ARTiculate
MARK WILSON & BEN SIMONS
WITH MARLI GUZZETTA
Two young men at the Nantucket Historical Association will have a little something extra to toast as the clock reaches its two-armed pinnacle on New Year’s Eve. Beginning Jan. 1, Mark Wilson and Ben Simons (finally) assume their positions as the Manager of Historic Resources and the Robyn and John Davis Curator of Collections, respectively.

NHA Manager of Historical Resources Mark Wilson, left, and John Davis Curator of Collection Ben Simons.

As the Manager of Historic Resources, Wilson will direct the museum’s Maintenance and Grounds staff and oversee the care of all 22 NHA properties and the NHA’s emergency preparedness efforts. He will also serve as the NHA’s liaison with community preservation efforts and continue grant writing. He has worked as the NHA’s Collections Registrar since 2003.

Simons, who has worked with the NHA since 2002, will oversee the Research Library and all artifact collections, exhibitions and historic records at the NHA. He will also work with existing NHA management in securing additional fundraising. Simons will continue in his recent position as Editor of Historic Nantucket, the NHA’s quarterly membership publication, and remain the key liaison with the Friends of the Nantucket Historical Association, according to the NHA.

They each put a young face on maintaining properties and artifacts that are often centuries old, while bringing professional and educational backgrounds to the island that make us all a little prouder to call them community resources.

Married with two sons, Wilson actually washed ashore at age 8 and attended Eastmoor Academy (now the New School) before attending Connecticut College, where he earned a B.A. in archaeology. In 1989, he secured an M.A. in the history of art and architecture from Brown University.

Originally from the D.C. area and a graduate of Harvard College, Simons received an M.A. in English Literature from Yale University before authoring two books on private collections of maritime art: “The Yachtsman’s Eye” (2005) and “Maritime Maverick” (2006). He lives with his wife in Quidnet.

The two of them are more than capable of explaining to us all that is wonderful about Nantucket’s history. But what do they love about Nantucket now — when the winter is (supposedly) upon us? They sat down with The Nantucket Independent in the NHA conference room to answer just that question, while pillaging a communal Christmas basket left prone on the table.

What’s your favorite place to take someone visiting from off island?

Mark Wilson: Young’s Bicycle Shop, because it’s a great old part of Nantucket. I do a lot of biking, and I’ve been hanging out there for years. Just a fun crowd there.

Ben Simons: It’s funny. My parents used to complain about my living on Nantucket, because they thought it was too summery and too fancy and almost too perfect. And then they came one winter in February, and it was a horrible, blustery weekend, and they just loved it. They kind of ‘got’ the island for some reason. It’s that range of weather that’s so beautiful about Nantucket, I think. It’s not just the pure sunny days. So, I’d take them to Sconset; or driving to Jetties in the winter, so they could see the beach shut down. The rough beaches and the summerhouses, boarded up. That’s when you still have the memory of summer, but the island is yours in a way.

Mark: I might also say ’Sconset in the off season when it’s dead and you can walk around. That’s usually when we go out there. We take the dogs. It’s just seals and a few carpenters.

You have $10 in your pocket and you’re hungry. Where do you go?

Mark: Daily Breads for me. Some of my favorites are a couple of cookies they have there — like the Cobblestones — or a slice of pizza. And I always see somebody there. There’s always fun conversation.

Ben: I would say Daily Breads too. Stubby’s also comes to mind. Stubby’s grilled cheese is pretty great.

What’s your favorite Nantucket lore?

Mark: The origins of widows’ walks and cobblestones. The story about widows’ walks being built so wives could watch for their husbands when they were out to sea and coming back, which isn’t really what they were for; they were for fire prevention and some other things. And then cobblestones being the ballast of ships – the idea that they brought rocks over here as ballast because there was nothing in a ship. It just doesn’t make sense, because a ship always had something in it. That’s how they made money. Either they were bringing goods here or they were shipping them off.

Ben: I would say the whole concept of Nantucket characters – the oddballs and the quirky people who have always been able to live and survive on Nantucket, tucked away in little corners.

What’s your favorite architectural structure? (Long pause.)

Mark: For me, it’s either Hard Seas in ’Sconset, one of those little rose-covered cottages, because we used to live in it. The other one is the Old Mill. I have the intimate knowledge of running it and working it, but it’s also just so cool when you go inside and see all those old wooden gears.

Ben: I like the Owen Case house. You talk to people who’ve grown up here or been around their whole lives and they say, 10 or 15 years ago, pretty much the whole island looked like that house more than the modern re-dos they build now.

What thing you are most surprised to find on Nantucket?

Mark: I’m always surprised to hear when people say the island is built out. There are still so many pristine places here. The natural beauty is still here.

Ben: I was surprised the summer I spent in ’Sconset to learn that there are Brown Recluse Spiders here.

Mark: Yeah, that and squirrels. I’m always surprised to see squirrels on the island.

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