If you have been to Nantucket, then you probably know Stubbys, the fast food restaurant just up the street from Steamboat Wharf. As you walk in and approach the register to place an order, you’ll see a small picture hanging on the wall of three men in a float rowing past Stubbys on a flooded street during a winter storm. This photo has always been of interest to Nantucket High School juniors Ian Williams, Griffin Fox, and Luke Stringer, who wanted to do more than simply look at it.
“We wanted to recreate that picture,” Stringer said. And the winter storm that hit Nantucket on Saturday – bringing heavy winds and coastal flooding – finally gave them their chance.
On Saturday, after seeing photos and videos of flooded streets, the three high school students rushed to the downtown area with their roles already assigned. Fox was in charge of the camera work while Williams and Stringer manned the canoe.
“There is nothing for us to do here in the winter,” Stringer said. “You have to create fun or you’ll go crazy.”
The three high schoolers sent the photos to the Current and they were posted on our Instagram page. They quickly spread across the internet and suddenly publications large and small, local and national – even international – began to request permission to use the photos to highlight the storm and downtown flooding on Nantucket. The images were published by Newsweek, Fox News, The Australian newspaper, The Boston Globe, The Daily Mail, and USA Today, just to name a few.
“The past 24 hours have been crazy,” Williams said. “We have seen our pictures everywhere. We have seen them on news channels we didn’t even know existed.”
Given that Williams and Stringer were traveling down flooded streets during high tide while the island was experiencing gusts in excess of 80 miles per hour and blizzard conditions, it begged the question: did they begin to regret their decision once they were actually out doing it?
“No,” Stringer said. “We had to see it through.”
“Hesitate is not in my vocabulary,” Williams said.
The original photo they were trying to recreate was taken in 2014 by Nantucket Magazine photographer Brian Sager. Sager said the island was experiencing a storm very similar to the one on Saturday. It forced many businesses to close, except for Stubbys, of course. Sager said he took the photo while waiting for his order.
In their bid for a replica, Williams and Stringer paddled down Oak Street, took a left onto Easy Street, and then another left up Broad Street. They came two buildings away from reaching Stubbys, with Fox ready to snap the coveted photos. But Fox said they unfortunately were not able to recreate the photo because the water wasn’t high enough.
“But we will next time,” he said.
But the photos they did get went viral nonetheless.
The trio said they will absolutely try it again, and now have their sights set on recreating more than just the photo taken by Sager eight years ago.
“I think we will do it again and try to recreate the painting of George Washington crossing the Delaware River,” Stringer said.
