Nantucket, Massachusetts Nantucket Nantucket Nantucket Flag of Nantucket Flag Official seal of Nantucket Location of Nantucket County in Massachusetts Location of Nantucket County in Massachusetts Nantucket / n n t k t/ is an island about 30 miles (50 km) by ferry south from Cape Cod, in the American state of Massachusetts.
Together with the small islands of Tuckernuck and Muskeget, it constitutes the Town of Nantucket, and the conterminous Nantucket County, which are merged .
As of the 2010 census, the populace was 10,172. Part of the town is designated the Nantucket CDP, or census-designated place.
The region of Surfside on Nantucket is the southernmost settlement in Massachusetts.
The name "Nantucket" is adapted from similar Algonquian names for the island, perhaps meaning "faraway territory or island". Nantucket is a tourist destination and summer colony.
Due to tourists and cyclic residents, the populace of the island increases to at least 50,000 amid the summer months. In 2008, Forbes periodical cited Nantucket as having home values among the highest in the US.
The National Park Service cites Nantucket, designated a National Historic Landmark District in 1966, as being the "finest surviving architectural and surroundingal example of a late 18th- and early 19th-century New England seaport town". 1.3 Nantucket Founders See also: Timeline of Nantucket Clinton Folger, mail carrier for Nantucket, towed his car to the state highway for driving to Siasconset, in observance of an early 20th-century ban on automobiles on town roads.
1870s street scene on Nantucket.
Nantucket probably takes its name from a Wampanoag word, transliterated variously as natocke, nantaticu, nantican, nautica or natockete, which is part of Wampanoag lore about the creation of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket. The meaning of the term is uncertain, although it may have meant "in the midst of waters," or "far away island." Nantucket's nickname, "The Little Grey Lady of the Sea", refers to the island as it appears from the ocean when it is fog-bound. Nantucket Island's initial Native American inhabitants, the Wampanoag citizens , lived undisturbed until 1641 when the island was deeded by the English (the authorities in control of all territory from the coast of Maine to New York) to Thomas Mayhew and his son, merchants from Watertown, Massachusetts, and Martha's Vineyard.
Nantucket was part of Dukes County, New York, until 1691, when it was transferred to the newly formed Province of Massachusetts Bay and split off to form Nantucket County.
As Europeans began to settle Cape Cod, the island became a place of refuge for Native Americans in the region, as Nantucket was not yet settled by Europeans.
Nantucket Founders The initial purchasers needed the assistance of tradesmen who were skilled in the arts of weaving, milling, building and other pursuits and chose men who were given half a share provided that they lived on Nantucket and carried on their trade for at least three years.
Nantucket's settlement by the English did not begin in earnest until 1659, when Thomas Mayhew sold his interest to a group of investors, led by Tristram Coffin, "for the total of thirty Pounds...
These men are considered the beginning fathers of Nantucket, and many islanders are related to these families.
Seamen and tradesmen began to populate Nantucket, such as Richard Gardner (arrived 1667) and Capt.
In his 1835 history of Nantucket Island, Obed Macy wrote that in the early pre-1672 colony, a whale of the kind called "scragg" entered the harbor and was pursued and killed by the settlers. This event started the Nantucket whaling industry.
Dudley in 1725 as one of the species hunted by early New England whalers, was almost certainly the gray whale, which has flourished on the west coast of North America in undivided times with protection from whaling. Nantucket's dependence on whaling as an trade also had a momentous impact on their decision to remain neutral in 1775 at the start of the American Revolutionary War. Herman Melville commented on Nantucket's whaling dominance in Moby-Dick, Chapter 14: "Two thirds of this terraqueous globe are the Nantucketer's.
The Moby-Dick characters Ahab and Starbuck are both from Nantucket.
By 1850, whaling was in decline, as Nantucket's whaling trade had been surpassed by that of New Bedford.
The island suffered great economic hardships, worsened by the "Great Fire" of July 13, 1846, that, fueled by whale petroleum and lumber, devastated the chief town, burning some 40 acres (16 hectares). The fire left hundreds homeless and poverty-stricken, and many citizens left the island.
