Srail Club

The Srail Club was started in 1930 by the Hon. Lee Parsons Davis (a New York Supreme Court Justice). The "clubhouse" was on New Street in 'Sconset in Horace Jernegan's father's icehouse. Still there, the cottage is still named Srail. The Srail Club was intended to promote friendship between the members who were islanders and those who were summer residents.

In the clubhouse was a brass sign embedded in the stones in the fireplace. It read:

SRAIL CLUB
YSAE OT TRUH
DRAH OT LAEH

Turned around it reads:
LIARS CLUB
EASY TO HURT
HARD TO HEAL

The Srail Club men would meet a few times a week and "conduct" business, mainly the telling of tall tales. One tale was the story about the nearsighted bluefish:

After Judge Davis got settled in the cottage, he and the other club members would go out fishing. Every year they would catch the same bluefish. Finally, one year, they asked the judge how they could stop catching the fish. His response was, "Bring me a pair of glasses next year." They brought the glsses, caught the bluefish, put the glasses on him, and never saw him again!

The nearsighted bluefish was their club's mascot. They had a wonderful weathervane made in his likeness with a top hat and all.

When Judge Davis arrived on island he would be met by some of the Srails. They came to Steamboat Wharf in an old dory pulled by a Model-T. All wore paper hats. He would climb in and off they would go, leaving Mrs. Davis to get the luggage over to 'Sconset.

Some of the members of the Srail Club were:

and many more...

Davis was the only president of the club, and he died in 1961. The club was disbanded some time before that.

Srail club Painted Sign
Collection of Joan Brown Porter

A digital exhibition by the Nantucket Historical Association