Inch by Inch, Row by Row
Gentle breezes carrying the scent of apple blossoms, lilacs bursting with color, vegetable heads poking through the dirt—The Nantucket Historical Association is delighted to offer not one, but thirty-six, narrative garden tours at the Oldest House, 16 Sunset Hill Lane, every Friday and Saturday from 3 to 4 p.m. through September 27.
According to the property deed from 1708, the Coffin family had a fenced garden located on the northern side of the property. NHA staff member Kathrina Pearl, along with NHA grounds crew, has been working on enhancing the kitchen garden, adding new period plantings and appropriate seedlings. During the hour-long tour, guests will learn about the herbs and plants and their uses currently growing in this replicated 1700s kitchen garden
Pearl, who is completing a certificate program in Historic Landscape Preservation at the Landscape Institute at Harvard University, researched and designed the garden during the spring of 2006. “The vegetables grown in settlers’ kitchen gardens were reliable food staples such as carrots, parsnips, turnips, beets, radishes, onions, leeks, and cabbages, all of which could survive storage in root cellars over the winter months,” said Pearl. “Last season we planted those same vegetables along with a wide variety of herbs, including both medicinal and culinary, as well as lettuces and assorted greens in keeping with the historical theme of the garden; we had such successful results, we’ve added to the selection for this season.”
In addition to the period kitchen garden, a small apple orchard comprising a variety of apples appropriate to the period has recently been planted. The Oldest House is open daily through October 15, Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m and on Sundays from noon to 5 p.m. The lecture is free for NHA members, $6 general public.
For more details about Nantucket Historical Association programs and special events, please call 508-228-1894, ext. 0., or visit www.nha.org.
