Maria Mitchell In Her Own Words

Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • April 27, 2015

April 2. {1857} New Orleans. This morning we went to the French market. The French character of the city was shown in the narrow streets through which we passed intended only for foot passengers, very narrow. The sidewalks meeting in the middle of the street except for the separation of the gutter . . . . The French market was not clean enough to suit us . . . We passed through Jackson Square and saw the monument and looked at the flowers, then went on to the Spanish Cathedral . . . .


Maria Mitchell’s description of the Vieux Carré (French Quarter) still seems true to what it is today. Having lived in NOLA for about three years – my husband was stationed there with the US Coast Guard – we lived Uptown in the Riverbend area– where the mighty Mississippi River makes a bend around the area know as Carrollton. That arch that the river makes and where the city of NOLA was carved out also gives the city its name of the Crescent City. The Vieux Carré was laid out very much like an old European city with the streets in a grid pattern – all right angles to one another but the rest of the city as it developed lost such a pattern which makes for confusion for some. Having worked for a flower and antique garden ornament shop I have the privilege of entering many private homes and driving streets in a delivery van. The one requisite for anyone going into the Vieux Carré for a delivery was they much return with beignets and café au lait from Café du Monde – even the NOLA natives requested that. But NOLA still resembles the place that Maria once visited as a young woman’s chaperone – just as her home of Nantucket still looks like it once did. There are of course all manner of new buildings, signage, risqué clubs and more that did not exist in her time. But the sidewalk street with gutter – those still exist – such as Pirate Alley. Jackson Square and the monument – still filled with flowers. The French market – still there too. And she comments on dirtiness – yes, that exists too. In fact, early in the morning they still come through to hose out the streets. And trash pick-up? Don’t be surprised if you see a garbage truck at 9PM – and don’t be surprised if you cannot find a garbage can! Somehow though, they keep it relatively clean.


JNLF

Recent Posts

Maria Mitchell In Her Own Words

By Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • July 6, 2026
July 15. {1863} My dear Sally . . . I think Mitchell is all right in his algebra. He can’t stand an examination in Trig but I don’t believe he will have a rigorous one. Father has seen the Prof. and will give him a letter to them.  If you can’t be honest with your sibling, who can you be honest with? Apparently, Sally Mitchell Barney’s son, William Mitchell Barney – known as Mitchell as his cousin William Mitchell Barney was known as Willie (how is that for honoring your father?!) – was visiting his aunt Maria and his grandfather, William Mitchell, at their home in Lynn, MA. Sally still lived on Nantucket and I suspect Mitchell was not only visiting but getting some much needed help with his mathematics by his aunt Maria. As always, she is brutally honest – he won’t pass a test in trigonometry (but, neither would I!). JNLF

Top O’ the Ridge!

By Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • June 29, 2026
In April and early May, at long last, the Mitchell House roof was replaced. (I noted this in an earlier blog.) I had also noted that the roofwalk, given the condition it was in and its location – sitting on the ridge – had to be replaced. They had thought they could jack it up – as they have done with other walks – but the Blizzard of February 2026 that was ALL wind (83 MPH winds – read Category 1 Hurricane) and no real snow, made the walk impossible to treat in such a manner (read: crumble). So, after much discussion, review by our preservation easement holder, and permits, as well as some fundraising, we are replacing the roofwalk. The prior walk was not the original. The original blew off in a gale in the late nineteenth century, replaced at some point in the 1930s, and likely replaced again in the 1960s or 1970s. Then, since that time, it was heavily repaired. Its framing members were notched to accept the ridge boards (read: peak) of the roof and I think that may have been an original way to construct a walk. Makes perfect sense – and gives the walk more support and a lower profile. It was after all about putting out chimney fires and preventing roof fires. People copied what worked – and there have been a few others noted to be built in this manner still. It presents an issue though – because if you need to work on the ridge board or close to it – you cannot get to it easily – I guess you may be able to access it to some extent by lifting the deck boards of the walk. The new Mitchell House roofwalk will sit about six inches above the ridge – which will also allow air to circulate better over the ridge and the shakes in that area. That is the only thing that will really be different. It is protected by a preservation easement – as part of the Mitchell House’s easement – and frankly, even if we did not have an easement, we would not want it to look any different. So keep your eyes to the skies at 1 Vestal as we work to re-build the walk. With a special thank you to Barber and Sons and Lydon and Sons. JNLF

Maria Mitchell In Her Own Words

By Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • June 22, 2026
1875, June 20. A meeting of the Officers of Congress was called at the house of Mrs. Hanaford, 5 Summit Ave., Jersey City. The weather was intensely cold. I went to New York on the 19 th and stopped with my friend Mrs. Clapp, 100 W. 54 St . . . .It was a question who should preside. Mrs. Hanaford thought the Chairman of the Executive Committee should and I had been told that I should, etc. The question was decided by the non-arrival of the Chairman of Ex.Com. I called them to order at an hour after the time appointed. Of course I made many blunders, as I have never presided before, but I continued for 4 hours. We did a few good things . . . The thing most weighing on Maria’s mind at this meeting was the looseness of membership for the Congress. She felt people were not being vetted properly in some areas of the country and thus they may allow in “undesirables.” I would take this to mean women who were not entirely behind the cause of the Congress and the Association for the Advancement of Women. I am not surprised by her suspicions and likely she was correct – one could see naysayers gaining access to this group and trying to destroy it from the inside. The women’s rights movement would have many schisms within it as people disagreed and broke into smaller factions.  Another important thing to point out is that Mrs. Hanaford is Nantucket-born Phebe Coffin Hanaford. Raised a Quaker, like Maria, Coffin Hanaford would become the first woman Universalist minister in New England – among many other firsts. She grew up with Maria, attended and taught at the Coffin School here on Nantucket, and was a founding member of another women’s organization, Sorosis, which Maria was also a founding member of. It’s nice to see two sister Nantucketers continuing to work together as adults – far from home! JNLF
Show More