Corkonians Abroad: Nantucket is a great place... a little bit odd in some ways

Where did you grow up?

I’m from Aherla. My parents built a lovely house in farmland about three miles south of the village in the late 1970s and are still there today. That’s home. A great place to grow up and where I learned about trees and birds.

After years of moving around, my wife and I settled on Nantucket. It’s a small island, 30 miles out to sea, south of Cape Cod in Massachusetts. Or more basically, a small bit outside Boston.

How did you end up in Nantucket?

In 2016, my wife Emily Goldstein Murphy and I moved to Nantucket. The first time I got to see the island was when I drove off the ferry to live there and all we had was the promise of a job for Emily.

Before this, we had been dandelion seeds, moving from place to place for college and jobs. We stayed because we got great jobs and had kids here.

What is life like in your new home?

Nantucket is a great place. A little bit odd in some ways. Sometimes it looks to me like a 100 square mile country club on an island 30 miles out to sea. There is an awful lot of wealth here in the summer season, and people are attracted to the whaling era history of the place. Think Moby Dick.

There are lots of mansions, old and new, to look at, but the reason we are here is because over 50% of the land is conservation land, so it is a great place for us to work.

We’ve settled in and have three kids on this island so that has made it home. Hazel is six, Ruairí is four, and Cian turned two in September. They are the best and keep us very, very busy. Now that’s what life is about. We love getting the kids outside to explore and try to have lots of beach days.

What has been the biggest challenge with the different culture?

Culture shock is real. Most Irish and Cork people think they know a lot about America from movies and TV shows. I certainly did. It meant nothing and living here is not what I expected. The food, driving customs, social attitudes, the way taxes work and the expectations of tipping. Nothing will prepare people for that. You just have to stumble though it for a year to figure it out. Add in missing home, and that first year is hard. But we figured it out.

How might you spend your weekends?

Social life here is different. People don’t go out much for the craic. They go out for a meal, have a drink or two, don’t talk to anyone they don’t know, and drive home.

But we have found a good group of friends to socialise with, including an Irish couple. Our kids are friends and that’s the most fun. This helped fix the culture shock and to settle us into life here.

The other big help is that Emily and I are both active in the community, mainly through conservation and fundraising.

Tell us about your career?

In 200,0 I finished secondary school in Ashton in Blackrock. I say this partly to date myself, and also to give a shout-out to my school. Ashton was a great place for me.

After a stint in CIT to qualify as a chef, I worked in restaurants and hotels around the city, and then a few years cheffing in CUH. It was fun but I wanted to work outdoors. So, I emigrated for the first time and went to Winchester in England to study Wildlife Management. That changed everything.

I came back to Cork in 2007 during a major recession. Best idea I had was to get a Master’s degree. That was a good idea as I met Emily, an American ‘study abroad’ student on the Master’s course. Our Master’s course was called Landscape Management & Conservation Biology and together with seven other students we went to study in four different universities in UCC, Utrecht in Holland, then five months in Helsinki in the winter time, and lastly at the NUI Galway – all to see and study in different landscape types.

After this, Emily and I lived in Eason’s Hill and Richmond Hill on the northside of Cork city for years while working and studying some more - we both did PhDs. She finished and I have yet to. But that led to the first big American move when she was offered a Post Doc in the University of Arizona. 

So, we moved 8,000 kilometers, eight time zones, in November, 2015, into something hotter than any summer ever in Ireland. 

I fried, but it was great fun and totally different – I even joined the local hurling club and played for the state of Arizona in the West Coast Championships.

I worked with protected elf owls in Saguaro cactuses, so mostly night work in the desert with lots of rattlesnakes. After a year there and the end of another set of contracts, Emily wanted to be closer to her parents who also live in Massachusetts, so we looked around and she found work in Nantucket. Shortly after, so did I. So, we stayed.

The real reason for staying and not moving on again is that this place is stunning. It’s not the mountains in West Cork, but it’s striking. Also, the people here accepted us, and we have become strong members of the community.

These days, I’m the Sustainability Manager in the Natural Resources Department for the Town of Nantucket and Emily is the Director of Environmental and Agricultural Resources for the Nantucket Land Bank, a conservation organisation. I got the permanent pensionable job for the equivalent of the County Council (Mammy is proud) and Emily is still smarter than me.

Tell us your thoughts on opportunity - and how a different part of the world might offer more opportunities?

There are lots of opportunities here. In five years on Nantucket, I’ve gone through three different jobs with the town and all were significant advancements. In Ireland there are similar jobs but way more applicants making it very competitive. Here there are more jobs and more chances to advance quickly, if you show you are capable and willing to take initiative. America rewards independent thinkers who want to change things for the better. It’s a different mentality that is hard to learn at first.

When I return home, I can see Ireland is moving that way too. Hopefully it’s a good thing.

What has been your most memorable moment in your new location so far?

All three kids were born here on the island. That was the biggest thing. We spend a lot of time on the beach in the summer and you can drive on the beaches here. I’ve caught some amazing fish.

Any special mentions to friends or family back in Cork?

Have to say ‘hi’ to my parents, Ted and Kathleen Murphy, and my brothers Kevin, Ted and sister Dee. The lads, Chris Bywater, Geoff Russell, Graham Bryan, Dylan Roche; Aoife Bywater, Marie Bryan and Louise Attard. Tim and Michelle Bywater. Jenny Butler: the ruler of UCC. Carl Dixon who got me going. Jeff Carlson and the Nantucket Natural Resources Department for keeping me going.

If you were back in Cork for one day, what would be the ideal day for you?

Bulman in Summer Cove by Kinsale for a pint of Murphy’s is a must. See the lads. Sunday dinner at home.

What are you looking forward to in the coming months?

Heading to Cork in February, 2025, with all the kids to see everyone at home.

Is there anything that you especially miss about Cork?

All of it, boi.