By most economic measures, the season on Nantucket has been tenuous at best. My recent chats with island business owners elicited mixed and sometimes downbeat results on their season to date. Restaurants and galleries appear especially hard hit, although the five artists we feature in this issue in Artists in Autumn remain undaunted in their creative endeavors.

As of this writing, the inventory of real estate for sale locally had risen to a probable all-time high of around 600 properties. The fallout has hit local building businesses, too, with widespread layoffs reported around the island. And recent developments on Wall Street leave a clouded crystal ball for quick improvement.

For those of us who have lived here a decade or more, the picture might be bleak but it’s not unfamiliar. The 1990s began with similar developments nationwide and locally. We survived. The economy rebounded, and as one longtime investor in local real estate has noted,

Nantucket might “flatten out” for a while, but it always bounces back. In fact, some local merchants whom we’ve known for many years and whom we trust to fess up the truth, reported surprisingly strong seasons despite the larger economic picture. We find a couple of constants among those with the upbeat reports: a history of high quality personal service and repeat loyal fans.

In great part, that along with their tasty menu has kept Wendy and Peter Jannelle finding successes for almost ten years at their Fifty-Six Union restaurant, our Nvited Out subject in this issue. Whatever the state of affairs off island, many here will be settling into autumn around their own kitchen counters and tables, so we offer some dream visions of those rooms in our Nhome feature. To enjoy a wide range of dining out experiences, read more about this year’s third Nantucket Restaurant Week, which is
winning more and more fans annually.

As is our tradition, we also look at intriguing people, who are really Nantucket’s best assets. Boston news anchor Heather Unruh tells us why she loves the island so much. Real estate developer Bruce Poor gives us a look at his off-island farm in western Massachusetts.

We also honor the island’s four–legged friends in a profile of award-winning dachshund Frasier, and photographer-writer Nathan Coe transports us to the beautiful Old Head Golf Links in Ireland.

You can now keep up with us on the road or wherever you have Internet access through our redesigned website nantucketmagazine.net. Find current and past issues there, and read the latest news and thoughts through new Weblogs by me and Arts & Features Editor Marli Guzzetta.

Bill Ferrall
Editor-In-Chief

By Jan Jaeger

“Learning about the dog show world has been more difficult than my first year of law school,” confessed island attorney Rhoda Weinman. Juggling roles as stage mom, campaign strategist, groupie and proud parent, Weinman has been propelled into the excitement and mystique of the American Kennel Club dog show circuit by virtue of owning one small dog.

This is not just any ordinary small dog. Champion Rose Farm’s Frasier, a phenomenal 15-month-old mini longhair dachshund, has blazed his way to top dog by earning an AKC Champion title in the amazingly short time of seven weeks.

Frasier was never intended to be a show dog. He was acquired as a family pet and companion to 8-year-old Niles, another longhair dachshund in the household they share with Weinman and her husband Joe McLaughlin. Frasier’s breeder Dee Hutchinson, a judge at the prestigious Westminster Kennel Club Show, is also a well-respected dachshund authority whose breed line consistently produces winning dogs.

She wanted to evaluate Frasier at one year of age. “When she saw him,” Weinman said, “she wanted to buy him back. She thought he was the perfect specimen. No amount of money could tempt me to sell him.”

Instead, Weinman agreed to show Frasier. This is neither easy nor inexpensive when you live on an island and when you are dealing with an opinionated expert. “I found a handler on the Cape, so much closer to home than the one the breeder recommended,” noted Weinman. “But the breeder would have none of it. I now have to agree that the breeder’s choice was the best.” Her handler Stacy Snyder-Work is a Westminster veteran, whose performance in the ring with her dogs Weinman characterized as ‘dazzling.’

AKC competitions are highly structured events with a well-defined point system. For a dog to place the coveted title “Champion” in front of their name, they have to earn 15 points. Frasier earned 18 points in just six weekends, an almost unheard of accomplishment.

As a champion, Frasier is eligible to compete at Westminster, held every February at New York City’s Madison Square Garden. “To have my dog shown at Westminster has been a lifelong dream of mine,” Weinman said. “His breeder thinks he could become one of the top dogs in the country.”

If accepted at Westminster, Frasier would be one of the youngest dogs there, since it’s rare for dogs less than 2 years old to compete in this venue. In addition to the top five dogs in each breed who receive special invitations, only 2,500 dogs, all champions, are accepted for Westminster. Here’s where having an experienced AKC-registered handler who knows the system can pay off. Timing for filing to compete is critical, since registration usually opens and closes in the same day.

Meanwhile, Weinman does her homework to decide how to manage Frasier’s career in the next few months. She pores over information on the AKC website and has him registered for every upcoming event from now until the Westminster show. Whether or not he will actually compete in a specific show is decided on factors such as who will be judging or how many will be competing in each class.

She readily admitted, “Frasier definitely requires experience in the show ring. He’s a barker and needs to learn the discipline. When he first went on the table, he would sit. If he sits at this level of competition, he would be discounted immediately.”

There is a down side to achievement and celebrity. “Specials,” those dogs that have already acquired the title of champion, typically live with whomever shows them, either their handler or breeder. “My situation is somewhat unique,” Weinman explained. “I really can’t cope with having Frasier away from me; I need him home. But I know I have to keep him out there in the ring.

