Cobblestone Hill, Nantucket Town
The picture doesn’t do justice to the steepness or bumpiness of this block. I think Nantucketers who want big SUVs use this road to justify their choices.
On the death of an industry
The other morning I jogged past this figurehead from the whaling ship RIchard Mitchell. In her 20-year career, she brought back almost 10,000 barrels of whale oil. Think of the costs of producing that oil… Build a ship, hire crews, sail around braving many dangers… Not to mention the karmic costs of hunting whales nearly to the point of extinction. Despite all that, great fortunes were made from those barrels.
But along comes petroleum. The McClintock #1 well outside Titusville, PA (billed as the oldest continuously producing oil well) produced 175 barrels a day at its height, but then settled down to a steady 50 or so. At that rate, it produced as much as the RIchard Mitchell in about half a year. Operating essentially automatically.
And that’s just one well. Today, we have about 600,000 producing wells in the US alone, most of them a lot bigger than McClintock #1. Smelly, difficult whale oil didn’t stand a chance.
An update: it was pointed out to me that a barrel of crude wasn’t quite the same as a barrel of whale oil. Whale oil was mostly used in lamps, like kerosene, and most of what comes out of oil ain’t kerosene. So, an oil well was only 50 times more enticing than whale oil, not 500. Or maybe the numbers are 20 and 200, doesn’t matter: oil’s magic not only killed whaling but spawned THE ENTIRE MODERN WORLD…
I saw my first really cool water meter cover in New Orleans, where their souvenir value has brought them onto the endangered species list. In Nantucket, the covers are pretty cool too, and have almost all been retrofitted with locks to discourage theft.
According to the Urban Dictionary, one definition of Nantucket red, particularly when worn by adult males, is “douchebag.” In that context, it is supposed to conjure up the vaguely-rapey Kennedy cousin, the villainous rich frat boy from whom you should never accept a drink, the Slytherin set.
I didn’t grow up on this coast, and so the color itself doesn’t bring up that image for me. That said, no question that dude is here on the island… and whether it’s fair to the Bronco Owners Association or not, in my worldview this is his car.
Nantucket knockers
I hate to say it, but Orange Street’s knockers might be even better than the original French collection.
Sunset
The Oldest House, a proud Nantucket landmark.
However, the carefree youngsters in the beach movie would have been going too fast to stop for a fabulous lunch at Cisco brewery like we did.
In beach movies, the happy lovers just hop into their Mustang and speed off into the sunrise. In real life, the cyclists carefully clean the sand from their feet before putting their bike helmets back on and pedaling sensibly away before the sunscreen wears off.
The surf was mild, but the waves broke long and steady… Looked like a perfect place to practice. Next time…
When we got to the beach we were nearly frightened to death by trolls under the bridge.
The intrepid explorers preparing to trek to the beach.
Party on the patio!
Brattleboro Adventure – the Auckland Edition 