Nantucket in the News

Catching up on articles that have appeared over the past few months about Nantucket:

Conde Nast Traveler has announced the results of the 20th Annual Readers’ Choice Awards. Nantucket placed third in Best Island in North America, behind Vancouver Island, Canada, and Kiawah, S.C. San Francisco remains the #1 U.S. City, and has been for 17 of the past 18 years. The poll is considered the largest independent poll of consumers’ preferences, second in size only to the U.S. Census. Over 28,000 people voted this year. The complete listings can be found in the upcoming November 2007 issue.

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The Daily Show broadcast a piece on the Cape Wind Farm in August.

If the video does not appear above, click this..

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In June, Travel + Leisure published an article entitled A Shore Thing: Nantucket on a Budget, leading with “Nantucket is not just for preppies with deep pockets. To enjoy this classic getaway, all you need is a pair of wheels and a sense of adventure.” Mentioned are the Sherburne Inn, Young’s Bicycle Shop, cocktails at the Wauwinet Inn, brunch at Black-Eyed Susan’s, Even Keel Cafe, L’lle de France, Gypsy, Eye of the Needle, the Juice Bar, Nantucket Gourmet, a sail on the Endeavor, Nantucket Wine & Spirits, Straight Wharf Fish Store, and Nantucket Lobster Trap.

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More Foreign Workers Chase Dream on Wealthy Nantucket; Poor Immigrants Find Way Among the Rich, The Boston Globe, August 25, 2007. Excerpts:

Many immigrants work two jobs, ride bicycles to get around, and live two to a room to cut costs. Many of those who employ them inhabit sprawling mansions, travel by private jet and yacht, and do not work.

“Rich people leave things there, all free,” said Maria Peña, a legal immigrant from El Salvador who runs a housecleaning business. “We can’t buy clothes here — they’re beautiful, but so expensive — so everyone goes there. That is our place.”

But the immigrants say the opportunities to make money and build better lives are worth the struggle to adjust to life in this privileged enclave.

In interviews, foreign workers voiced little resentment of the leisure and luxury that surrounds them. If anything, they say, the excess provides inspiration.

“Here, you sit next to a multimillionaire and you’re treated the same,” said a 34-year-old man from Ireland who was drinking beer at The Muse, an island nightclub, and declined to give his name because he is in the United States without proper immigration documents. “There are a lot of success stories of people who came here with nothing.”

Islanders say the newcomers provide labor that is vital for the isolated island and have infused the place with cultural vibrancy. Stories of immigrants who have started their own businesses and bought houses are savored by natives and newcomers.

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A Philistine in the Shingle Museum, By Sasha Issenberg. Boston Magazine, October, 2007:

“The bumper stickers read ‘Gut Fish, Not Houses.’ And as the Nantucket homeowner who helped inspire them has learned, in some historic neighborhoods, your remodeling team had better include a good lawyer.”

The article is a look at the work of the HDC, particularly involving the 300-year-old house at 105 Main, Starbuck-Kilvert House, and dealing with the question of whether walls are part of the house’s interior or exterior, how one defines a demolition, as well as the coining of ‘Gut fish, not houses’ by the Nantucket Preservation Trust. Well researched and reported, with attorney Bill Hunter and HDC chair Dirk Roggeveen as the protagonists.

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