Anseth Family Adventures: A history of Whaling not Wailing

Wednesday August 23rd was suppose to be our bad weather day. Storms and rain where suppose to put a damper on our day. It was a little misty and rainy in the morning but overall it as started overcast and ended with a beautiful sunset.

The leadership team of this expedition had prepared for such a day. We were going to the Whaling Museum

We arrived at around 10:30 for a video presentation about Nantucket and her rise and fall as the Whaling capital of the world. Not everyone enjoyed the video, some 15 year olds may need to see an opthomologist to deal with severe eye rolling trauma. 2 random kids, not our own, now have PTSD from being disciplined by us for talking to much during the video.

We toured the museum for 20-30 minutes and then the real action started. By action, I mean an older lady that works at the museum gave an interactive talk on what whale hunting looked like. From sharpening your harpoon, There she blows, Nantucket sleigh ride, naked spermaceti harvesting. Boiling blubber and burning the charred skin. She really broke it down. Perhaps the struggle isn't as real when you are seeking only wifi, a spot to charge your phone and to keep your Snapchat streaks alive.

The Butner's all fit inside the lower jaw of a Sperm Whale.

The Anseths all fit inside a Sperm whales lower jaw. Is this why I feel like Jonah on some vacations?

The skeleton of a Sperm Whale

TB and Lara in front of the whale

Scrimshaw. Nantucket whalers carved imagery onto the teeth of Sperm Whales.

Weather Vane at the Whaling Museum

This crazy set up was a giant lever at the candle making factory to squeeze the whale oil out so it could be sold.

This is Capt. Benjamin Worth, he sailed around the Cape of Good Hope like 4 times and circumnavigated the earth twice. It also said he never lost a crewman.

This was one bad man. #sometimesyourjustthebestatwhatyoudo!

Butners on the roof of the Whaling Museum with Nantucket harbor in the background

Look at us we took the same picture

The old light from Sankaty Head Lighthouse.

After our time at the Whaling Museum which was awesome, we grabbed lunch at The Rose and the Crown. It was great pub food that hit the spot. At this point in time, decisions needed to be made. Some of us thought a walking tour of historic Nantucket would be fun, some members of this crew did not agree. After several minutes of wailing a settlement was reached.

Ashley, Sophie, Katie, Abby and Grace would go back to the house and "play cards" #useridiculousamountsofdata

#keepmysnapchatstreaksaliveandkicking

The more sophisticated portion of this crew, Troy, Lara, Kari, Elle and Scott proceeded on a walking tour of Nantucket. A couple things became quite obvious, 1. Thank god Elle came because she brought the mean age down under 75.

2. Ladies from Williamsburg, Virgina love to enunciate and are more concerned about the cross streets they are on then the history of Nantucket.

The harbor of Nantucket, now a beautiful place but at the height of Whaling it would be dirty and stinky secondary to the whale oil.

Our guide says that around Nantucket, the reason the Dartmouth, the Beaver and the Eleanor where ransacked by the Sons of Liberty during the Boston Tea Party is because Rotch out maneuvered John Hancock regarding the shipping of whale oil to England and he wanted a little pay back.

The library in Nantucket is amazing. The original was destroyed in the great fire of 1846. It was rebuilt within 6 months and was the first building completed after the great fire. It is beautiful and still holds amazing lectures from world renowned speakers Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau and John Audubon. Fredrick Douglas spoke out against slavery here in 1841.

The 4 youngest people in the history of Nantucket walking tours.

What is amazing is the Quaker influence. Work hard, live modestly, reinvest in your business and treat others based on their action more than their color or religion. They also have the generic church wood pews, white walls. You don't have much choice but to think of your inner light.

It is crazy to think how many famous American families have roots in Nantucket the Macys, yes the retailers, and Folgers, yes the instant coffe guys just to name two.

We stopped by a very large house on Main Street built by the owner of the candle making factory. Amazing detail for the time. When the tour was over, I tried to hand out several cards, this certainly looked like a hip and knee replacement crowd.

TB, Lara, Kari and Scott enjoyed a couple of Mudslides and beers at the Gazebo down by Straight Warf. We thought about establishing a permanent residence there.