Nantucket, Massachusetts

Town & County of Nantucket, Massachusetts
—  Town  —
Nantucket

Flag
Location in Nantucket County in Massachusetts
Coordinates:
Country United States
State Massachusetts
Settled 1641
Incorporated 1671
Government
 - Type Open town meeting
Area
 - Total 105.3 sq mi (272.6 km2)
 - Land 47.8 sq mi (123.8 km2)
 - Water 57.5 sq mi (148.8 km2)
Elevation 30 ft (9 m)
Population (2007)
 - Total 10,531
 - Density 220.3/sq mi (85.1/km2)
Time zone Eastern (UTC-5)
 - Summer (DST) Eastern (UTC-4)
ZIP code 02554
Area code(s) 508 / 774 Exchanges: 228,325,825
FIPS code 25-43790
GNIS feature ID 0619376
Website www.nantucket-ma.gov

Nantucket is an island 30 miles (48.3 km) south of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, in the United States. Together with the small islands of Tuckernuck and Muskeget, it constitutes the town of Nantucket, Massachusetts, and the coterminous Nantucket County, which are consolidated. 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.

Nantucket is a tourist destination and summer colony. The population of the island soars from approximately 10,000 to 50,000[1] during the summer months, due to tourists and summer residents. According to Forbes Magazine, in 2006, Nantucket had the highest median property value of any Massachusetts zip code.[2]

The Nantucket Historic District, comprising all of Nantucket Island, was added to the National Register of Historic Places on December 13, 1966. In doing so the National Park Service paid particular note to the settlements of Nantucket and Siasconset. The island features one of the highest concentrations of pre-Civil War structures in the United States.

Contents

Origin of the name

Also nicknamed "The Grey Lady" due to the almost regular fog, Nantucket takes its name from a word in an Eastern Algonquian language of southern New England, originally spelled variously as natocke, nantaticut, nantican, and nautican. The meaning of the term is uncertain, although it may have meant "in the midst of waters," or "far away island."[3]

Other sources state the Native American word "Natockete," meaning "faraway land," to be Nantucket's namesake. The Wampanoag Native Americans referred to the island as "Canopache," or "place of peace."

History

1870s street scene on Nantucket.

Beginnings

The island's beginnings in western history can possibly be traced to its conjectured sighting by Norsemen in the 11th century. In 1602 Captain Bartholomew Gosnold of Suffolk sailed from Falmouth, Cornwall, England sailed his bark Concord past the bluffs of Siasconset.

The island's original inhabitants, the Wampanoag Indians, lived undisturbed until 1641 when the island was deeded by the English (the authorities in control of all land from the coast of Maine to New York) to Thomas Mayhew and his son, merchants of Watertown 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. The entire area of the New York county had been purchased by Thomas Mayhew Sr. of Watertown, Massachusetts, in 1641, buying out competing land claims. The earliest English settlement in the area began on neighboring island Martha's Vineyard, named after Bartholomew's daughter Martha who died on board, en route.

As Europeans began to settle Cape Cod, the island became a place of refuge for regional Indians, as Nantucket was not yet settled by Europeans. The growing population of Native Americans welcomed seasonal groups of Indians who traveled to the island to fish and later harvest whales that washed up on shore.

English settlement and the history of whaling in Nantucket

Great Point Lighthouse

The history of Nantucket's settlement by the English did not begin in earnest until 1659, when Thomas Mayhew sold his interest to the "nine original porchasers," Tristram Coffin, Thomas Macy, Christopher Hussey, Richard Swain, Thomas Barnard, Peter Coffin, Stephen Greenleafe, John Swain and William Pike, "for the sum of thirty Pounds...and also two beaver hats, one for myself, and one for my wife." Seamen and tradesmen began to populate Nantucket, such as Richard Gardner (arrived 1667) and Capt John Gardner (arrived 1672), sons of Thomas Gardner (planter). [4]

Nantucket was formerly the world's leading whaling port[5] (and still serves as home port for a small fishing industry). Herman Melville comments on Nantucket's whaling dominance in Moby-Dick, Chapter 14: "Two thirds of this terraqueous globe are the Nantucketer's. For the sea is his; he owns it, as Emperors own empires." The Moby-Dick characters Ahab and Starbuck are both from Nantucket.

Whale weathervane atop the Nantucket Historical Association Whaling Museum

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.[6] This event started the Nantucket whaling industry. A. B. Van Deinse points out that the "scrag whale", described by P. Dudley in 1725 as one of the species hunted by the early New England whalers, was almost certainly the Gray Whale which has flourished on the West Coast of North America with protection from whaling.[7][8]

By 1850, whaling was in decline and the island suffered great economic hardships, worsened by the 1846 "Great Fire" that, fueled by whale oil and lumber, devastated the main town, burning some 36 acres. It left hundreds homeless and poverty stricken, and many people left the island. Another contributor to the decline was the silting up of the harbor which prevented the large whaling ships from entering and leaving the port. In addition, the development of railroads made mainland whaling ports more attractive because of the ease of transshipment of whale oil onto trains, an advantage unavailable to an island.