“I feel I owe it to the breed to show him, and he loves his handler,” continued Weinman. “She asked me, ‘Do I want a show dog or a mama’s boy?’ I’ve compromised: He’s my baby and I don’t ever want him to lose his life here. So, for now, he commutes.”

While Weinman continues analyzing,researching and consulting the experts to hone her game plan, Frasier enjoys the life of a normal dog and hangs out with his buddy, Niles. “When Frasier came back the last time,” said Weinman,“he and Niles did laps around the house;they were so happy to see each other.”

“For me, this is a whole new experience,”said Weinman. “It’s such a diversion, I can hardly find time to go to work, except I have to! Balancing this life with my practice is both exhausting and enthralling.”
Jan Jaeger is owner of Geronimo’s www.geronimos.com, the Nantucket pet supply and gift shop, and is a member of DWAA and CWAA (Dog Writers Association of America and Cat Writers Association of America). Her pets at home are Junior, a Chesapeake Bay retriever, and cats Miz Edna and Mr. Fish. At the shop are kitty Mr. Chips, Flower the bunny, and three budgies. Contact her at jan@geronimos.com. For more on dachshunds, Weinman recommends Dee Hutchinson’s book “The Complete Dachshund.”

By Marli Guzzetta
Photography By Ron Lynch

Jennifer Coolidge was worried that lying about her weight to the ticket agent could cause trouble on her recent flight to Nantucket. “I mean, will that 20 pounds bring downthe plane?” she wondered, walking down Centre Street after a Saturday morning trip to the salon.

Movie fans know Coolidge for her roles as Stifler’s mom in the iconic “American Pie” series, Paulette in the “Legally Blonde” movies or as the femmier half of a lesbian couple in “Best in Show.” She visited Nantucket in August to see good friends Chris Haynes and James Costa, and also to co-host the Nantucket AIDS Network’s annual gala.

Coolidge is still in the “getting to know you” phase with Nantucket. Her long-term boyfriend, a shaggy-haired Southerner known as “Banks,” spent many summers here, and even worked for a time at Something Natural. In recent years, he’s brought her back to Nantucket several times in the hopes of instilling in her an understanding of the place that gave him some of his fondest memories.

With long, manicured nails and a love of salons, Coolidge isn’t one to dive into the various outdoor activities the island affords. While she spent the morning in town boutiques, Haynes and Costa took Banks out on their boat for the afternoon.

“I was amazed I could find eyelashes on this island,” marveled Coolidge, who has been getting to know Nantucket on her own terms, getting sand in her wedge sandals.

People discover Nantucket in layers, beginning with small revelations—“Have you seen a stop light since we got here?”—and then move on to large, unexpected pieces of information, such as the fact that Nantucket saw about a dozen men and women die because of AIDS in 1995. In fact, because Nantucket saw so many AIDS-related deaths during the 1980s and 1990s, concerned islanders created the Nantucket AIDS Network, or NAN as it’s commonly known, in 1989. The editor of this magazine, Bill Ferrall,was one of those people, after his HIVpositive partner, John C.C. Mayo III, passed in 1996.

Initially intended to provide financial,medical and emotional support to the HIV-positive community and those it affected, NAN has since expanded its services to include HIV and hepatitis testing, a hepatitis vaccination program, community and youth outreach and prevention programming and other expanded client services.

Though the rate of HIV-infection among islanders has generally slowed, recent news from the Center for Disease Control that the numbers of infected have been greatly underestimated has rejuvenated the organization’s sense of purpose.

Coolidge regularly lends herself to HIV/AIDS-related charities and events, including the Los Angeles-based Project Angel Food, which provides meals for people homebound or disabled by HIV/AIDS, and Aid for AIDS’ “Battle for the Tiara”—a “best in show” pageant for drag queens.

Assisting in the fight against HIV/AIDS is one of Coolidge’s philanthropic passions, alongside animal welfare and historic preservation. She and actor-friend Nicholas Cage both feel strongly about preservation in the Big Easy, where they just finished filming “Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans.”

“I think it’s fantastic that you have such strict protections of historic structures on Nantucket,” said Coolidge, who is in the process of restoring an historic home in New Orleans and possibly getting an easement put on the home. “It feels like ghosts are hanging in the rafters there. We’re not putting any modern fixtures in. I spent a summer in Maine looking for historic, authentic toilets with pull-chains.”

Coolidge comes to love a place through its lore and history, and participating in the Nantucket AIDS Network gala gave her a special appreciation for both on the island.

“It’s telling that Nantucket, even though it’s a small town, was able to create this kind response to HIV/AIDS,” Coolidge said. “It’s important for a town to honor and protect its history, but more important that it looks after its people, especially when they’re in need. What people do for community members today is tomorrow’s history.”

By Marli Guzzetta
Photography by Terry Pommett

In assuming her latest position as co-anchor of Boston WCVB television’s early evening and late newscasts in March, Nantucket summer resident Heather Unruh’s career had come full circle.

The steady arc of her good fortune began in Boston at WCVB, where Unruh started her news career as an intern. She then worked her way through Binghamton, New York, Birmingham, Alabama and Oklahoma City, where Unruh worked as a medical reporter and anchor before Boston called her back home.

Unruh’s love of New England “has everything to do with Nantucket,” said her mother and Nantucket resident, Dee Unruh. “When the girls were very young, we moved from the [California] beach to the central valley of California, where summers were hot and dry. So we knew we had to leave there in the summer and went in search of a better place,” said Dee, who is from Pennsylvania and has family on the Cape.

