Nantucket is an island located about 50 km south of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, in the United States.
The city and island are primarily known for the whaling that started there in the 18th century.
The island is listed as a historic site in the United States and attracts many tourists, Nantucket offers quiet harbors, dramatic cliffs, sandy beaches, beautiful old mansions and gardens. The population increases from 10,000 to 50,000 residents during the summer months, due to the large number of vacationers. According to Forbes magazine, in 2006, Nantucket properties had the highest average valuation compared to the rest of the towns in Massachusetts.
Access : Coordinates: 41.282778, -70.099444 /
Highlights :
- The Opera House Cup Regatta : The Opera House Cup Regatta is held on the third Sunday of August in Nantucket Sound , it was the first all-wooden, single-hulled classic boat regatta on the East Coast, and attracts some of the most excellent wooden sailboats in the world.
- The small island with 82 miles of pristine coastline, boasts a wide variety of beautiful beaches. The beaches are divided into four sections: arctic, southern, eastern and western. Families tend to head toward the Arctic, where Nantucket Sound features smaller, rolling waves and warmer temperatures. Surfers prefer the south, which faces the Atlantic Ocean and offers bigger waves and colder water.
- Many famous American people were born on the island, such as Macy’s department store founder Rowland Hussey Macy , the first American female astronomer Maria Mitchell and Benjamin Franklin’s mother Abiah Folger. Writer AJ Cronin has lived there . Linguist and historian Frances Karttunen was born on the island and lived there together with her husband Alfred W. Crosby .
- The island is easily accessible year-round by ferry from various points on the northeast coast of the United States.
- The Surfside region of Nantucket is the southernmost town in Massachusetts. Siasconset, commonly called “Sconset”.
- The first chapters of Herman Melville’s novel Moby-Dick take place on Nantucket.
- The Nantucket lightship basket is one of the most popular and well-known symbols of Nantucket.
- The city’s neo-Greek library, the Ateneum , is one of the oldest continuously operating libraries in the United States.
- From Nantucket was the whaler Essex, sunk in 1820 due to an attack by a sperm whale, as well as some of its survivors. The Italian transatlantic Andrea Doria also sank off the island on 26 July 1956 following a collision with the Swedish merchant ship Stockholm.
- The National Park Service cites Nantucket, designated a National Historic District in 1966, as “the best surviving architectural and environmental example of a late 1880s-early New England port city.”
- Top sights in Nantucket : Oldest House, Sunset Hill Rd / Old Windmill / Sankaty Head, Placed on the Sankaty bluff in the east. / Great Point, At the northern end of the island, high above the beaches / Brant Point Light, A short walk from the town center / Museum of African American History / Nantucket Whaling Museum / Sankaty Head Light / Nantucket Historic District / Jethro Coffin House – National Historic Landmark , Sunset Hill Road.
Go next : Cape Cod , a well-visited tourism and recreational area and offers kilometers of beaches, nature, historical sights, art galleries and many 4-star restaurants. / Hyannis Port , a small residential village in the city of Barnstable.
