Getting There

Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • June 17, 2019

Last fall, you may remember, we received a gift that allowed us to work with our landscaper on re-doing the garden on Vestal Street in front of the Maria Mitchell Vestal Street Observatory.  I wrote a blog about it and then filled you in this spring on some of the planting.


Well, it needs some more work – onion grass is a BEAST to pull out – but we are getting there!  I’m happy to say that the mallow transplanted well, as did the Joe Pye Weed, and the Milkweed is popping up in all its random places.  I have also weeded out and planted some natives along the accessibility ramp at Hinchman House Natural Science Museum.  One will find regular garden plants mixed in – they are nice to still have and offer food to some of the visiting animals.  And along Mitchell House, I focus on heirloom plants, what was in William Mitchell’s garden and the other Mitchell family members who inhabited the House, and plants that were found in gardens in the nineteenth century.


I have installed plant tags to help identify the plants and I have two bigger garden signs that I created and are currently being fabricated (ah, the Internet).  They will be very small, printed signs on bamboo plaques but they will note why our gardens look a little messy.


We do want the milkweed – it’s a happy host to milkweed beetles and even more importantly to monarchs which are fast losing their habitat – in fact it’s gone in many places.  We used to have thousands of monarchs every year on Vestal – not anymore.  We are lucky if we see a few dozen.  So, a wildflower and native species garden – as it has been for decades and decades in that same spot – is very important for the bird, insect, and mammalian life that needs it and also supports the MMA’s mission – just look to our Hinchman House Natural Science Museum and Department and you understand.


So come take a look, and cheer on some of our teeny, tiny seedlings as they grow.  Feel free to pull the onion grass – but leave everything else!  But oh – you can chase the bunnies away – they are back and eating everything including all my Morning Glories and they have just about taken down two gallon-sized cardinal flower plants!


JNLF

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Happy 208th Birthday, Maria Mitchell!

By Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • July 27, 2026
August 1, 2026 marks Maria Mitchell’s 208 th Birthday! To celebrate, join us for an open house the day before on July 31, 2026 from 3-5PM . Since just about the founding of the Maria Mitchell Association – way back in 1902 – the MMA has hosted some celebration or marked the occasion of our namesake’s birth. From 3-5PM, Vestal Street will be close to traffic and our Vestal Street properties will be open free to the public. We will have activities, games, art projects, live music with Susan Berman and Ray Saunders, and refreshments will be served. So, stop by and say hello! JNLF

Heat and Humidity

By Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • July 20, 2026
Being Nantucket, we tend to stay cooler than the mainland in the summer though the humidity is often over the top. It often makes me think about people in the nineteenth century and earlier – heck, even well into the mid 1900s, and how they handled the weather. With climate change, we have warmed and our weather is more severe and volatile at times. Instead of a nice gentle rain, we get a deluge and the ground has trouble absorbing that sort of onslaught. But they did did still have heat and humidity – and think of a fire in the hearth all day and the bake oven – if it was a baking day. And now, think of the women standing in front of the firebox and bake oven, or even a cook stove later on. I am sure if the confines of their home, alone, les could be worn but for the most part, those women still had a lot of layers on. I am sure that a cloth dipped into or run under the mouth of the pump and wrung out gently – to keep as much as the cool, moisture as possible – was tied around a neck or stuffed down a dress front (or even in addition to the wet neckerchief).  At the Mitchell House, we get a little of the feeling for this. We have no HVAC in the House so we rely on doors being open – with screens to keep the bugs out – and the roofwalk opened (also with a screen) so that air circulates throughout the House. Air can move nicely through – the heat rises, the air moves up and out of the roofwalk hatch very much as it might have in Maria Mitchell’s day. While we do not have the added (somewhat) drying benefit of the heat of the fire in the kitchen, we do have all of the original horsehair plaster, so the House does remain somewhat cooler and drier overall. But some days, the relative humidity does get up into the 90s in the House – that’s when I say, “Get out your umbrellas!” JNLF

Nantucket Maria Mitchell Association Nantucket Harbor Water-Quality Monitoring Buoy Joins Regional Coastal Observing Network

July 17, 2026
NANTUCKET, MA— The Maria Mitchell Association’s (MMA’s) Nantucket Harbor water-quality monitoring buoy is now part of the Northeastern Regional Association of Coastal Ocean Observing Systems, known as NERACOOS. NERACOOS is one of eleven regional associations that make up the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System, or IOOS, NOAA’s national ocean-observing network for gathering and sharing ocean, coastal, and Great Lakes data. This connection means that real-time data from Nantucket Harbor are no longer held only within a local monitoring program. They are now available through the NERACOOS Mariners Dashboard, where scientists, resource managers, educators, mariners, and the public can view Nantucket Harbor conditions alongside other coastal observing sites from Long Island Sound through the Gulf of Maine. The monitoring buoy carries a suite of sensors that track changing conditions such as temperature, oxygen, acidity, nutrients, and underwater light. These measurements show what eelgrass, bay scallops, and other marine organisms are actually experiencing over time. “This is an important step because Nantucket Harbor is now part of a larger coastal observing system,” said Dr. Betsy Sherman, the Maria Mitchell Association’s Senior Marine Science Advisor. “Our data can be compared with data from other sites, used in regional analyses, and placed in a broader environmental context. We are not just looking at Nantucket Harbor in isolation.” The Nantucket Harbor buoy project has been supported by the Great Harbor Yacht Club Foundation, whose early investment helped make continuous water-quality monitoring in Nantucket Harbor possible. Additional support has been provided by the Remain Nantucket Fund at the Community Foundation for Nantucket, the Osceola Foundation, the Sociable Weaver Foundation, and through collaboration with the Town of Nantucket Harbormaster. The timing is especially relevant for coastal communities because NERACOOS is also leading the newly funded NSF Seafood Engine in New England, a regional effort focused on strengthening fisheries, aquaculture, seafood technology, and coastal economies. For an island community facing changes in water quality, habitat, fisheries, and climate, joining this regional network strengthens the scientific foundation for understanding and protecting Nantucket Harbor. The Maria Mitchell Association was founded in 1902 to preserve the legacy of Nantucket native astronomer, naturalist, librarian, and educator, Maria Mitchell. After she discovered a comet in 1847, Mitchell’s international fame led to many achievements and awards, including an appointment as the first professor of astronomy at Vassar College. Maria Mitchell believed in “learning by doing” and today that philosophy is reflected in the MMA’s mission statement, programs, research projects, and other activities. The Maria Mitchell Association operates two observatories, a natural science museum, an aquarium, a research center, and preserves the historic birthplace of Maria Mitchell. A wide variety of science and history-related programming is offered throughout the year for people of all ages.  ####
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