The isolation kept many of the pre-Civil War buildings endured and, by the 1950s, enterprising developers began buying up large sections of the island and restoring them to problematic an upmarket destination for wealthy citizens in the Northeastern United States.
This highly controlled evolution can be compared to less-regulated evolution in neighboring Martha's Vineyard, the evolution of which served as a model for what the Nantucket developers wanted to avoid.
In the 1960s, Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard considered seceding from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
In 1977, Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard actually attempted, unsuccessfully, to secede.
The secession vote was sparked by a proposed change to the Massachusetts Constitution that reduced the islands' representation in the Massachusetts General Court. The cobblestone Main Street in historic downtown Nantucket Enumeration Bureau, the county has a total region of 304 square miles (790 km2), of which 45 square miles (120 km2) is territory and 259 square miles (670 km2) (85%) is water. It is the smallest county in Massachusetts by territory area and second-smallest by total area.
The region of Nantucket Island proper is 47.8 square miles (124 km2).
The triangular region of ocean between Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, and Cape Cod is Nantucket Sound.
NASA satellite Image of Nantucket Island Nantucket was formed by the outermost reach of the Laurentide Ice Sheet amid the recent Wisconsin Glaciation, shaped by the subsequent rise in sea level.
Nantucket became an island when rising sea levels re-flooded Buzzards Bay about 5,000 6,000 years ago. The entire island, as well as the adjoining islands of Tuckernuck and Muskeget, comprise both the Town of Nantucket and the County of Nantucket.
The chief settlement, also called Nantucket, is positioned at the end of Nantucket Harbor, where it opens into Nantucket Sound.
According to the Koppen climate classification system, Nantucket features a climate that borders between a humid continental climate (Dfb) and an oceanic climate (Cfb), the latter a climate type rarely found on the east coast of North America. Nantucket's climate is heavily influenced by the Atlantic Ocean, which helps moderate temperatures in the town throughout the course of the year.
Nantucket receives on average 41 inches (1,000 mm) of rain annually, spread mostly evenly throughout the year.
Similar to many other metros/cities with an oceanic climate, Nantucket features a large number of cloudy or overcast days, especially outside the summer months.
Climate data for Nantucket, Massachusetts (Nantucket Memorial Airport) As of the 2000 census, there were 9,520 citizens residing in Nantucket (3,699 total homeholds, 2,104 families).
There is also a census-designated place on Nantucket (Nantucket CDP), which comprises the more densely settled areas inside the Town of Nantucket; the CDP had a year 2000 populace of 3,830.
As of the 2010 United States Census, there were 10,172 citizens , 4,229 homeholds, and 2,429 families residing in the county. The populace density was 226.2 inhabitants per square mile (87.3/km2).
Town and county governments are combined in Nantucket (see List of counties in Massachusetts).
Nantucket's propel legislative body is its Board of Selectmen, which is responsible for the town government's goals and policies. It is administered by a town manager, who is responsible for all departments, except for the school, airport and water departments. Nantucket is represented in the Massachusetts House of Representatives by Timothy Madden, Democrat, of Nantucket, who represents Precincts 1, 2, 5 and 6, of Falmouth, in Barnstable County; Chilmark, Edgartown, Aquinnah, Gosnold, Oak Bluffs, Tisbury and West Tisbury, all in Dukes County; and Nantucket.
In the Massachusetts House of Representatives, Nantucket is represented by Dylan Fernandes, who has been serving since 2016.
Nantucket is in Massachusetts's 9th congressional district, which has existed since 2013.
In 2010, 55% of Nantucket inhabitants were unaligned with a primary political party; 29% were registered Democrats and 16% were registered Republicans. In the years from 1988 to 2008, a majority or plurality of Nantucket inhabitants voted Democratic in all presidential elections; from 1960 to 1984 a majority or plurality voted for the Republican candidate in all but one election. According to Nantucket's 2014 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the top employers in the town are: 1 Town of Nantucket 941 2 Nantucket Cottage Hospital 180 3 Nantucket Island Resorts 125 5 Nantucket Bank 80 7 The Woods Hole, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket Steamship Authority 28 Nantucket's enhance school precinct is Nantucket Public Schools.
