Hallows Days on Nantucket

Milestone Bog

 The days around All Hallows’ Eve have always marked a threshold: between autumn and winter, harvest and scarcity, the living and the dead. On Nantucket, the changing colors of the moors and woodlands seem particularly appropriate to this time of year. The tupelos are now bare, and the dominant colors are brown and yellow: brown from the crumpling leaves of the scrub oaks, yellow from the sweet pepperbush, maples, and black cherry. The bayberries are turning mahogany. 

Squam Farm

Squam Farm

Nantucket is taking on its deer problem. Deer densities on the island are extraordinarily high—in some areas more than five times the statewide management goal. This year, the Nantucket Land Bank opened its Agricultural Processing Center, where donated venison is processed for distribution through Nourish Nantucket and the local food pantry. The archery season has been expanded, both earlier in the fall and later into the winter, and more land has been opened to hunting. Governor Maura Healey has proposed allowing Sunday hunting as well. Even with a record 1,003 deer harvested during the 2025–26 season, it will take substantially larger harvests over many years to reduce the herd and its impact on the island’s natural environment and public health.

I forgot to wear my orange hat while walking at Beechwood and Norwood Farm. It was so quiet—not a towhee to be heard, perhaps a catbird or two. Lots of blue jays and crows. There were no planes to be heard either, on a beautiful sunny Thursday. The black huckleberry and highbush blueberry were red around the ponds. Sweet everlasting and bluestem were still adding texture to the landscape. The Norwood Oak is yet undisturbed by seasonal change.

Norwood Oak

Black Huckleberry

Groundsel, Eastern Baccharia

Sweetpepper, Clethra Alnifolia

At Windswept Bog, I watched a Merlin being harassed by a northern harrier.

Merlin

Merlin, Falco Columbarius

At Squam Farm on Saturday afternoon, I was entranced by the golden switchgrass and the seeded bluestem grasses. A field sparrow was a delight!

I hiked Milestone Bog, where the dew on the grass was frosted and the cranberry bog almost frozen. The switchgrass is fading, the groundsel flowers are blowing away. Snow buntings flew overhead, and American pipits called.

Late October is an opportunity to see the sunrise after 7 and give more attention to First Light. Starting November 1, sunrise will be back to 6:15 a.m. as daylight saving time ends. We are at the threshold of a new season.