The entire
town of Nantucket, also known as Nantucket Town, is an official historic
district with more than 800 structures built before 1840 all within one square
mile.
Boat Basin : Since
Nantucket is an island, wandering around the harbor (boat basin) in
interesting.
Atheneum (Library)
and Garden : There are
several interesting museums on Nantucket, unfortunately most of them hadn’t yet
opened for the season. The Atheneum, the library, was open (and free) and has
an interesting history of its own. It also has a very pleasant garden area.
Nantucket
Shops :
We enjoyed
just walking down the cobblestone streets and taking in the historic buildings,
but we did a little window shopping, also.
’Sconset
We rode the
bus out to ’Sconset, and knowing that the few restaurants there weren’t open
for the season yet, we took along a little picnic to eat there.
Sconset
Bluff Walk : If you walk
from the downtown area to the Sankaty lighthouse, there’s a Bluff Walk path
that goes behind the houses (in some cases right in the back yards). We didn’t
find it on the way to the lighthouse so we just walked down Baxter Road, but we
did find it on the way back and it was really neat. On one side are beautiful
houses with perfectly manicured lawns and on the other side are the bluffs and
the ocean. Eventually you have to leave the bluff and walk on Baxter Road
because of the bluff erosion.
Sankaty
Light House : The lighthouse
is 1.5 miles from downtown ’Sconset. The round metal plate in the photo shows
where the lighthouse used to stand before it was moved 405 feet in 2007.
Scott’s Big
Adventure :
One of the
things my husband was really looking forward to was renting a bike and riding
around Nantucket. I’m not much of a bike rider myself and we’d talked about
renting a tandem so he could help with my share of the pedaling, but I caught a
cold so on the last day we were there, I told him to rend a bike and ride
around while I stayed at the hotel and slept.
Madaket
Beach : On the other
side of the island, Madaket Beach is known for its rough surf and riptides. It
was definitely too early in the year to go in the water.
Clark Cove /
Hummock Pond : Clark Cove,
Hummock Pond, and Miacomet Pond all abut the beach, so you can stand on the
beach with the pond on one side and the ocean on the other.
Getting To Nantucket :
Nantucket is an island, so you need
to take either a plane or a boat to get to it. Once tourist season starts,
there are many options for ferries (including going from Martha’s Vineyard),
with fewer options during the off season, or if you want to take your car to
the island, which isn’t suggested because during peak season parking becomes an
issue. And if you do take your car, you’ll need a reservation. Of course if you
don’t take your car then you have to pay to park it while you’re gone.
We took the Steamship
Authority slow ferry out of Hyannis, which takes about 2 hours and 15
minutes and costs $18.50 per person (one way), and since we didn’t take our
car, we didn’t need reservations. There are several parking lots for the ferry
including one that is two blocks away
Getting
Around Nantucket :
Like Martha’s
Vineyard, Nantucket has public buses, but unlike Martha’s Vineyard, the buses don’t
run year-round. They started running the day we arrived, but only some of the
routes were running. The only one we were able to take advantage of was the one
to Sconset. Had the one to Madaket been running (it started right after we
left) we would have used that one, also. Many of the others ones, especially
the ones going to the beaches, don’t start running until late June.
The tricky
part was finding where they were leaving from, which was the Greenhound Stop
and is located between Union and Washington Streets and between Main and Salem
Streets.
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