Straight Wharf
Aquila Cormie
1910s to 1950s
The downtown area of Nantucket nearest to the wharves was traditionally home to specialized artisanal workshops that supported the whaling industry: boatbuilders’ shops, cooperages, ropewalks, blacksmiths’ shops, and sailmakers’ lofts. At the turn of the century, long after whaling had died out, several blacksmiths continued to work down by the water, supplying the needs of fishermen and coachmen during an era when land transport was still largely reliant on the horse (automobiles were banned on Nantucket until 1918). Born in New Brunswick, Canada, Aquila Cormie was one of several Canadian-born immigrants to dominate island blacksmithing, supplying islanders with a wide variety of articles such as horseshoes, metal work for harnesses, andirons, iron fencing, and repairing dredges and hoists for fishing boats. Even after the advent of the automobile, Cormie continued his smithing in his Straight Wharf shop, advertising “All Kinds of Work Done Here.” In a rapidly changing Nantucket, Cormie and his shop served as a curiosity and an emblem of a way of life long faded into the past. He became a favorite with artists and visitors alike, and was captured in several paintings by Nantucket artist Colonel Julian Yates. Cormie’s shop was eventually incorporated into the Four Winds Gift Shop, which still occupies its original site.
Robert McGrath remembers when Chester Pease’s house was moved from one side of Hulbert Avenue to the other. During the operation, the towing chain broke when the house was in the middle of the street. “Someone said, ‘Let’s run up to Cormie’s to get the chain repaired. We’ll have to call the cops to tell them that the house is in the street. It’ll have to sit there for the night, until Cormie can fix the chain.’That’s exactly where it sat.”
1973.29.2
P8434
