8 NANTUCKET TREES 



Brereton, also of the party, saw in sassafras only a 

 valuable commodity. "This island is full of high 

 timbered oaks ;... sassafras trees, great plenty all the 

 island over, a tree of high price and profit." 7 



Nantucket, upon the arrival of the first white 

 settlers, was apparently more or less wooded. Various 

 records and some persisting local names Indicate this. 

 Obed Macy tells of the arrival in 1659 of Thomas Macy, 

 the first settler on Nantucket and writes, "They foaud 

 the island covered with wood, and inhabited by about 

 fifteen hundred indians . " In the deed by which the head 

 Sachems, Wanackmamack and Nickanoose, granted land to 

 the settlers the description reads: "All the Land, 

 Meadow, Marshes, Timber and Wood." 



In Godfrey's Guide to Nantucket we read: "That 

 tract of land near the head of Hummock Pond which we now 

 call 'the woods'... now entirely destitute of trees... was 

 previous to the year 1700 called 'the long woods.'" 

 Godfrey rather naively remarks, "This is very positive 

 evidence that there were large tracts of trees upon the 

 island in those early days, for the people of that time 

 called things by their right names." 



Godfrey quotes William C. Folger to the effect 

 that the George Gardner house built in 1696 on North 

 Shore Hill contained timbers of oak which were believed 

 to have been cut on the Island between said house and 

 the Cliff as that was a place remarked for a good growth 



1 6 



of white oak trees. 



Tradition speaks of several groves of oak which 

 were used for building purposes. * One grove was said 

 to have been south of Dead Horse Valley not far from Mill 

 Hill. According to Wyer 54 and to Godfrey 16 the "Old 

 Mill" now standing was built in 17^6 from this timber. 

 According to the Inquirer and Mirror the native oak was 

 used for Bunker Mill, the first of the four mills built 

 on Mill Hill, but the "Old Mill" of today got its oaken 



24 



beams from the driftwood of wrecked vessels. Without 

 attempting to resolve the discrepancy, our interest 

 centers upon the reference to an oak grove near Dead 

 Horse Valley where none remains today. 



