Nantucket Maria Mitchell Association’s Fourth Annual Green Crab Week 2023

August 1, 2023

Join the Nantucket Maria Mitchell Association for a week of fun and informative programming about the invasive European Green Crabs! Events will include chances to hunt, capture, recycle, and even eat green crabs! Our Fourth Annual Nantucket Green Crab Week is August 6 – August 12, 2023.


Green Crab Identification Workshop and Derby Information Session

No registration required
Monday, August 7, 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM FREE
Join us at the Maria Mitchell Association Aquarium to learn how to identify green crabs! We will compare them to local species and show you how to tell their sex. This is also a great opportunity to seek advice about the Third Annual Nantucket Green Crab Derby!


Nantucket Green Crab Survey: Bait & Line

Registration Link: https://112458a.blackbaudhosting.com/112458a/Nantucket-Green-Crab-Survey-Bait- and-Line-Method

Tuesday, August 8, 4:00 PM – 5:00 PM FREE
Join Maria Mitchell Association Aquarium Staff on a survey for invasive European Green Crabs! This survey will be a part of the MMA Nantucket Green Crab Community Science Survey that you can do yourself at any time! In this session, we will be using the bait & line method.

This program will meet at the Madaket Beach Parking Lot.


Green Crab Fertilizer Workshop with the Nantucket Land Council

Thursday, August 10, 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
In collaboration with the Nantucket Land Council, please join us for this free, fun, and exciting way to help control the population of the invasive Green Crab, all the while creating an environmentally friendly fertilizer for your garden. For people to make their own Green Crab fertilizer, they should bring completely waterproof boots they're comfortable crushing dead crabs with, as well as a sealable bottle or jar to take home their fertilizer. We will provide crabs, coolers, vinegar, and take-home fertilizer instructions.


Third Annual Nantucket Green Crab Derby!

Registration Link: https://112458a.blackbaudhosting.com/112458a/Annual-Green-Crab-Derby

Friday, August 11, 12:00 AM – 4:00 PM, $10 per team of 4
Help the Maria Mitchell Association and the Nantucket Land Council fight the Green Crab invasion by participating in the 3rd annual Nantucket Green Crab Derby! Participate in a team of up to 4 to help us maintain healthy marine habitats and for a chance to win prizes! Rules and prize details are detailed in the reservation process.


Nantucket Green Crab Survey: Wading & Hand Net

Registration Link: https://112458a.blackbaudhosting.com/112458a/Nantucket-Green-Crab-Survey- Wading--Hand-Net
Friday, August 11, 4:00 PM – 5:00 PM, FREE

Join Maria Mitchell Association Aquarium Director, Jack Dubinsky, on a survey for invasive European Green Crabs! This survey will be a part of the MMA Nantucket Green Crab Community Science Survey that you can do yourself at any time! In this session, we will be using the wading with hand net method. This program will meet at the Hither Creek Beach Access (Around 24 Massachusetts Ave.)

 

For Immediate Release

August 1, 2023

Contact: Grace Baisley

marketinginterns@mariamitchell.org

Recent Posts

Miss Herschel

By Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • November 10, 2025
A re-blog from years past. The item you see here is a small piece of what once was. Upon her visit to Europe as a young woman’s chaperone in 1857 –1858, Maria Mitchell visited many of the major observatories of Europe and met many of the movers and shakers in the scientific, art, and literary worlds of the continent. While Caroline Herschel (1750 – 1848) and her brother, Sir William (1738 – 1822), were long dead, Maria was able to meet Caroline’s nephew (William’s son), Sir John Herschel (1792 – 1871). All three were astronomers, though Caroline found herself having to give credit – or have her brother accept credit – for much of her work because she was a woman. She has often been credited with the being the first woman to discover a comet. She was likely not – and the other woman who was the first lost credit through history as she had to “give” her comet discovery to her husband. See a pattern? Caroline was just one of many women in a long line of, “She couldn’t possibly do that – she is a woman!” As Maria once said, “But a woman, what more could you ask to be?” But back to this small item. It was a page from one of Caroline Herschel’s notebook’s, torn from its home by John Herschel to serve a s a memento for Maria of her visit to the family’s home. Maria was a bit shocked but . . . she took it! Over the years, the paper tore and ripped and just crumbled away until Maria finally decided that to save it, she needed to past it into one of her own journals. And thus, we have what we have. I assume Caroline’s notations refer to her brother William – “Wol” and Woll.” It could be an “I” but it really looks like an “O.” She is considered the world’s first professional woman astronomer – she would be compensated for her work after some time – and she warrants a greater look at – too much for a blog. So I encourage you to go take a look at her. Maria would want you to! JNLF

From The Rear

By Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • November 3, 2025
I am not so sure our founders would love that title but the image is of the Maria Mitchell Vestal Street Observatory (MMO) “from the rear.” I love this image as it is really the only one we have – unless you count the one that is taken from farther away and from further into the backyard of the Mitchell House. That one allows you to see the natural slope of the Mitchell House back lawn which would be altered when they added the Curator’s Cottage. Both of the images were taken before the Curator’s Cottage was added at the back of the Mitchell House in the early 1930s – and this one you see here was taken before 1922 when they added the Astronomical Study onto the MMO. It also shows the original dome – which was copper – before it was replaced in 1951 – which is the current dome. The copper did not hold up to our climate here – salt spray, damp, fog. But the new one, shipped over from England, has held up well. The current dome was donated by Margaret Underwood Davis (MMA board president at the time), in memory of her son, Cushing Davis who was an amateur astronomer. Margaret Davis served as president from 1930-1946 and again from 1949-1953. The image tells you some other things too. For instance, the grape arbor behind the Mitchell House is supposed to be Peleg Mitchell’s (Maria’s uncle) grape vine – I have blogged about it several times before – and you can see it in this image. You can also see how the Milk Room connects to the 1850s kitchen. The 1850s kitchen was added by Peleg Mitchell Jr and it’s the first little wart you see with the white pipe attached. The next wart is the Milk Room – also added by Peleg – it’s the one with the shutters on the window. Both still exist it’s just the Curator’s Cottage was attached in the 1930s. You will see another chimney too. It appears alongside the white pipe. That is likely the original chimney to what is now the Astronomer’s Cottage at the MMA. We acquired the Cottage in the 1920s but I believe all of the additions, and the removal of the chimney, were done before we were given it.  Fun! JNLF

Keep Calm and Bird On: November 2025

November 1, 2025
“If you don’t look, you don’t see. You have to go and look.” -Edith Andrews
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