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CELEBRATING 77 YEARS AS A GRACIOUS ELDER RESIDENCE
The layout and offerings at the Homestead have expanded several times since it opened in 1930 as the Old People's Home, with Lydia Hussey, Grace Coffin's grandmother, being the first to register as a resident. The addition of two resident rooms, a new laundry room and a spacious and inviting common room with adjacent shady terrace completed in March 2003 have brought the home to near perfection while preserving its historical integrity.
The gracious Victorian at the corner of Main and Howard streets was built as a private residence by Boston pharmacist Edward Perry. His wife sold the home after his death to Ms. Emma G. Fraser, who took in roomers - a group of eight men and women who initiated the project to raise funds and create the first island home for the elderly. The first meeting to discuss the project was during Nantucket's harsh winter of 1918, but in the following winter another meeting was held at Emma F. Hayward's house on Centre Street, when an official Old People's Home Association of Nantucket was established; bylaws were enacted, officers were elected and that spring, a board of directors was named. Funds were gathered over the next decade. In 1921, the heirs of the Emily Weeks estate offered her home at 42 Pearl St. as a home for elders, and while the association ultimately accepted the gift, they chose to sell it and use the revenue to purchase the Fraser house in 1929 for $18,000, complete with furnishings. The next year it opened as a residence only for native island seniors, while now it is available to others whose families have island ties. Its name was changed to the Homestead in 1967.
The Homestead of today remains a grand, yet simple period building on the outside with a soothing and updated interior. The former, small front parlor to the right of the main door inside has been made into an office and the room across the hall, which once was the office, is now one of two vacant rooms awaiting occupants. Antique furnishings decorate the home, which has lovely hooked rugs and hallways carpeted in burgundy. Walls are painted in muted tones, creating a pleasant background for an impressive collection of art. The dining room is airy and graced by one of the home's many fireplaces; it also provides a chair lift to the second floor resident rooms. Notwithstanding all these features, the Homestead's crown jewel is its large new common room at the rear of the building with high ceilings, windows overlooking a covered porch and landscaped patio, and where residents may visit independently at any time as well as join with peers for organized activities and special events. The walls and ceiling are of a soft butter yellow and the room is furnished with a long table for weekly Bingo games among other uses, an upright piano and plenty of comfy sofas and chairs.
"We decided on it because we needed more space," explained Harvey, who has been with the Homestead for a decade and was named executive director in the spring of 2004 following diCurcio's death. She hired assistant director Tish Coull that June to fill her previous position. "The winters are long on Nantucket. At that time we had 11 resident rooms and only a small parlor in addition to the dining room, so we felt it would be great to have a room for our activities. It has worked out wonderfully for [the residents]. We added an exercise class three times a week which we never could have done otherwise."
The Homestead, a nonprofit organization, receives no state or federal funding and relies on private donations, its rental revenue and monies gathered through special events to cover operational costs, which include providing breakfast, lunch and dinner every day to residents; laundry and housekeeping services; 24-hour staffing; a weekly visiting nurse who pre-pours medications for residents and refills their prescriptions; transportation to hairdressing or barber appointments; shopping and special outings. The Homestead employs one housekeeper and has six kitchen personnel as well as a chef. Island farmers donate eggs and produce to the kitchen. Special funding sources are an annual appeals letter sent during the winter holiday season, a Rocking Chair Fair in the summer, an Evening in the Secret Garden in July held at Marilyn Whitney's Moors End estate on Pleasant Street, a Holiday Open House in December and the latest two-year-old event, Paint the Town Red, a dinner at the American Legion Hall held in March.
TRENDS Harvey noted that the newest trend at the Homestead is a greater male population. While John Bartlett has been a satisfied resident of the home for 17 years but was always well outnumbered by women, he has been joined by three other gentlemen with a potential fourth who may move into one of the vacant rooms. Residents may bring their own furnishings or ask the Homestead to provide that need. Harvey further noted that applicants are becoming older as elder services on the island improve and allow them to stay longer in their own homes. Still, about two years ago, the Homestead's board of directors decided to lower the age for application from 70 to 65, in part because of the Homestead's convenient location for those who can walk to town or around the surrounding historic area, but for whatever reason cannot remain in their rentals or houses. Applicants to the Homestead community, which is not a nursing facility, must be at least 65 years old and able to carry out routine daily activities, such as making their beds, taking their own medications and dressing appropriately to attend meals in the dining room, though otherwise they are afforded all the privacy they wish in their rooms. Current rates are $2,450 for a room with a half-bath and $2,890 for a room with private full bath, though there are two resident rooms available at a reduced rate. Shared full baths are available on both floors for residents who do not have shower or tub facilities in their rooms. Also, if space is available, the Homestead can provide short-term room rentals for elders wanting to visit their families on Nantucket. Some of these shorter rentals have lasted six weeks. A tour of the Homestead may be arranged by calling Harvey or Coull at 228-1135. I |
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