The Nantucket school fitness had 1,289 students and approximately 117 teachers in 2011. Nantucket Elementary School (Public) Nantucket High School (Public) Nantucket Community School (Public, Extracurricular) Nantucket Lighthouse School (Private) Nantucket New School (Private) Nantucket Public Schools District knowledge and meetings are broadcast on Plum TV in Nantucket. A primary exhibition association, the Maria Mitchell Association, offers educational programs to the Nantucket Public Schools.
The University of Massachusetts Boston operates a field station on Nantucket, presently directed by Dr.
The Massachusetts College of Art & Design is affiliated with the Nantucket Island School of Design & the Arts, which offers summer courses for teens, youth, postgraduate, and undergraduate programs.
Theodore Robinson's painting Nantucket, 1882 Nantucket has a several noted exhibitions and arcades, including the Maria Mitchell Association, including the Maria Mitchell Aquarium, and the Nantucket Whaling Museum.
Nantucket is home to both visual and performing arts.The island has been an art colony since the 1920s, whose artists have come to capture the natural beauty of the island's landscapes and seascapes, including its flora and the fauna.
Noted artists who have lived on or painted in Nantucket include Frank Swift Chase and Theodore Robinson.
Artist Rodney Charman was commissioned to problematic a series of paintings depicting the marine history of Nantucket, which were collected in the book Portrait of Nantucket, 1659-1890: The Paintings of Rodney Charman in 1989.
Internationally famous pop star Meghan Trainor hails from Nantucket.
Several literary and dramatic works involve citizens from, or living on, Nantucket.
Nathaniel Philbrick's "Away Off Shore: Nantucket Island and Its People, 1602-1890".
Poe's The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket.
The science-fiction-based Nantucket series by S.
Most of the Joan Aiken novel Nightbirds on Nantucket is set on the island.
The 1986 comedy One Crazy Summer was set in Nantucket and filmed on Cape Cod. Nantucket is the locale used in Josephine Angelini's books. The 1990s sitcom Wings (a series about a fictional airline serving the airport) depicted life on Nantucket at the fictional "Tom Nevers Field" and other locations, with some of the outside scenes filmed at various sites on the island. Elin Hilderbrand's novels are set on Nantucket.
Herman Melville's classic "Moby Dick" has "Ishmael" starting his voyage at Nantucket From 1900 to 1918, Nantucket was one of several jurisdictions in the United States that banned automobiles. Nantucket can be reached by sea from the mainland by The Steamship Authority, Hy-Line Cruises, or Freedom Cruise Line, or by private boat. A task force was formed in 2002 to consider limiting the number of vehicles on the island, in an accomplishment to combat heavy traffic amid the summer months. Nantucket is served by Nantucket Memorial Airport (IATA airport code ACK), a three-runway airport on the south side of the island.
Nantucket Regional Transit Authority (NRTA) operates cyclic island-wide shuttle buses to many destinations including Surfside Beach, Siasconset, and the airport.
Until 1917, Nantucket was served by the narrow-gauge Nantucket Railroad.
Brant Point Light in Nantucket Harbor Nantucket waters were the site of a several noted transit disasters: On July 25, 1956, the Italian ocean liner SS Andrea Doria collided with the MS Stockholm in heavy fog 45 miles (72 km) south of Nantucket, resulting in the deaths of 51 citizens (46 on the Andrea Doria, 5 on the Stockholm).
On December 15, 1976, the petroleum tanker Argo Merchant ran aground 29 miles (47 km) southeast of Nantucket.
On October 31, 1999, Egypt - Air Flight 990, traveling from New York City to Cairo, crashed approximately 60 miles (97 km) south of Nantucket, killing all 217 citizens on board.
The following Nantucket places are listed on the National Register of Historic Places: Nantucket Historic District, a National Historic Landmark District (added December 13, 1966); Expanded to encompass the entire island in 1975. The following are citizens who have either resided on Nantucket or regularly visited the island: Dorcas Honorable, last of the Nantucket Wampanoags Nantucket Dreamland Foundation Nantucket Historical Association The Nantucket Project Nantucket Forests Nantucket Reds Nantucket ship assembly National Register of Historic Places listings in Nantucket County, Massachusetts "Nantucket Historic District".
