The Lily Pond

Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • February 25, 2019

I love this view. It seems like a never-ending tunnel of swamp, decking, and plant-life. This particular day, I could hear children at the other end – it was an unseasonable warm day for February and parents and daycare providers were bringing children to picnic and enjoy the warmth and sun. I also love seeing the Congregational Church and Academy Hill School when in the Lily Pond – it’s a bit of a jolt – you forget you are in Town almost.


What you might not know is that this “pond” as it is referred to was for lack of a better word, destroyed by a child. Oops!


You see, Lily Pond was once an actual pond with at least one mill. We do not have rivers or powerful streams here that can power mills but the Lily Pond once boasted at least this one water mill. The Pond had an outlet that ran to the harbor and islanders built a dam to control the flow of the water. This was in the late 1600s/early 1700s. But one morning, people awoke to find that the Pond had emptied overnight.

A young girl named Love Paddock, who lived nearby (I’m assuming at what is today the Oldest House as Paddocks lived there but I haven’t delved into that research), decided as all children do, to play in the water one day – she likely did it quite a bit. I myself remember playing with water that drained from our basement. We lived in a wonderful 1920s colonial revival when I was young and I suspect the area was filled with springs but our house had the most amazing drainage that brought water out through our “woods” – a wooded corner – and down to the neighboring street where I could dam it up and play with it among the rocks.  In any case, Love decided to play and carved tiny rivulets that led away from the Pond. When finished with playing, she left and went home. It was not until the next day that she saw what her “harmless” playing had done – the Lily Pond was no longer – all the water was gone. But as many a child would, she kept her deed to herself. Until , she was on her deathbed.


Love lived to be a very old woman. She had created the rivulets when she was about ten years old or so – about 1720. It was not until she lay dying that she made her confession and people learned of why the Lily Pond was drained to basically become what we see today. I am sure that Maria Mitchell was well-aware of this story.


The story is further enhanced that the Town tossed pieces of the former Nantucket Railroad into the Pond area when the railroad was dismantled. Thus clogging it up a bit more. The area is basically a marsh, not a pond, now but it attracts an incredible array of bird, plant, and wildlife, including human life. So I guess we cannot be entirely dismayed by Love’s actions, though I think the people of her time may still hold a grudge wherever they are!


JNLF

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Margaret Harwood

By Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • July 21, 2025
The MMA found its first astronomer in Margaret Harwood, a 1907 Radcliffe graduate who worked in the Harvard Observatory. Her fellowship began in 1912 and over the first year, she researched, continued to conduct public lectures and open nights, and worked with students of all ages – including those in the public schools. She returned to Cambridge for the winter months where she continued to work at the Observatory. In 1915, she took her leave as was authorized by the fellowship and acquired her master’s degree in astronomy at Berkeley. She returned to Nantucket in 1916, accepting the position of Director of the Observatory. This made Harwood the first woman to head a small private observatory in the United States. Harwood continued her research, with a focus on variable asteroids, published results of her work in numerous publications, and continued to lecture and host open nights. She had assistance from others, including island carpenter and school teacher, Alvin E. Paddock. Harwood became a “first –class celestial photographer . . . accumulating a valuable set of Nantucket photographic plates of variable stars . . .” which are still part of the MMA collection and were the first in the world to be completely digitized. Over the course of her tenure, more than 3,600 plates of the night sky were taken – more than 2,100 by Harwood herself. In the 1950s, Harwood was the first woman to gain access to the Mount Wilson Observatory then the world’s leading observatory, where she was able to use the photographic instruments to further her research. Harwood is seen in the photograph here as she looks for Venus during midday in the MMO using the Cooke-Clark telescope, guided by Maria Mitchell’s own Alvan Clark. JNLF

Nantucket Maria Mitchell Association Welcomes Kike Calvo as Featured July Presenter.

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The Work Begins

By Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • July 14, 2025
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