“I know logically you’d go to the coast of California first, but North California is fogged in, and Southern California is a little on the fast side—not where you’d want to raise two daughters.”

After “interviewing” the New England coast, Dee and her husband Doug bought a home on Nantucket. “Both of my daughters became New Englanders. It had such a huge impression on them; they both ended up here,” Dee Unruh said. It was her love of New England, cultivated by summers on Nantucket since she was 10 years old, that made a return to Boston all the more
pressing for Heather Unruh.

“I think from the moment I set foot here, something connected,” said Heather. “I could never put my finger on it, but it felt like home.” As a student at DePauw University, Heather Unruh looked back to New England for her first big internship, which she served at Boston’s Channel 5 during her senior year.

“I came in wearing my navy button-down suit. I was so excited to have the opportunity to learn from the best,” she remembered. “I worked ten-to-twelve hour days, six days a week. I came out on Saturdays, so I could go out with the reporters on their stories.”

Through that internship, Unruh became “hopelessly hooked on the news and on New England.” But it would take her a while before she could have both.

Her first job out of college took her to a “teeny, teeny station in Atlanta that you could barely get on your TV,” where she did news updates in the middle of superstars of wrestling. That job got her a gig in Binghamton, New York for two and a half years before work took her to Birmingham, where she met her future and current husband Nick Little, who works in the construction industry.

“I definitely married the right guy,” Unruh said of the man who has supported her through many moves. “He always said, ‘I could do my job anywhere. But you need to go where you can find a place.’” After three years in Alabama, Unruh moved to a larger market in Oklahoma City. Bit by bit, she was getting closer to her goal of making it to a big city, in the Northeast, she hoped.

“I knew it was just going to take me time on the desk,” Unruh said. “I knew I was going to have to go to smaller markets to make my mistakes, cut my teeth, learn the rules and learn how to look comfortable, so people didn’t think they were watching a deer in the headlights.”

After Unruh had spent five years in Oklahoma her contract was near its end. She and her husband, just starting their family, knew they had to make a decision. “Either stay in Oklahoma City for life or make a break and go for it,” she remembered.“We both knew we wanted to come back here.”

In what she thought was a long shot,Unruh wrote a letter and sent a clip reel to someone with whom she worked in Birmingham who had moved on to corporate sales for Hearst-Argyle, the company that owned Channel 5 in Boston.

“The next thing I knew, I got a call from the news director, who said, ‘I guess you know why I’m calling,’” Unruh recalled. “I thought I was just getting a courtesy call from them to say they’d received my materials.”

But unbeknownst to Unruh at the time, a position was about to open in the Boston office, the news director informed her. They loved her tape and wanted to fly her out to Boston to interview for the job.

“My heart stopped,” she said. “I couldn’t believe what was happening was happening.” For the interview, Unruh found herself walking into the same building where she began her career in news wearing her navy suit, and she got the job.

“I felt like I was living a dream,” she said. “What I had wanted to happen and had planned for my entire career was becoming a reality. When they offered me the job, I nearly fell off my chair. The ‘pinch me’ factor was so huge.”

It was March, 2001 when Unruh returned to WCVB to serve as its medical reporter and also co-anchor of the early morning EyeOpener and NewsCenter 5 at 5 p.m. She brought more than a half-dozen awards with her, including the Clarion Award from Women in Communications and the “Grand Gracie” award from the American Women in Radio and Television for excellence in reporting.

Seven years later, Unruh has advanced to co-anchor of WCVB’s early evening and later newscasts, but she said she still wants to pinch herself every time she walks into the building. Her kids are “such little New Englanders that they would be fishes out of water anyplace else.”

Station General Manager Bill Fine, who promoted Unruh to her current position,described her communication style as “straightforward.”

“Viewers have responded to her,” said Fine, whose family has also been on Nantucket since the early 20th century. “The people who are best in TV are the ones whose personalities come through. People say that when they watch her that they feel like they know her.”

Heather’s parents, Dee and Doug, now live on Nantucket full time, where Dee fashions beautiful, large ships’ figureheads. Heather and Nick’s two children now get to appreciate Nantucket every time they visit “Nonnie and Bumpy.” “For the kids, I think they enjoy the same thing I experienced as a kid—the wonderful beaches, the walk to town. It’s the same nostalgic things I loved that they love,” Unruh said.

Though Unruh’s main home is Boston, there’s still a part of her that feels more at home on Nantucket. “I’ve always said, when my husband, the kids and I leave to come down, that as we go over the Bourne Bridge, one heavy weight comes off one shoulder. And then when we get on the ferry, the other weight comes off,” she said. “And I am so relaxed.”

Written and photographed by Nathan Coe

Ireland’s Old Head peninsula has always existed. She has always been there waiting to be unleashed. Michael Angelo used to say the sculpture was trapped inside the stone and he was the artist who could release it. The Old Head Golf Links has been laying in wait there through the centuries that have wrapped up Old Head in heritage and history. Two men fell in love with the terrain 12 years ago and bought a great deal of it. With style,imagination and commitment to the land’s character, they converted their property into the most dramatic and exhilarating golf course in the world. It has been described as “Pebble Beach on steroids” and “the most spectacular golfing experience on the planet.”

