July 16, 1887
I went to the Unitarian Church at Nantucket. Some 20 years ago I went to the church late and went far forward to my seat. I was one of 600 persons and I felt the embarrassment of being late. When I went into church now I made the 66th person. I sat far back and I think no one turned his head. Seen from behind I knew only Mrs. Catharine Starbuck and Maria Owen. When they came to me, after church, I found that I knew nearly all, but in 20 years the young men had become middle aged, and the old men had gone. I never saw 65 better dressed and better deported people but it was lonesome.
Maria Mitchell would make several trips back to Nantucket after leaving the island with her father in 1861. Throughout the mid- to late-nineteenth century, Nantucket’s economy crumbled as whaling came to an end, the Great Fire decimated downtown, and the Gold Rush enchanted Americans to move West – including Nantucketers. Nantucket’s population dwindled from approximately 10,000 people to only about 2,000 people. Maria Mitchell’s journal entry of 1887 reflects this change.
JNLF
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