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Nantucket, Massachusetts Guide | |
| "Thirty Miles at Sea!" is the island's slogan. To its year-round inhabitants and summer visitors, Nantucket is not just another resort island off Cape Cod, but a special seagoing world of its own. | ||
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Nantucket, 30 miles (48 km) at sea (map), is a beautiful New England island with a beautiful old town, quaint villages, genteel old inns and posh resorts, 10 public beaches, a history of whaling and an upscale ambiance, which is why it's packed with tourists and summer residents from May through September. You can visit Nantucket on a day-trip by ferryboat from Hyannis (on Cape Cod) or Martha's Vineyard, or by airplane from Boston, Hyannis, Martha's Vineyard, New Bedford, or New York City. More... In high summer, Nantucket's hotels and inns are often fully booked, so reserve your lodgings well in advance. More... With its location "30 miles at sea" (map), its history of whaling, its choppy Indian name, and its people's reputation for hardiness, you might expect Nantucket to be clusters of peasant dwellings and strong-armed shipwrights making rough island boats. In fact the opposite is true: the main streets of Nantucket Town are lined with towering elms and gracious Federal, Greek Revival and Victorian buildings, and the residential neighborhoods boasts street after street of dignified houses from the 18th and 19th centuries as well as the expected shingled fishermen's family bungalows (particularly in 'Sconset). Warm-water beaches are a bonus. This is to be expected if you know a bit of Nantucket history, and when you consider the money that whaling brought to Nantucket. In summer, the cobblestones of Main Street are worn down by visitors from throughout the world visiting Nantucket's sights (perhaps on a tour), or going to or from its beaches. In winter the islanders go about their business getting ready for the next summer season. Nantucket draws an elite crowd, but the crowd is no smaller because it's elite. Prepare for your visit in advance, by booking hotel and perhaps even dining reservations. The island is well organized and governed, and local residents have various regulations which they want visitors to observe: — Do not wear bathing suits on Main Street — When bicycling, obey all traffic rules just as though you were in a car — No camping anywhere on the island, whether in a vehicle or a tent or under the stars. |
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Above, Nantucket
harbor.
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