Workshops & Lectures

Come to the Maria Mitchell Science Library (2 Vestal St.) for a 30 minute presentation Saturday morning and then put your new knowledge to use on a field trip directly afterward. These programs are for adults and interested kids.  We welcome you to come to just the lecture or both the lecture and field trip.

• Nantucket Snakes & Turtles - June 29
• Oddities from the MMA Collections - July 6
• Spiders: Tiny Tool Using Tigers - July 27
• Nature's Undertakers on Nantucket - August 3
• Flying Velociraptors (i.e. Dragonflies) - August 24
• Geology of Nantucket - August 31

Have you ever wondered how a woman of the nineteenth century or earlier used a bake oven?  Have a historic fireplace or bake oven in your home that you would like to use for cooking?  Then join the Mitchell House and Nantucket Preservation Trust as we visit a private historic home on the island for a cooking demonstration and tasting with the homeowner and a discussion concerning the development of chimneys, fireplaces, and bake ovens with island historic masonry expert Pen Austin.

Join the curator of the Mitchell House and the Prospect Hill Cemetery Association historian for a short talk about stone monuments and their conservation.  The class will then move to the Prospect Hill Cemetery where participants will learn how to properly clean stone monuments.  Class will be hands on so wear appropriate clothes and bring protective eyewear (sunglasses will suffice).  Please Note: This class is to teach others so that they may clean their family’s stone monuments.  One must speak with the sextant of a cemetery before doing this.  One must not work on stones not belonging to their family unless it is through a special program that has been condoned by the cemetery and other officials.

Join us for a special in-depth tour of the inside, outside, underside, and topside of the Mitchell House. NPT Executive Director Michael May and Mitchell House Curator Jascin Leonardo Finger will talk about the architectural elements of the Mitchell House that have been so well preserved since the house was built in 1790 and the conservation work that has been ongoing since the late 1990s.  Also learn about preservation easements and their use on island including at the Mitchell House.  Our tour will follow with a wine and cheese reception beneath the property’s historic grape arbor.

Join island historic preservation carpenters Sanford Kendall and Nathan Killeen of Nathan Killeen Old House Restoration, and island historic plaster and historic masonry expert Pen Austin for a detailed talk about how to keep your historic house in top form.  We will discuss plaster, paints, windows, chimneys, and more, and learn how you can live in an old home comfortably and still preserve its historic fabric!  We will start at the Mitchell House and visit a few other historic private homes nearby where work has been performed recently by these three experts.

A unique collaborative walking tour with the Curator of the Mitchell House, Nantucket Preservation Trust’s Executive Director and the Nantucket Historical Association’s Education Staff that looks at the changes in domestic life over four centuries and how it shaped homes, buildings, neighborhoods, and land use.  Participants should meet at the Oldest House on Sunset Hill.