About Dotty
Dorothy "Dotty" Coffin is a fourth-generation Nantucket islander and retired schoolteacher who spent 35 years teaching eighth-grade history at Nantucket High School. Her family has been on the island since the whaling days—specifically since 1821, when her great-great-grandfather Jethro Coffin (no relation to THE Jethro Coffin, she's been asked) jumped ship from a whaler and decided dry land suited him better.
Dotty lives in a modest house her grandfather built in 1947, now surrounded by $5 million "cottages" owned by people she refers to collectively as "the summer people." She drives a 1998 Jeep Cherokee with a "Native" bumper sticker and can often be found at the Downflake, nursing a coffee and sharing her thoughts on how the island has changed since she was a girl.
What She Stands For
Dotty is the voice of the year-round islander—the people who stay through the quiet winters, navigate the summer chaos, and remember what Nantucket was like before the helicopter commuters arrived. Her columns capture the experience of watching your hometown transform into something you barely recognize, while still loving it fiercely.
Despite her constant grumbling, those who know Dotty understand that her complaints come from a place of deep love. She's given directions to lost tourists more times than she can count, always ending with "well, you'll probably get lost anyway, but that's the fun of it." Her bark is worse than her bite—she just can't help sighing about traffic, tourists who don't understand rotaries, and the fact that everything good seems to close at 9pm now.
From Her Columns
"Another July, another army of people who don't understand four-way stops..."
"I see the 'influencers' have discovered Brant Point again. Lighthouse has been there since 1746, but sure, act like you discovered it."
"Twenty-three minutes to get from Stop & Shop to my house yesterday. TWENTY-THREE MINUTES. I remember when that trip took four."
