Seeing the social media posts of family and friends off island in the autumn, it’s easy to think that Nantucket has drawn the short end of the stick when it comes to Fall Color. There was an instagram post earlier this week taken in Town on Nantucket under a pale yellow tree with the sad caption that this was all the fall color Nantucket had to offer.
No, Nantucket doesn’t have dense forests bursting with deciduous tree leaves turning a rainbow of color. Nantucket is more subtle and secretive than that. Here are some of the startling bits of color seen around Nantucket this time of year.
Sometimes the whole landscape is a wash in the colors of fall from the yellow grasses to the burnt red of changing shrubs.
Autumn skies over the straw yellow of little bluestem grass and the bright red of huckleberries
Greens, greys, yellows and reds of the native vegetation around Pest House Pond
Out in the moors, the rolling hillsides shift from green to deep bright red as the huckleberry leaves get ready for winter.
Misty Middle Moors in fall. Photo Credit: Iris Clearwater
In the forests of Nantucket, the Tupelo trees change color the earliest, shifting to bright red and visible from a distance.
And if all else fails, Nantucket does fall sunsets better than almost anywhere else and this fall has been no exception!
A cotton candy sky while readying to catch bats in a Nantucket pine forest. Photo Credit: Jen Karberg
Sunset from the bluff at the UMASS Field Station. Photo Credit: Jen Karberg
If you know where to look, the beauty of Nantucket in the fall is there to find. Accept this challenge and get out this week to find the hidden fall beauty of this island before the season shifts again – try walking on one of the Nantucket Conservation Foundation’s many properties (there are 9,000 acres to choose from!) and see what kinds of color you might find!
The Nantucket Conservation Foundation is a private, non-profit land trust that depends on contributions from our members to support our science projects, conservation property acquisitions and land management efforts. If you are not already a member, please join us now! www.nantucketconservation.org
Nantucket Conservation Foundation's Science and Stewardship Department 