My old head experience started on Airlingus flight 12 from Boston to Shannon, Ireland, back in row 39. Tom Kelly, Jason Briggs and I sat between two red-headed sisters headed back to Shannon. The sisters were adorable, full-hearted and amazingly friendly, giving me directions and making sure I didn’t turn right at the second roundabout after the Cork turnoff and end up lost in the hills of southern Ireland.

They were a window into Irish hospitality, a glimpse of the week to come. I had been invited to play in the Stone of Accord Championship at Old Head by my friend Peter Hoey, along with Kelly and Briggs. All are keen golfers, but none more so than Hoey, who is a founding member of both Nantucket Golf Course and of Old Head Golf Links to name but a few. I must admit that prior to my invitation I had never heard of Old Head.I would soon realize, however, that it is one of the finest golf complexes in the world.

Coastal charm

We arrived at the town of Kinsale after a stress-free drive, thanks to the auburnhaired sisters. Kelly was crashed out in the back of our car, hallucinating through lack of sleep, asking, “Are we in Wellesley yet, where’s Wellesley?” Briggs and I both cracked up and replied, “About four thousand miles away, buddy,” while lugging our clubs out of the car and into our bed and breakfast. Hoey had booked us into a great guest house called The Rocklands House,which was tucked up on a hill just a stone’s throw above the nearby harbor.

Lying just south of Cork, Kinsale is one of the most picturesque, popular and fashionable resorts of the southwest coast of Ireland. It is surprisingly akin to Nantucket. The harbor comes right into the town, which brims with antique stores and galleries. Gourmet restaurants are a dime a dozen here and boast some of the best seafood any of us had ever tasted. With all of its charm and warmth, you could very easily spend a week or two in Kinsale. However, we were here for another reason: We were all eager to get to Old Head as soon as possible.

Early the following morning our drive to the club led us along the coast through rolling farmland and pockets of fishing fleets to the gates of the great course. There greeting us were the ruins of the de Courcey Tower, which date back to 1169 when the first Norman Invasion occurred, delivering possession of these headlands into the hands of the de Courcey family. I was immediately quieted with a deep sense of both history and beauty, for the scene was breathtaking. The road narrows to the entrance and you can see the cliff-tops, 350 feet above the ocean on either side. We proceeded through the gates and were greeted by an Irishman as dramatic and alive as the surroundings, red-faced and lit by the awesome nature surrounding us. Or was his glow from the night before? My guess is a bit of both.

You are guided along the road by a stone wall laid almost 900 years ago, meandering around the course, every now and then dropping into undulations that allow a view of what lies ahead: golf holes so magnificent that they are better described as works of art rather than simply paths made for playing. The road ends at the Old Head clubhouse, built with materials of the same texture and tonal range of the wall, making it almost blend into its surroundings. Attention to detail here is abundant in everything from the 60,000 shrubs planted each year to the 15 newly added luxurious member suites that have been sunk to ground level, hugging the 18th green.

Inside, the clubhouse is über hip and chic, incorporating minimalist design with splashes of color and sculptures that seemed to be straight out of any Guggenheim Museum gallery. A central freestanding fireplace sits in the main entrance as if communicating to the old light houses still found out on the course.

In ancient times people used to light fires to communicate to neighboring settlements, using signaling messages as a primitive distress call. These lighthouses are now ruins scattered throughout the course, observing the cheers and murmers of every round.

The course was the brainchild of brothers Patrick and John O’Connor, who began developing their vision well over 15 years ago. They bought the land for 500,000 Euros and then spent eight years developing it with an artist’s hand while respecting Kinsale’s ancient landscape and wildlife. It is estimated that they have invested around $50 million in carving, shaping and nurturing the course in keeping with its spectacular location. The O’Connors are both adamant in keeping the headland as natural as possible while providing habitats for endangered and rare wildlife. At the same time, they are creating a course never seen before.

High drama

The course is so dramatic and intense that words barely suffice. Tees overhang 350 feet above raging seas; fairways are carved alongside cliff edges requiring a perfect ball strike to hold its line. The O’Connors’ efforts to capitalize on all the best green and tee locations were such that some of the construction work proved very dangerous. The risks eventually resulted in the loss of a piece of equipment during early construction in 1995, when a contractor nicknamed Haulie nearly lost his life as one of his dump-trucks fell over the back of the 15th tee. The hole has since been named Haulie’s Leap.

A similar thing happened when working on the third green. One of the track machines slipped and did not stop until it hung over the cliffs. The only way to recover the machine was to back-fill the area. As a result, the third green now hangs over the eastern cliff-tops. We were incredibly lucky with weather. It was both clear and sunny during our entire week there and also not too windy. By
saying ‘not too windy’ I am talking about encountering just 20-30 mph winds. Hoey recalled that he has regularly played here in torrential rains, with 50-60 mph driving winds. I could not imagine playing in these conditions, just as I couldn’t bring myself to trust the line my caddie had me on. “Okay, hole three, I want you to aim twenty yards over that cliff with a seven iron,” he would say.

It’s a short par three of only 160 yards, but to commit to a shot aiming 20 yards left over a cliff, with a left to right wind, takes some mental prowess. Needless to say, I just managed to grab the very right section of the green despite fear of turning the club over and going out of bounds into the catching surf.

