The famous American author Herman Melville once wrote, “Nantucket! Take out your map and look at it. See what a real corner of the world it occupies; how it stands there away off shore. . . Look at it . . .” in his classic novel “Moby-Dick, or The Whale.” He was fascinated and inspired by the brave whaling captains and crews there when he wrote this masterpiece.
Nantucket, located about 30 miles south of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, is a tiny and isolated island in the Atlantic Ocean. And yet, it is a National Historic Landmark District with the most preserved historic buildings and a fascinating history.
This small island used to be the whaling capital of the world, and thanks to the heroic adventures of the local whaling ship captains and crews, who traveled the world and returned with ships full of whale oil, the island became one of the wealthiest towns and counties in the USA in the 1840s.
Today, long after whaling has been abandoned, this New England island still looks and feels like it did during those glorious years. This has been made possible by the never-ending efforts of the local authorities and the historic preservation foundations and organizations there.
The island is home to more than 750 pre-civil war buildings. Thus you will feel like you have stepped back in time as soon as you set foot and get settled in your dwelling, especially when you go on a stroll in the historic Nantucket Downtown, with its cobblestone streets, gas lanterns, and captain’s mansions.
If you are eager to learn more about the history of Nantucket and find out more about the times when the locals were the most successful, rich, and heroic whalers, then make sure to add these five historical landmarks to your travel itinerary.
Whaling Museum
This is the first place to go if you want to see the artifacts, art, and other exhibits from the whaling years centuries ago. The museum is located in a restored whale oil and candle factory located Downtown. So, you can learn more about the whaling adventures of the local whaling ships, which reached all parts of the world, and how whale oil was refined and utilized centuries ago. The oil from Nantucket was exported and used for the street lanterns in the biggest European capitals, as well as used by the lighthouses on the entire US Atlantic coast.
There is a real 46-foot-long sperm whale skeleton that is suspended from the ceiling at the Gosnell Hall Whale Hunt Gallery, as well as the first Fresnel lens, which was installed in one of the historic Nantucket lighthouses centuries ago.
You can learn the true story of the Essex whaling ship and its captain, who survived a shipwreck caused by a sperm whale and who inspired Herman Melville to write Moby-Dick.
The museum is in Downtown and has a viewing deck on its rooftop, offering one of the best views of the historic town, the Nantucket Sound, the Harbor and the boats and yachts.
Nantucket Shipwreck and Lifesaving Museum
Located on Polpis Street in Folgers Marsh, about 3.5 miles out of town, the Nantucket Shipwreck and Lifesaving Museum is a true hidden gem, which honors those who risked their lives through the centuries in a quest to help the crews of the hundreds of vessels which were shipwrecked in the waters of the island.
It is founded by the Egan Maritime Institute and celebrates the heroic maritime history of Nantucket. It is the first museum of its kind that pays tribute to the lifesaving history of America.
You can see a variety of artifacts, paintings, models of the ships, and more in this quaint little museum and listen to the fascinating stories about the local heroes who often risked their lives while saving the sailors in distress. There are over 5,000 exhibits in the museum, which have been collected from the more than 750 wrecks that occurred on the island’s shores in the past 300 years.
Nantucket Lightship Basket Museum
Lightship baskets may not seem as fascinating as items from the whaling years and from the many shipwrecks which occurred near Nantucket. But the truth is that if you want to learn as much as possible about the traditional arts, crafts, and heritage of Nantucketers, then you should visit the Nantucket Lightship basket museum.
These baskets are made of woven can, with rattan staves and wooden bases, and used to be made in the 19th century for practical use, often by the crews on the whaling ships who spend long months traveling to exotic destinations on the other side of the world.
Today, the lightship baskets are still some of the most recognizable traditional handcrafted goods, alongside the scrimshaw items made and sold as keepsakes on Nantucket.
The Old Mill
Built back in 1746, this old windmill is considered the oldest functioning mill of this kind in the USA. Although it has been restored as a historic landmark and site, if you are lucky and the wind allows for it, you can see how the gear, shaft, and grinding stone in the windmill grind the corn into cornmeal.
You can learn more about how this windmill was built, inspired by the famous windmills in Holland, and also explore the mechanism and watch it grind the corn in this striking historic building.
Brant Point Lighthouse
This is one of the three lighthouses on the island and is included in the National Register of Historic Places. It is also the first structure to greet you if you arrive at Nantucket via ferry.
It is the second oldest working light station in the USA, only after the Boston Light from 1716.
The light station was first built in 1746 and was automated in 1965, and today is still fully functional and continues guiding the boats and other vessels passing by Brant Point and arriving or leaving the inner Harbor.
The history of this lighthouse is fascinating. Today’s lighthouse is the ninth one rebuilt on the spot of the original one. It has a 26-foot tall cylindrical construction with a Fresnel lens and was built out of wood in 1901.
Brant Point Light is decorated with a giant daffodil wreath every April for the traditional Daffodil festival, which takes place in Nantucket, and at Christmas, the local coast guards decorate it with a Christmas Wreath.
Tradition has it that people leaving the island throw a couple of pennies in the ocean as their ferry or boat passes the lighthouse so that they will one day return to Nantucket once again.
The other two lighthouses on the island are the red and white striped Sankaty head Light on the East coast, near the picturesque Siasconset village, and Great Point Light, situated on the northernmost point of Nantucket.
Sankaty Head Light was built in 1850 and has a striped brick and granite structure. Interestingly, the entire tower was moved back into the land from the cliff by 400 feet in 2007. This complicated procedure was done to help prevent it from collapsing into the ocean due to the erosion of the bluffs.
Great Point Lighthouse was built in 1784 and rebuilt several times over the years. The structure today is an exact replica of the 60-foot tower from 1816. The current station was built in 1986. This lighthouse is located in the protected Coskata-Coatue Wildlife Refuge, which is one of the most scenic areas in Nantucket.
Photo Credits:
Interior of Whaling Museum: Asknha1894, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
