Nancy Luce
{{short description|American poet and folk artist}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Nancy Luce
| image = File:Nancy Luce.jpg
| caption = Portrait of Nancy Luce, island eccentric, and her bantie hens.
| birth_date = August 23, 1814{{cite web |last=Bender |first=Sydney |title=Island Eccentric Clucked to Her Own Beat |website=The Vineyard Gazette – Martha's Vineyard News |date=2014-10-23 |url=https://vineyardgazette.com/news/2014/10/23/island-eccentric-clucked-her-own-beat |access-date=2018-12-22}}
| birth_place = West Tisbury, Massachusetts, U.S.
| death_date = {{death date|mf=yes|1890|04|09}} (aged 75)
| death_place = West Tisbury, Massachusetts, U.S.
| occupation = Folk artist, poet, businesswoman
}}
Nancy Luce (August 23, 1814 – April 9, 1890) was a poet and folk artist who lived in West Tisbury, Massachusetts on Martha's Vineyard.
Biography
Luce was orphaned by her parents, Philip Luce and Anne Manter, in her late twenties and suffered a debilitating disease leaving her nearly homebound at the family farmhouse. She raised bantam hens to survive, often giving them fanciful names such as Ottee Ophete, Pondy Lilly and Letoogie Tickling.{{cite book | last=Nadler | first=Holly | title=Vineyard confidential : 350 years of scandals, eccentrics, and strange occurrences | publisher=Down East Books | publication-place=Camden, ME | year=2006 | isbn=978-0-89272-687-5 | oclc=70822421 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/vineyardconfiden00nadl/page/73 73–74] | url-access=registration | url=https://archive.org/details/vineyardconfiden00nadl/page/73 }} She wrote and self-published poetry pamphlets about her chickens and got professional portraits done of them and herself.{{cite web | title=Portrait of Nancy Luce, island eccentric, and her bantie hens. | website=NYPL Digital Collections | url=https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e0-73ac-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99 | access-date=2018-12-22}} Tourists would come to her cottage and small store on the property to visit with her and purchase keepsakes to bring home. As she buried her chickens on the property, her collection of chicken gravestones became its own tourist attraction. She was considered "one of the Island's most well-known historical figures."{{cite web | title=Martha's Vineyard Museum Exhibitions | website=Martha's Vineyard Museum | date=2015-01-31 | url=http://www.mvmuseum.org/nancyluce.php | access-date=2018-12-22}}
When Luce died, the chicken gravestones were given to the town library. Luce herself is buried in the West Tisbury cemetery, where her marble gravestone is decorated with chickens.
Legacy
Luce's chicken names live on in the names of chickens at the Los Angeles Zoo.{{cite web | last= Brennan | first=George |title=The Nancy Luce story goes Hollywood, sort of | website=The Martha's Vineyard Times | date=2017-08-02 | url=http://www.mvtimes.com/2017/08/02/nancy-luce-story-goes-hollywood-sort/ | access-date=2018-12-22}} Composer Thomas LaVoy is currently working on a commissioned choral piece based on her writings.{{cite web | title=Nancy Luce Commission Consortium - Composer | website=Thomas LaVoy - Composer | date=2018-03-26 | url=https://www.thomaslavoy.com/nancy-luce/ | access-date=2018-12-22}} Vineyard artist Daniel Waters has created a series of linoleum block prints featuring Luce and her chickens.{{cite web | title=Gallery of Prints | website=Daniel Waters, Poet & Printmaker | url=http://www.indianhillpress.com/gallery.html | access-date=2018-12-22}}
Nancy Luce's manuscripts and other related material are at the John Hay Library at Brown University.{{cite web |title=Nancy Luce Papers |url=https://search.library.brown.edu/catalog/b2497960 |website=Brown University Library |publisher=Brown University |accessdate=22 December 2018}}
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Luce, Nancy}}
Category:People from Martha's Vineyard
Category:People from West Tisbury, Massachusetts
Category:19th-century American poets