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 28 miles away
- Chatham 29 miles away
- Martha's Vineyard 30 miles away
- Falmouth 33 miles away
- Cape Cod 43 miles away
- Provincetown 54 miles away
- Newport, Rhode Island 65 miles away
- Boston 90 miles away
- Salem 95 miles away
- Sturbridge 118 miles away
- Kennebunkport 145 miles away
- Bennington 152 miles away
- New Hampshire 164 miles away
- Stockbridge 181 miles away
- Lenox 181 miles away
- North Conway 199 miles away
- Maine 200 miles away
- Manchester 200 miles away
- Woodstock 204 miles away
- Lincoln/North Woodstock 207 miles away
- New York 207 miles away
- Camden 210 miles away
- Albany 211 miles away
- Bretton Woods 217 miles away
- Sugar Hill 221 miles away
- Vermont 224 miles away
- Saratoga Springs 227 miles away
- Bar Harbor 236 miles away
- Lake George 237 miles away
- Burlington 272 miles away
- Philadelphia 282 miles away
- Lake Placid 286 miles away