NANTUCKET ISLAND 1753 WHALING COTTAGE

When Don's parents bought the house in the '50s, Nantucket, and particularly S'conset were isolated from the 'real world' (the mainland) by more than 30 miles of Nantucket Sound. Airplanes and boats were frequently stopped by weather even in the balmy summers when fog would settle over Nantucket Airport when the rest of the Island was bathing in bright sunshine. Intrepid fathers, like Don's, often had to resort to hiring lobster boats or private airplanes to visit their summering familes over the weekend from New York, DC or Philadelphia. Dispite these difficulties, the summer residents of that time liked it that way because the Island was spectacularly unpopulated and S'conset a first name unlocked front door community.

Now, a half century later, The Island, particularly the Town, is crowded from mid-June thru Labor Day. But S'conset is still as it was then when Don grew up in the summers here, frozen by the historical district surrounding the village. The House of Lords is much the same as the way Ginney left it. Her paintings are on the walls and the lowered kitchen counters still there to make it easier for her to beat the batters for her pies and cakes. And the beach is still 150 steps (Don counted them) from the patio.