The island was primarily a refuge for Native Americans who were displaced in the region while Europeans began to populate the areas now known as New York and Massachusetts. The Paleo-Indians were the first humans to live in the Cape and Islands area after the glacial retreat. The Paleo- Archaic Indians arrived in the area on the coastal plain that would become the outer islands of Southeastern Massachusetts well before Europeans settlers came this continent to live.
Nantucket was mostly undisturbed by Europeans until when the island was deeded to wealthy merchants Thomas Mayhew and his son by the English authorities. There was still fairly little population by Europeans on the islands until Thomas Mayhew sold his interest in the islands to a group of investors.
Shortly after this time the islanders began hunting whales for meat and whale oil, initially in the North Atlantic but eventually, and most famously, in the South Pacific, on journeys that would last from three to five years. Nantucketers became famous around the world for their whaling.
Moby-Dick was the story of the whaler Essex, whose journey and disastrous encounter with a white whale also prompted present day island historian and national bestselling author Nathaniel Philbrick to write his book In the Heart of the Sea, now being adapted into a screenplay for major motion picture. The wealth generated by that trade built huge mansions on Main Street, Orange Street and Union Street, as well as large and beautiful houses elsewhere in the center of town, although its early prevailing Quaker ethic limited the showiness of the early houses until it was supplanted in the second quarter of the 19th century.
Many residents left at this time for those reasons and many joined the California Gold Rush. During the long post-Civil War period Nantucket slumbered, awakened only gradually by the rising tide of vacationers, when its salubrious climate was thought to protect visitors from the bad summer air of cities. Land development was very regulated by the investors and developers themselves.
This helped to create one of the most exclusive areas in the country. Because its hundred years of prosperity were followed by an almost equal period of stagnation, Nantucket contains an unparalleled trove of Georgian, Federal and Greek Revival period architecture. Today over nine hundred buildings built from to are still in everyday use on Nantucket, the largest such collection in the United States and one that affords visitors and residents the extraordinary experience of walking streets substantially unchanged in the last two hundred years.
Recognizing the value of that experience led to Nantucket Town being the second location in the United States after Charleston, SC to be denominated a National Historic District, in , followed by its extension to the entire island in As a result, all new and remodeled building since then has been subject to regulation by the Nantucket Historic District commission, to assure its compatibility with existing architecture.
These numbers are primarily for residents who live on the island year around, whereas many of the rich and famous residents are only there during the summer.
With the population of Nantucket growing by over five times during the summer months it is obvious that this island has a lot to offer.
Many of those who come to the island live there all summer and others stay only for a week or two for a beautiful vacation. There is no shortage of things to do while visiting the island of Nantucket. Nantucket Sound lies between our island and the mainland, while all our other shores are bordered by the Atlantic. Head east for long enough, and you may not hit land again until Europe!
Travel by plane and land at our Nantucket Memorial Airport , rumored to be the second busiest airport in the state! Alternatively, enjoy the ocean breeze and travel by passenger ferry from Cape Cod.
More information on ferry routes and travel times can be found here on our blog. Many years ago, Nantucket was formed by a massive glacial ice sheet. When the glacier reached its maximum eastward advance, it deposited rocks and other sediment at its edge, or terminal moraine.
The Whaling Museum, built in as a candle factory, contains relics of the whaling era. The first American woman astronomer was Maria Mitchell, born in Nantucket in The Maria Mitchell House, where she was born, is now a museum.
The Nantucket Historical Association operates its museum in the Friends Meeting House, which was built in to serve the local congregation of Quakers. Police Department. Select Board. Town Manager. Public Works. Alarm Payments. Online Parking Permit Payments. Parking Ticket. Sewer Bill. Vital Records. Water Services. Register for.
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