the program featured eight local teachers, who provided insights on movement, mindfulness and meaningful connection.
featured wedding
Florist: Debi Lilly, A Perfect Event
Cake: Kennedy Confections •
Bride's Shoes: Amina Muaddi
Rehearsal Dinner: The Summer House Nantucket
21 Broad, The Swain House
76 Main, Ink Press Hotel
Atlantic Landscaping
Audrey Sterk Design
Bar Yoshi
Cape Cod 5
Coldwell Banker -
George & Mara Vasvatekis
Compass -
Marybeth Gilmartin-Baugher
Darya Salon
Douglas Elliman
Eleish Van Breems
exp Realty
Gail Roberts, Ed Feijo & Team
Great Point Properties
Harborview
Heidi Weddendorf
Island Glow Nantucket
J Pepper Frazier Real Estate
Jacob Lilley Architects
JDAdvisors
Jobe Systems
Katherine Grover Fine Jewelry
Lee Real Estate
Marine Home Center
Marissa Collections
Maury People - Bernadette Meyer
Maury People - Gary Winn
Maury People -
Kathy Gallaher, Mary Taaffe
Maury People - Sheila Carroll
Murray's Toggery Shop
Nantucket Book Festival
Nantucket Cottage Hospital
Nantucket Current
Nantucket Historical Association
Nantucket Inn
Nantucket S.T.A.R.
Nantucket Wellness Festival
NEW Moon Festival
Noble Fine Art
Nourish Nantucket
Sandpiper II
Seaport Shutter Company
The Silk Solution
Vineyard Vines
William Raveis Nantucket
Yankee Barn Homes
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