The brick building of the Hadwen & Barney Oil andCandle Factory has a charm and evocative beauty of itsown. The gigantic edifice was magnificent for its time,erected in 1847 just after the 1846 Great Fire destroyedmost of the wooden buildings of the downtown area.Peering up into its criss-crossed grid of rafters supportingtowering brick walls and a high-peaked roof, you canbegin to imagine all of the enormous wealth that thisrefinery generated by processing oil from Nantucket’smain catch, the mysterious sperm whale. Oil broughtback by the Nantucket fleet of ships that circled the globe“like so many Alexanders,” according to “Moby-Dick,”was carted here from Nantucket’s wharves, and thenpressed and boiled in the factory to create one of theworld’s most valuable commodities: the oils that poweredthe industrial revolution and the oil and candles that lit theworld.

he Hadwen & Barney Oil andCandle Factory

Tby Benjamin Simons and Marjan Shirzadphotos Courtesy of Nantucket Historical Association

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Benjamin Simons ~Robyn & John Davis Chief CuratorEditor of “Historic Nantucket”Nantucket Historical Association

Marjan Shirzad ~Director of Visitor ExperienceNantucket Historical AssociationCasks below beams brought

raw oil to the candle factory.

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Block and tackle are used to raise thegreat beams of the lever press.

The invention of the Argand lamp in the late 18th centurywas the era’s equivalent of the discovery of electricity.Daylight in private life and in the workplace was limited,due to the smelly and inefficient lighting using animalgreases and fats. The day was truly limited by the courseof the sun, with minimal extension by tallow lamps andgreasy candles. Lighting using Argand’s inventionrevolutionized society and industry. The main fuel of thesedevices in the earliest period was whale oil. Where didthis oil come from? Its main source was the Americanwhaling industry led by the Nantucketers. Think ofNantucket as the Dubai or Houston of its era, and you willbegin to get a sense of the importance of its “refineries” orfactories that processed the raw oil delivered from the ships.

To explain this refining process, we have commissionedthe father-and-son team of Mark and Gerald Foster toproduce David Macauley-style “how it worked”illustrations of the process from “wharf to market.”

Visitors will learn in visual detail how the factory pressedthe oil seasonally in the enormous lever press, and thenboiled or “tried-out” the various grades of pressed oils inenormous kettles. The Fosters published the well-receivedillustrated book “Whale Port” (2007, Houghton Mifflin)that brought to life the whole development of whalingfrom Nantucket’s earliest period through to the reign ofNew Bedford as the chief whaling port. Now they willturn their talents to explaining the whole “factory site,” aswell as the in-depth seasonal processes that led to theproduction of the world’s finest oils and candles.

Visitors will experience the interpretation of the buildingand “how it worked” as they enter on the ground floorafter having learned the story of “the whale hunt” inGosnell Hall, the museum’s main story-space for whaling.Once they arrive on the second level of the Hadwen &Barney Oil and Candle Factory, they will be treated to avisual feast of interesting artifacts from the Nantucket

In the 19th century, glass lamps began to take the place of candles. Whale oil was a primary luminary fuel, burning cleaner, clearer and brighter than grease lamps. The discovery of petroleum in the 1850s, and the subsequent use of kerosene lamps, diminished the demand for whale oil.

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Historical Assocoation’s collections that have beenslumbering in storage until now. With 20,000 artifacts inthe NHA collections, there is currently a full 10% of themuseum’s collections on display (twice the nationalaverage for museums). However, the new installation willpresent an artifact-rich display loading the walls andrafters with fascinating items that illustrate the majorthemes of Nantucket history: Boom & Bust, DiversePeoples, Business & Commerce, Island Characters,Intellectual History, and more. Ship models will hang fromwalls, old business sign will loom high in the air, portraits,paddlewheel covers, fine art, and more will fill the spacewith a visual treasury of Nantucket material. We havealso commissioned island artist Mary Lacoursiere tocreate a large map of Nantucket linking it with the distantpoints around the globe that Nantucketers traveled to andgathered their quarry of spermaceti oil from spermwhales. Another highlight will be a vignette of a“Nantucket Attic” created in the rafters of the factoryevoking the great tradition of treasures housed in attic spacesand home museums on island.

In the 19th century, glass lamps began totake the place of candles. Whale oil was aprimary luminary fuel, burning cleaner,clearer and brighter than grease lamps.The discovery of petroleum in the 1850s,and the subsequent use of kerosene lamp,diminished the demand for whale oil.

The names “Hadwen & Barney” originally stood on the lintel above the entrance to the candlefactory. When the building was converted for use as an antiques shop in the early 20th century,a federal-style lintel was placed over the original names. The 2004 restoration of the candlefactory returned the entrance to its original appearance.

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