Stair to the Heavens

Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • Dec 13, 2021

As a MMA staff member and also the person who works with facilities of the MMA, I have the opportunity to go places and know places in our buildings that few others do. I am intimately knowledgeable about how things work – or don’t work – why something is a certain way and how things were or are used.


This image is the rear interior stairs in the Maria Mitchell Vestal Street Observatory (MMO). The original piece was built in 1908 (dome) and then in 1922, an Astronomical Study was added. What you see here is a staircase added in 1922 and I love the curve of the railing and the sweep and change in width of these stairs. It’s sort of astronomical for lack of another word. This staircase provided access for the astronomer and even visitors when they held “Moon Nights” on the roof and in the yard – long before we had our other beloved observatory – Loines. So I guess, it really is/was a stair to the heavens.


If you have been by Vestal Street lately then you have noticed some commotion at the MMO. The inkberries have been taken down and the fence removed along the street. Staging has been erected along the side of the MMO and Mitchell House. This is because we have begun the conservation of the exterior of the MMO – funded by a Community Preservation Act grant and a grant from the M. S. Worthington Foundation. This will be a long process as we replace lintels, repair and replace spalling brick and grout, and make repairs to the copper roof and flashing, and other issues that will help us make the building weather tight and conserve the more than 100-year-old structure. Island mason, Wayne Morris, is conducting the masonry work and James Lydon will complete the copper work. Once the exterior has been conserved, the MMA will address interior needs – including more brickwork!


I will be updating you as we go through the long process. Its very detail oriented and because it is a historic building, we need to match mortar and bricks and other materials as best we can if original pieces cannot be salvaged. The mason has been working hard just to grind up the right stones – size and color – which need to be a part of the lime mortar. He’s devised a “smasher” even – that’s why he is so good at what he does. He takes his time and is very good at thinking outside the box. If you take a look closely at the grout on the MM you will note how “chunky” the grout actually is. It looks like the masons in 1908 and 1922 went to the south shore and collected pebbles!


JNLF

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Shards

By Jascin N. Leonardo FInger • 06 May, 2024
I have written of my love for sea glass and pottery shards in the past and the recent replacement of the sewer and water lines on Vestal Street created a small shard collection over the last month. Since the work required the asphalt to be completely removed (all twelve inches of it!) and the road to be dug up multiple times as they worked to remove pipe, relay new pipe, hook up the water meters, and install drainage and manhole covers, this resulted in the earth in the street being tossed about quite a bit. And, with that, came the shards! Some of these likely came from the sewer line (yes, yuck) but others came from being simply in the dirt of the road – which was not paved until 1946/1948. Pieces were likely tossed out at times, made to act as filler in holes, or simply tossed. So I found all sorts of pieces I will keep here at the Mitchell House. They included: a lovely piece with a red floral, many pieces of plates, glass, the top of a late nineteenth or early twentieth century (medicine) bottle, glass shards, a flattened spoon, a brass knob (found by a neighbor) some nails, a spike, pieces of a larger container or two based on the size and curve and coloring of the shards, and possibly a Wampanoag stone tool. One person’s trash is another one’s treasures! JNLF

Is That A Wrap?

22 Apr, 2024
Yes. Well, almost. After about a month of working – and some living (staff and or neighbors) – on Vestal Street with all the sewer and water replacement work, the paving happened today (April 17, 2024). This is the first “layer” – a three-inch binder coat. In the fall, once time has passed, they will return for the final one inch of the finish layer. Some of the other things along Vestal Street will also be repaired and updated between now and the final coat – and a bit after that. But we are very happy, after all these years to have a modern system of piping – and all new drainage we never had before! While the curator in me loved the old clay pipes, they were riddled with roots from the trees, holes, and in some places, collapsed, and the twelve inches of asphalt had to go. Vestal Street was only paved in about 1946/1948 – and has not been paved in maybe twenty years so that is a lot of asphalt in about fifty years! And with climate change and the increase in how much rain we get in these heavy rain events, all that water rushed down Vestal Street with nowhere to go – except our cellars. I am sure the neighbors are happy too! A thank you to the Town of Nantucket’s Sewer Department, especially David Gray (who may regret giving me his cellphone number forever), N&M Excavating and Utilities (Dean, we appreciate you being so nice when we had too many questions), Victor-Brandon Corp for paving, and numerous others. We are looking forward to great flushing, powerful hose lines, and rainwater being whisked away via the new, never-before-had storm drains! JNLF And to all the N&M workers who wondered why I was constantly looking down as I walked along Vestal Street, you should see the trove of porcelain shards, glass, old nails, a bottle neck, 19 th century spoon, and even possibly a Wampanoag stone tool I found!
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