Our championship play was tough, especially for me since I had never played the course before. I was awed by the beauty and found it difficult to concentrate on my game. Also, I had to learn to trust the winds and target lines set out by the rough stone pillars Old Head has placed on its fairways. The stones are an ancient tradition used in pre-Christian times to renew your wedding vows on a yearly basis. A hole is formed in a huge upright stone and both parties shake hands through it. It is a contract and a binding ritual. More modern times saw this method being used to agree to the sale of land and cattle, although today it is purely an act of peace and friendship found on the first tee. The image of this stone is used throughout Old Head’s branding in the form of a very clever logo, and is incorporated out on the course as tee markers and lines of site on the blind fairways.

Our first day of play was a practice skins event, and guess who brought home the bacon? Our man Hoey made a wonderful birdie on the second, which held for a very handsome envelope at the end of the day. During the main event, which carried over two days, we were greeted at the halfway house with Champagne, oysters and hors d’oeuvres. The quality of food and service was spectacular. Everyone was on first name basis, and the atmosphere of camaraderie between staff, friends and players was delightful to see.

Playing Old Head Golf Links surpassed any golfing experience I’ve had to date. It’s not simply about the golf; it goes far deeper than that. It is witnessing the past made present, the old made new and the seemingly unachievable made reality. We played the course four times in five days, and each morning again it beckoned us back. It can’t be dominated; It can’t be tamed. The Old Head has always been there and she will be forever wild.

Photographer Nathan Coe is an accomplished golfer who in his native Great Britain was assistant to Gary Smith, the English Golf Union coach. For more on Old Head and the Kinsale area of Ireland, visit oldhead.com and kinsaletown.com.

By Marli Guzzetta
Photographs by Cary Hazlegrove

After the commercial bustle of the Nantucket summer has cooled, local artists return to the solitary process of creation during the fall. In front of their easels,behind their lenses and in their studios,they hone the distinct visions that allow such a small island as Nantucket to be seen in so many ways. Painter James Harrington, sculptor John Evans, printmaker Judy Brust, musical producer Nick Ferrantella and photographer Michael Gaillard comprise just a sample of the artists who inhabit Nantucket, but their abilities are indicative of the verdant creative fields cultivated 30 miles off the coast of Massachusetts.

James Harrington
While earning a living as a bricklayer in New York City,the young James Harrington escaped to a sketchpad and easel, drawing during his breaks and then painting in the kitchen at night. Enrolled in night courses at the Art Students League, he studied the work of Robert Henri intently and morphed into a solitary painter, one who does not participate in juried exhibits but rather meditates with a paintbrush on “the lives of people who take their livelihood from the sea or live at the water’s edge.” Today, he lives on Nantucket, and his art—often based on the dignity of work and ethic of labor—is quietly compelling in its impressionistic nostalgia.

John Evans
Sinuous and sensual, John Evans’ wood and bronze sculpture “lies somewhere between mathematics,rhythm and romance, grace and chaos,” the artist said.Sculpting for over two decades, Evans studied under his friend and internationally recognized Nantucket sculptor David Hostetler while earning a BFA from Ohio University. He also received a Master of Fine Arts in sculpture from The Instituto Allende, University of Guanajuato, Mexico. Combining elegant, romantic movements with earthy materials, Evans’ work expresses the interplay between the coarser and more refined elements of the human spirit. Evans summarized: “The primary elements are the capturing of motion in time,emotional expression, and investigating the potential of two-dimensional ideas in three-dimensional space.” See his work on-line at evanssculpture.com.

Judy Brust
After raising her children and fulfilling her role as the wife of a corporate executive, Judy Brust dedicated herself to her own dream of becoming a successful artist. As a student in the Master of Fine Arts program at SUNY Albany, Brust articulated a creative style preoccupied with the subconscious and archetypes and influenced by Carl Jung, Joseph Campbell and Gaston Bachelard. Her oversized, layered monoprints envelope the viewer with sweeping, textured color in her Galleryblue on Old South Wharf, where she features her work as well as exhibitions by contemporary artists. Brust opened the gallery when she and her husband Robert Brust moved to Nantucket in 2006. “My work is about the life cycle,” Brust synopsized. “Journey, religion and ritual, generational passage and the map of life.” For more, see galleryblue.com.

Nick Ferrantella
Having worked in the 1970s as the tour manager for Mountain and Foreigner,island native Nick Ferrantella returned to Nantucket to raise a family and build a successful landscaping business with his wife, Linda. But the desire to help create music remained with him. At his island home, Ferrantella built an indoor studio secured only with screws and glue, to minimize sound interference. The studio consists of two rooms built separately—one is for the musicians and the other is outfitted with a soundboard and equipment—and floated on rubber to create optimal sound. Boasting platinum and gold Recording Industry of America albums from Ferrantella’s days on the road, the studio has been a recording home for island bands including Sweetmeat and the Silverfish, which includes Ferrantella’s two sons and a cousin. “I haven’t made a single dime from anything I’ve done in this studio,” said Ferrantella, who donates his equipment as well as his time and expertise.

Michael Gaillard
A rising talent in photography, Nantucketer Michael Gaillard has turned his lens back on the island for a new web-based endeavor, yournantucket.com. Through the Web site, Gaillard sells photographs of Nantucket that are also displayed onisland at Nantucket Stock Exchange and Seven Seas Gallery. “The large-format camera I use allows me to print the images at tremendous sizes and maintain extraordinarily precise and luscious detail,” said Gaillard, the 2003 recipient of Sanford University’s Leo Holub Award for Excellence in Photography and a current student in Columbia University’s Master of Fine Arts program in the visual arts. “I am confident that the photographs I am taking manage to capture the essence of Nantucket in a profound and lasting way. Steering clear of iconic depictions of Nantucket, the images have the capacity to evolve while on display—in other words, the images require that their audience take time with them.” For more of his images, also see michaelgaillard.com.

