Nantucket is a delightful little island with a rich seafaring history. Its main town, also called Nantucket, has many striking examples of 18th and 19th-century architecture, much of which is covered in cedar shingles.
Originally a booming whaling port, it has changed little since the 17th century, when many of the seaside cottages were built and whale oil lamps lit the streets. As a result, the entire town of Nantucket is an official National Historic District and has more than 800 pre-Civil War buildings contained within one square mile.
The town's main sights are the Whaling Museum and the neighboring Peter Foulger Museum, while at the Quaker Meeting House lectures are given on the history of whaling and the tragedy of the Nantucket whale ship Essex. It was this vessel which inspired Herman Melville to write Moby Dick.
From Nantucket town bicycles can be hired for the seven-mile ride to the village of Siasconset. You can explore the venerable old salt-encrusted cottages here before riding back across the island's heaths and moorland.
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Places near Nantucket
- Hyannis 44 kilometers away
- Chatham 47 kilometers away
- Martha's Vineyard 47 kilometers away
- Falmouth 53 kilometers away
- Cape Cod 68 kilometers away
- Provincetown 87 kilometers away
- Newport, Rhode Island 104 kilometers away
- Boston 145 kilometers away
- Salem 153 kilometers away
- Sturbridge 189 kilometers away
- Kennebunkport 234 kilometers away
- Bennington 244 kilometers away
- New Hampshire 263 kilometers away
- Stockbridge 290 kilometers away
- Lenox 290 kilometers away
- North Conway 320 kilometers away
- Maine 321 kilometers away
- Manchester 322 kilometers away
- Woodstock 328 kilometers away
- Lincoln/North Woodstock 333 kilometers away
- New York 333 kilometers away
- Camden 337 kilometers away
- Albany 339 kilometers away
- Bretton Woods 349 kilometers away
- Sugar Hill 355 kilometers away
- Vermont 361 kilometers away
- Saratoga Springs 364 kilometers away
- Bar Harbor 379 kilometers away
- Lake George 381 kilometers away
- Burlington 437 kilometers away
- Philadelphia 453 kilometers away
- Lake Placid 460 kilometers away