Trash?

Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • April 1, 2013

Here you see the fruits of a Sunday walk along the harbor – another of my favorite things to collect. The recent storms have swept some areas clean and in others, they have helped to deposit treasures stirred up from the bottom of Nantucket Harbor – something that once served as a dumping ground among other uses in the nineteenth century and earlier.


These are pottery shards of various ages. Looking at them closely, they are mid to late nineteenth century (the blue and white pieces – in particular the lighter blue pieces) and possibly all the way up to the 1930s or so with the largest piece on the bottom right having a floral and bamboo/basket decoration that reminds me of McCoy ware. I will have to see if I can find any such pattern with them – it could very likely be another pottery maker, from the early to mid- twentieth century but maybe even the late nineteenth century!

But in any case, it tells a story of what Nantucketers used in their homes. Each time we have a hard rain, shards will appear in the yard of the Mitchell House where the family tossed out some of its trash that slowly became a part of the landscape and the earth. When a sewer pipe was re-done the plumber left the shards that he had found for me – I think he knows me too well! (The family has worked on MMA plumbing since the MMA had running water – early 1900s.)


One piece reminds me of mochaware but I think it might be a much later copy though I do hope I am just being cautious and this really is a 19th century shard of mochaware. That too I will have to investigate. Mochaware was started in the late 1700s in England and was just about the cheapest pottery one could get then and into the nineteenth century. Maybe akin to Fiestaware which while many collect it today used to be given out at the grocery store and the movies!


In any event, take a look around you. Look down and up – observe! (“We see most when we are most determined to see,” according to Maria – how right she was!) You never know what your feet are treading over and you never know what you might find – it might whisper something about those who once lived in the houses and neighborhoods we now inhabit.


JNLF

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Maria Mitchell In Her Own Words

By Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • May 19, 2025
May 27. {1857} There is this great difference between Niagara and other wonders of the world, that is you get no idea from descriptions or even from paintings. Of the Mammoth Cave you have a conception from what you are told, of the Natural Bridge you get really a truthful impression from a picture. But Cave and Bridge are in still life, Niagara is all activity and change. No picture gives you the varying form of the water of the change of color; no description conveys to your mind the ceaseless roar. So too the ocean must be unrepresentable to those who have not looked upon it. Maria Mitchell would tour the Mammoth Cave and the Natural Bridge during her trip to the southern United States as Prudence Swift’s chaperone – I have written of these travels and Prudence before. Niagara Falls is a place she likely saw on her way to visit her younger sister Phebe Mitchell Kendall, who once lived with her husband in Pennsylvania. I was a bit surprised that she feels the way she does about the Cave and Bridge being well-represented by images but I do kind of se her point. But Niagara, the ocean, any moving body of water – she is right. You don’t fully comprehend it until you hear it, touch and taste it, see its colors, and feel it splash, sprinkle, or mist across your face. Niagara certainly mists across your face – sort of like a breezy day at the beach and the salt mist that slowly builds across your face and coats the beach grass so that it shimmers in the sunlight. JNLF

Lily of the Valley

By Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • May 12, 2025
I have been watching it. Waiting. Today, I was rewarded with the scent as they have now started to open. From late fall, all through the winter and early spring, there is a very large patch of dirt with traces of roots and purple-like portions of some sort of plant. Then, they slowly start to send their shoots forth – up from that dusty pile of dirt come little greenish pips that become the leaves. Then, you start to see the stems tightened against the leaves and then lovely chartreuse buds are visible that then turn to white and slowly open from top to bottom. As soon as they star to open, I wait. Knowing that one morning I will walk by soon and then I will get a delicious waft of Lily of the Valley. I have written about this patch at the Mitchell House before. I have always been fascinated by the fact that these grow in full sun – they have no shade whatsoever. And this patch is old. I’m not sure how old – I do not think late nineteenth century but possibly – or maybe very early twentieth century. We have one or two images in the collection from the early 1900s but one does not show the ground, and the other not so much either. I also think this is one of the earliest flowering patches of Lily of the Valley on island – let me know if you’ve seen others this early. And in FULL sun to boot! But in any case, today was the day – May 5, 2025 – that I got the first waft. Saturday when I was here, they were not ready yet. But now, they are! And when I smell it, I know why it was my mother-in-law’s favorite flower. JNLF

Nantucket Maria Mitchell Association Welcomes Richard Sotell, CFP as Featured Guest for May Science Speaker Series

May 6, 2025
NANTUCKET, MA—The Nantucket Maria Mitchell Association (MMA) announces that it will host Richard Sotell, Certified Financial Planner (CFP) as its May featured Science Speaker Series presenter. His presentation “The Science of Money: The History of Tariffs and Taxation” will take place on Wednesday, May 21 from 7 – 8pm EST. The presentation will take place on Zoom and pre-registration is required. This event is free to all. Join the MMA and financial expert and top 401(k) advisor, Rich Sotell, for a discussion on the history of tariffs and taxation. Taxes and tariffs have played a major role in shaping nations. In America, British taxes and tariffs on goods like tea and paper helped spark the American Revolution. Later, U.S. tariffs were used to protect young industries from European competition. Today, taxes fund public services such as education, healthcare, and infrastructure, while tariffs are still used strategically—sometimes to encourage domestic production, other times as tools in international negotiations. Rich Sotell will discuss in detail how taxes and tariffs began and their relationship to our global economy. Sotell has been involved in the financial industry since 1975 and is a founder of the Kraematon Group and is responsible for the operations of the 401(k) division. He has developed marketing programs for both banks and mutual fund companies in the areas of IRA and 401(k). Sotell is a tax law expert concerning distributions from qualified retirement plans and IRA’s. He has lectured on these subjects to insurance company executives, on radio, and at several professional education programs. Sotell is currently a contributing member to several high level 401(k) advisory boards in the mutual fund and payroll industries. He was named by the Financial Times as a 2015 and 2016 “Top 401 Retirement Advisor,” a list of 401 elite professionals specializing in U.S. defined contribution plans. Sotell earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Colgate University in 1975. His professional designations include Certified Financial Planner (CFP), Investment Company/Variable Contracts – Series 6 Registration, and a Uniform Security Agent – Series 63 Registration. The Kraematon Group is a leading 401(k) consulting firm headquartered in Wellesley, MA. In addition to providing 401(k) consulting services to Allied American Insurance Agency and its former parent Arbella Insurance, Kraematon consults with over 3% of all Massachusetts based public companies regarding their 401(k) plans. Pre-registration is required. To register for this event, please follow the link below: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Bnb-sSBXSoqzss6aiArh9w#/registration About the Maria Mitchell Association: The Maria Mitchell Association was founded in 1902 to preserve the legacy of Nantucket native astronomer, naturalist, librarian, and educator, Maria Mitchell. After she discovered a comet in 1847, Mitchell’s international fame led to many achievements and awards, including an appointment as the first female professor of astronomy at Vassar College. Maria Mitchell believed in “learning by doing” and today that philosophy is reflected in the MMA’s mission statement, programs, research projects, and other activities. The Maria Mitchell Association operates two observatories, a natural science museum, an aquarium, a research center, and preserves the historic birthplace of Maria Mitchell. A wide variety of science and history-related programming is offered throughout the year for people of all ages. ###
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