Adapted from “Nantucket Island Living” By Leslie Linsley
Photographed by Terry Pommett

Owned by Connecticut and Nantucket residents Michael Kovner and interior designer Jean Doyen de Montaillou, this elegant Nantucket home on Union Street is believed to have been built between 1800 and 1825. It is one of dozens of homes featured in the new book “Nantucket
Island Living,” published this fall and written by interior design guru Leslie Linsley with photographs by frequent N Magazine contributor Terry Pommett.

The two previously collaborated on “Key West: A Tropical Lifestyle,” published last year. Linsley’s husband and designer-photographer Jon Aron has assembled Pommett’s stunning interior and exterior photos and Linsley’s text into 220 pages that capture the rich spirit of Nantucket past and present.

Doyen has enjoyed refining the interior design of the house to reflect their love of the island, their appreciation for refinement and a desire to share the house with their many island and off-island friends who come to visit.

The house might be considered as a typical Quaker-style home of the Federal period, reflecting the simpler way of life then. Characteristically, a massive center chimney originally provided heating and cooking sources through numerous open fireplaces. Unlike the lean-to style, these houses have a more centralized open floor plan. However, having passed through different ownerships, the house has slowly transformed over the years into a modern adaptation with such amenities as air conditioning added by the current owners. The layout is basically the same as it was when first built, but walls have been removed to open up the space that was once made up of small, boxy rooms.

All of the architectural details that enrich the interior of the house are intact, such as the warm pine floorboards, fireplaces with massive wooden surrounds, Federal molding around doorways and twelve-over-twelve pane windows. The first floor consists of a dining room that was once the front parlor, a living room-sitting room and an open modern kitchen at the back of the house. The kitchen door leads to a charming open porch that holds a table and two chairs for breakfast al fresco on a brick patio that fills the back of the property. Mature hedges, trees and hydrangea bushes along with a border garden surround the patio, creating a private oasis in the heart of Old Town.

The furnishings in the house are dramatic and au courant yet classic, with the bold use of black and red fabrics combined with antique furnishings, eclectic artwork and family heirlooms. Kovner and Doyen enjoy accessorizing the house from island shops, and they are regular attendees at Raphael Osona’s weekly auctions. Much of the furnishings began life in some of the grand houses on the island, and the couple especially appreciates items with history and provenance.

“Nantucket Island Living,” published by Stewart, Tabori and Chang, is available on Nantucket for $40 from Mitchell’s Book Corner, Nantucket Bookworks and at Linsley’s island shop. Join Linsley and Pommett for a book signing on Saturday, October 11 from Noon to 4 PM at Leslie Linsley / Nantucket, Zero India Street. For more information visit leslielinsley.com and see pommettphotography.com.

By William Ferrall and Marli Guzzetta

My first home on Nantucket 20 years ago was a two-bedroom dockside apartment with a small but functional galley kitchen, barely wide enough for two of us to pass through easily. We could stand side by side to prep food at the narrow counter, but even that was tight going. Despite the small space, if bad weather kept us off the deck outside, the tiny kitchen corridor was always where party guests would bunch up elbow to elbow.

Modern home designs account for that human nature with much more spacious floor plans. Kitchens commonly open onto the action, so to speak, whether that is in an adjoining dining area, the living room or another active area of the home. The home chef typically wants to be part of the crowd rather than tucked away down a hallway.

Kitchen setups today commonly include an island as capacious as possible where the family can gather for breakfast or lunch, or where noshes can be served up to company. But those areas also increasingly play a functional role, according to architect Steve Theroux, partner with architect Bill McGuire in Nantucket Architecture Group. “An island is standard in most kitchens,” noted Theroux, “but now they usually include a prep sink, another dishwasher and a wine cooler.”

A clean, uncluttered look dominates when most new homeowners are putting together their wish list for a kitchen. And ease of care matters along with aesthetic considerations. Graham Burton of The Tile Room Nantucket said he sees more engineered stone being used as countertops and work surfaces—customers like their increased durability, ease of care and wide range of options—although they are not necessarily less expensive than quarried stone products.

“You can get a lighter look with a whole new palette,” said Burton. “People are looking to break out of the black granite look.”

On the other hand, in a place like Nantucket, a familiar look is often wanted. One of the kitchens pictured here was designed to echo beachside cottage themes with wooden molding and a blue and white color scheme. “A lot of people have been using a new take on the old farmhouse sink designs,” noted Bert Turner of The Water Closet on Nantucket.”

Most designers agreed thatultra modern look also seen in these pages is still rare on Nantucket. Whether traditional or modern in feel, quality dominates among local client demands. Fred Duarte, general manager of KAM Appliances and Electronics of Hyannis, said that “upscale, luxury appliances, the more exclusive the better, is what we are placing in most kitchens in Nantucket.” Brands most frequently requested include Wolf refrigeration and cooking, Viking, Miele, Thermador and Bosche. LeCornu is unique in that it can be custom painted.

However high the quality of materials being used—a kitchen can cost $70,000 or more in a $1 million home, according to Theroux—kitchens have become decidedly more complicated to operate. As in other parts of newer homes, area controls, sound systems, video and other
electronic wizardry is coming into play. “Ease of access and use has become a big issue,” said Theroux, who noted that some new homeowners need extensive training sessions in how to run their own kitchens and the appliances they’ve had installed there.

