Sunrise from Nantucket

Another one of my happy places; photo by Julie Cumes/Associated Press. Published in the New York Times, 1.4.10.

Nantucket is the home of the Wampanoag Tribe whose name translates to "people of the first light." Their view to the east across Nantucket Sound is integral to their identity and cultural traditions. “Here is where we still arrive to greet the new day, watch for celestial observations in the night sky and follow the migration of the sun and stars in change with the season,” writes Bettina Washington, historic preservation officer for the Aquinnah Wampanoag, in a letter to federal officials.

The tribe is opposed to the development of a proposed offshore wind turbine farm in Nantucket Sound that "would thwart their spiritual ritual of greeting the sunrise, which requires unobstructed views across the sound, and disturb ancestral burial grounds." The proposed wind farm would be larger than the island of Manhattan. As reported in the Times today, "Senator Edward M. Kennedy, whose family compound in Hyannis Port looks out on the proposed wind farm site, was the project’s most powerful opponent until his death last August." To read the full text of the article by Abby Goodnough, see "For Controversial Wind Farm, New Hurdle is Spiritual"; New York Times 1.4.10.