Maritime Nantucket: A Pictoral History of the "Little Grey Lady of the Sea".
Abram's Eyes: The Native American Legacy of Nantucket Island.
Nantucket: Mill Hill Press.
Nantucket Lands and Landowners (Volume 2, Issue 1 ed.).
Nantucket Historical Association.
A Grandfather for Benjamin Franklin: The True Story of a Nantucket Pioneer and His Mates.
The History of Nantucket:being a compendious account of the first settlement of the island by the English:together with the rise and progress of the whale fishery, and other historical facts relative to said island and its inhabitants:in two parts.
(February 1907), "William Rotch and the Neutrality of Nantucket amid the Revolutionary War", Bulletin of Friends' Historical Society of Philadelphia, 1 (2): 49 55 The most recent survey of the geology of Cape Cod and the islands, accessible to the layman, is Robert N.
Oldale, Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard & Nantucket: The Geologic Story, 2001.
The Other Islanders: People Who Pulled Nantucket's Oars.
"MA Nantucket MEM AP".
"County Totals Dataset: Population, Population Change and Estimated Components of Population Change: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2015".
"Population of Counties by Decennial Census: 1900 to 1990".
"DP02 SELECTED SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS IN THE UNITED STATES 2006-2010 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates".
Town and County of Nantucket website.
Town and County of Nantucket website.
"Town of Nantucket, Massachusetts Comprehensive Annual Financial Report" (PDF).
Nantucket, Massachusetts: Nantucket Preservation Trust.
"The Nantucket Lighthouse School".
"The Nantucket New School".
"Portrait of Nantucket, 1659-1890: The Paintings of Rodney Charman", Amazon.com, April 1999.
"Nantucket Festivals".
Nantucket Historical Association Getting to Nantucket Island Nantucket 'gridlock' spurs plan to limit cars on island.
National Register of Historical Places - MASSACHUSETTS (MA), Nantucket County Nantucket's National Historic Landmark Update Gains Advisory Committee Approval "Nantucket: Sufficient unto Itself".
"Nantucket Video Post - Card-Poets, Whales and Celebrities".
Graziadei, Jason (20 November 2012), "Vice President Joe Biden arrives on Nantucket for Thanksgiving", The Enquirer and Mirror, retrieved 2012-12-11 Gerstenzang, James (1999-08-22), "For Clintons, a Vacation to Savor President: In contrast with the pain and stress last year, this one is about golf, fund-raising and looking to first lady's political future", Los Angeles Times, retrieved 2013-04-07 "Katie Couric catches Nantucket fever".
Fabrikant, Geraldine (2008-06-05), Class Matters Old Nantucket Warily Meets the New, New York Times, retrieved 2013-04-07 Globe correspondent (September 16, 2014), "All about Nantucket's Meghan Trainor", Boston Globe, Style, retrieved 2015-09-04 I Once Had a Chum from Nantucket by Drs.
Fabrikant, Geraldine, "Old Nantucket Warily Meets the New", New York Times, June 5, 2005 36 Hours in Nantucket in the New York Times of July 18, 2010 The story of old Nantucket; a brief history of the island and its citizens from its discernment down to the present day.
Nantucket: The Inquirer and mirror press.
Media related to Nantucket at Wikimedia Commons Nantucket travel guide from Wikivoyage Town of Nantucket website Municipalities and communities of the Town & County of Nantucket, Massachusetts, United States
Categories:
Cape Cod and the Islands - Nantucket, Massachusetts - County seats in Massachusetts - Massachusetts counties - Populated coastal places in Massachusetts - Islands of Massachusetts - Populated places established in 1641 - Port metros/cities and suburbs of the United States Atlantic coast - Islands of Nantucket County, Massachusetts - 1641 establishments in Massachusetts - National Historic Landmarks in Massachusetts - National Register of Historic Places in Nantucket County, Massachusetts - Historic districts in Massachusetts
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