Story and photography by Terry Pommett

As a land developer and recent gentleman farmer, Bruce Poor might be viewed on Nantucket as l’enfant terrible by those opposed to the growth of sub-divisions on the island. Controversy has surrounded a number of his Nantucket ventures. In retrospect, and compared to some recent slap dash high-density developments on the island, Poor’s cluster concepts are among the most visually appealing. Woodbury Lane in town, Hedge Row in ‘Sconset and Tetawkemo off Polpis Road are three projects on which most developers would be happy to hang their hats.

Poor has kept a lower profile on Nantucket since selling his Squam acreage to Nantucket Conservation Foundation in 2005, while he has taken up a more active agricultural persona in the tiny southwestern Massachusetts village of Clayton. The evolved Bruce Poor is now a self-described innovator, entrepreneur and possible “troublemaker,” putting his energy into promoting “organic agro-style living” on a 320-acre farm he purchased in 2000.

“I’m tired of real estate development.” Poor explained. “My passion is that I love land. Most real estate developers love money. I think I showed in Nantucket that I tried to do some creative things, delivering the best product I could.” Poor became interested in husbandry by accident on Nantucket. “I bought a post and beam frame barn for my farm in Squam, and a friend suggested I get some old breed livestock to help clear the land. So, without knowing what I was doing, I drove to Maine for the Fryeburg Livestock Auction and bought a couple of Belted Galloways, a bull and a heifer. That was the beginning.”

The animals’ first night together in the barn was almost a disaster, Poor recalled. The bull wanted to take liberties with the heifer, which was too young to breed. After an initial ruckus, he was able to separate them and tie off the bull. Poor later added other animals of British origins to the mix including an Exmoor Pony and a Gloucestershire Old Spot Pig. “The bull, the pig and the pony
would all hang out together like fast friends.”

By the time Poor left Nantucket for the agro-friendly lands of New Marlborough, he had 14 animals in tow. “The steamship was like my Noah’s Ark,” he recalled. Poor was lured to the Berkshires by the New England Heritage Breeds Conservancy, of which he was a founding board member. “I felt there was a lack of understanding about what I wanted to do with agriculture on Nantucket, so I had to leave.”

His Heritage Breeds Conservancy colleagues suggested that he buy a farm in Richmond, but after finding the property in Clayton, the die was cast for Poor.

“I started [land] surveying with my uncle when I was fifteen and have always loved large parcels of land. When I looked at the property in Clayton, it had the most diverse natural conditions I had ever seen: wetlands, uplands, forest, pasture, springs and a river.”

Working livestock

Much of the farm was fallow and needed a lot of work. A fully loaded logging truck brought in proved to be too much for the bridge crossing the Konkapot River to the work site. After its failure, Poor replaced it with a covered bridge and dedicated it to his wife and Nantucket realtor Gloria Grimshaw. The weather vane atop the bridge is adorned with a larger than life sculpture of Poggi, her Welsh Corgi.

As land was cleared and pastures revitalized, Poor’s livestock inventory grew. The key foragers were his 12 Belted Galloways. First imported to America in 1950, this rare, hardy breed from South West Scotland is well adapted to grazing on craggy upland pastures.

According to Poor, such animals decrease the need for tractors and heavy equipment to manage the land. “They have the capacity to eat almost everything up to their height,” he explained. “They clean the underbrush and somehow know not to eat poisonous plants.”

Two shaggy Scottish Highlanders, including the farm’s poster boy Russell the Great, complete the cattle herd. A flock of 70 Soay sheep are protected from predators by a llama named Bean. “He’s a guardian, but not an angel,” said Poor. Soay sheep are a primitive breed of domestic sheep descended from feral sheep on the 250-acre island of Soay, some 65 km from the western isles of Scotland. Their soft wool is shorn rather than plucked.

They can no longer be imported to the United States, so their numbers here are small. Poor hopes to increase his flock to 250 sheep. Completing the menagerie of exotic grazers are Brendon the Exmoor pony, Buritto the Sicilian donkey and Beau the quarter horse.

There is also a chicken coop; Zeke the Australian shepherd eeps a watchful eye on everything. Surrounded by so many ancient lineages, Poor has become adept at mooing, braying, barking and baahing.

Organic development

A funny thing happened on the way to becoming a full-fledged farmer. The entrepreneurial side of Poor kicked in. “I never planned on developing my property other than for myself,” he noted, “but the economics of small-time agriculture does not allow for proper maintenance and expansion without a reasonable income.”

“I wasn’t thinking development when I got here. I just wanted a farm in a more agriculturally friendly setting. My interest now is land management,” explained Poor. “The trick is to have a wildlife habitat and allow people to live within the same harmonious environment.”

To that end, the objective of his Konkapot Agroforest is to breed organic livestock for the sale of meat and dairy products including artisanal cheeses and ice cream but not milk. He also plans to reshape the pastures to improve grazing land, to compost wood products and to offer for sale surplus materials including topsoil and firewood. The creation of up to 10 agro-style living sites, secluded in forested areas, will be set apart from the farmland.

“I’m interested in finding an agro entrepreneur to help get started with the plan,” said Poor. According to Poor, internationally known organic certifier Larry Lenhart recently reviewed the property and thought that if the project succeeds it will be the first organic subdivision in the world.

He convinced Poor to join the Organic Landscape Alliance to help provide the protocol for planting and maintenance. Poor feels his project could become an economic model to help save small farms in Western Massachusetts from development.

“I’m interested in saving farmlands, especially grasslands, so that pastures don’t become residential areas,” he continued. “I want to emphasize the beauty of the land, not the houses.”

Homeowners of the properties will have access to hiking and riding trails and the adjoining farmland. The project will allow someone who either owns or buys farmland to get relief from blanket conservation restrictions, which Poor said end up reducing local tax revenues. The creation of upscale homes bordering the agricultural land, noted Poor, will increase the tax base while helping to preserve the farmland. “You can do what is necessary for the land and the wallet at the same time,” he averred.

As if this grand scheme were not enough to tackle for the 72-year-old Poor, there is also the matter of fast cars. “I was stricken with a disease in 1947,” explained Poor. “It was called ‘hot rods.’ Hot rods mostly died out in the 1950s with the birth of muscle cars, so I wanted to bring back a modern day hot rod using the VW R32 [Volkswagen] as a model based on the 1932 Ford Roadster. The hot rod is a modified working man’s car.

What is more working man than a VW?” Developed for Poor by HPA Motorsports in British Columbia, Canada, the Decathlon Crow is a twin turbo-charged 565-horsepower, modified street car that can be driven on the track at speeds in excess of 200-mph. “The car can be taken
anywhere,” assured Poor.

“It has a back seat and looks pretty normal. But it can go against a Ferrari, a Corvette or a Viper, and they’ll end up having a bad day.” It will be unveiled in November at the 2008 SEMA Show for automobiles in Las Vegas, as part of the Dunlop Tires display. A big brother to the Crow, the Decathlon Raven, is nearing completion. Poor is confident that when that 700-horsepower beast hits the road it will “give the Bugatti nightmares.”

Written By William Ferrall
Photography by Laurie Richards

As a writer who likes alliteration, I give a grade of all “Fs” to those restaurants that keep me coming back: familiarity, friendliness, fun and fine food. On each of those subjects, Fifty-Six Union, the year-round bistro a few blocks from Nantucket’s Main Street, gets a near perfect score.

In the nine plus years since experienced restaurateurs Wendy and Peter Jannelle founded Fifty-Six, they’ve built an avid fan base by serving up familiar and highly appealing food, which like the atmosphere in the inviting Fifty-Six dining room consistently shows a flair that keeps customers returning and new ones coming in the door. In the middle of summer, Fifty-Six makes for a homey respite just far enough removed from the island’s often madding and maddening crowds. On a rainy and cold winter night, the golden glow and friendly ambiance of Fifty-Six offers warm comfort from the elements.

You’d expect a couple like the Jannelles,each with more than 25 years of experience in the restaurant business, to pull this off so successfully. Both are veterans from well-regarded Nantucket eateries: Peter held chef positions at Harbor House, India House, Boarding House and Le Languedoc. Wendy waited tables and managed front-of-house duties in some of the same eateries.

The Fifty-Six location, with dormitories for summer kitchen staff and room inside and out for expanded service, seemed ideal back in 2000 as the roof for the Jannelles to grow under while raising their two young sons Blair and Andrew. Today, the restaurant holds about 85 diners inside and up to 120 with the outside tented patio.

Although Peter Jannelle is a graduate of the famed Culinary Institute of America, his skills at creating a well received menu come largely from experience and, perhaps more important, from having his eyes and ears well tuned to diners’ desires. “People want healthier foods these days,” he noted.

“We make our sauces lighter from fresh stocks, in our own kitchen, without the usual heavy roux.”

The healthy “global cuisine” menu today includes several Asian influenced dishes, with curried mussels in yellow Thai curry broth being the number one dish from their kitchen. Count me among those who rave about it. Crab Rangoon, made entirely fresh from lump and Jonah crab and mascarpone, proves nearly as popular. The recent addition of French-inspired escargot Bourguigonne has added a more traditional and highly sought after item to the menu.

With those items among frequent fare at the usually busy Fifty-Six bar, other diners make them mere openers for more substantial entrées. Javanese spicy friend rice, with succulent bits of shrimp, chicken and ginger to flavor the oriental-style vegetables in a sweet soy sauce, pleases many palates. Pan seared seafood including salmon, halibut and tuna further satisfy the demand for lighter dishes. A festive rack of lamb and pan-seared chops in colder months, the latter dressed up in cider bourbon with truffled smashed potatoes and haricot vert, suit committed carnivores. An acquaintance of mine recently raved about the grilled sirloin and its flavorful blue cheese sauce accompanied by pomme frites.

Wendy Jannelle’s expertise, also largely self-taught and honed from close attention to what makes diners happy, comes through in the extensive wine list at Fifty-Six. Celebratory dinersmight indulge in a memorable grand cru or reserve vintage while others sip
on an enjoyable and informal favorite. Real insiders mark their calendars for one of the holiday nights here when a party fills the main or rear dining rooms. Often led and cheered on by the Fifty-Six staff, revelers throughout the restaurant sometimes appear in festive garb for these special occasions. Wendy Jannelle has amassed a huge collection of vintage clothing and seasonal costumes in which the staff and guests bedeck themselves several times a year. On those and many other nights, you’ll need a reservation if you’re hoping to share in the fun.