Later history

As a result of this depopulation, the island was left under-developed and isolated until the mid-20th century. The isolation kept many of the pre-Civil War buildings intact and by the 1950s, enterprising developers began buying up large sections of the island and restoring them to create an upmarket destination for the wealthy in the Northeastern United States. This highly controlled development can be compared to neighboring Martha's Vineyard, the development 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 from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The secession vote was sparked by a proposed change to the Massachusetts Constitution, which reduced the islands' representation in the Massachusetts General Court.[9]

Geology and geography

NASA satellite Image of Nantucket Island

Nantucket was formed by the uttermost reach of the Laurentide Ice Sheet during the recent Wisconsin Glaciation, shaped by the subsequent rise in sea level. The island's low ridge across the northern section was deposited as glacial moraine during a period of glacial standstill, a period during which till continued to arrive, but melted at a stationary front. The southern part of the island is an outwash plain, sloping away from the arc of moraine and shaped at its margins by the sorting actions and transport of longshore drift. Nantucket became an island when rising sea levels reflooded Buzzards Bay about 5,000–6,000 years ago.[10]

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Nantucket County has a total area of 303.5 sq mi (786 km2), 84.25% of which is water. The area of Nantucket Island proper is 47.8 sq mi (123.8 km2). The triangular region of ocean between Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, block island, and Cape Cod, is Nantucket Sound. The highest point on the island is Folger Hill which stands 109 feet (33 m) above sea level. Altar Rock is a close second at a height of 108 feet (33 m) above sea level.

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 main settlement, also called Nantucket, is located at the western end of Nantucket Harbor, where it opens into Nantucket Sound. Key localities on the island include Madaket, Surfside, Polpis, Wauwinet, Massachusetts, Miacomet and Siasconset (often abbreviated as 'Sconset).

National protected area

Coatue

Coatue is a long barrier beach on Nantucket Island, separating Nantucket Sound from Nantucket Harbor. It has six points: First Point is situated due north of the village of Shimmo's Pimneys Point. Second Point, is north-northeast of the village of Shawkemo. Second Point is salt marsh. Third Point is due north of the Pocomo Peninsula, which contains the villages of Pocomo and West Wauwinet. The gap between Coatue and Pocomo is called the Wauwinet Straits. This deep and swift waterway has currents that reach 5 knots (9.3 km/h). Bass Point is the first point totally within Wauwinet Harbor. Wyers Point, the last point of land on Coatue, Wyers is connected to Coskata. At the head of Coatue is Coskata Pond.

Hummock Pond

Hummock Pond is a large pond on the south shore of Nantucket Island. It was created in the last ice age by the ice melt and used to be much larger, but during the blizzard of 1978 large swells from the Atlantic closed off the smaller western half, known as Clark's Cove. The pond is narrow and one of the deepest on Nantucket, and north head of the pond is connected by a small river. The north head is an extremely deep kettle hole with steep sides. The pond offers many kayaking opportunities, but is prone to strong south to southwesterly breezes.

Miacomet Pond

Miacomet Pond
Location Nantucket, Massachusetts
Basin countries United States
Max. depth 20 ft (6.1 m)

Miacomet Pond is a narrow, slender pond on the south shore of Nantucket Island. The pond was once a river, but the oceans rose to make Nantucket an island in the last ice age. On average the pond is approximately 100 yards (91 m) wide, thus giving the appearance of a river. The northern head of the pond is only ten feet wide and was once connected to Nantucket Harbor via Newtown Creek. The maximum depth of the pond is twenty eight feet. The southern end of the pond is a sandy beach. Occasionally the pond is opened up to the sea.

Popsquatchet Hills

The Popsquatchet Hills are a range of peaks on Nantucket Island. Seldom reaching 100 feet, they can be considered the divide of Nantucket. Prospect Hill, the westernmost, is the location of the town's municipal cemetery. Chicken Hill is the next hill to the northeast. On the eastern side of Chicken Hill, there is a very deep valley known as Dead Horse Valley. On the north face of the hill, is Colt Valley.

Mill Hill, the hill nearest Hospital Valley, has the Old Mill sitting on its summit. Roads are frequent in the hills. Prospect Street, the main thoroughfare on the west end of town, is the northern side of the hills. Vesper Lane, is the southern boundary. Milk Street, is the northern boundary of the range. There are several smaller roads leading into the hills, but some of them have grown over.

In the winter time, Dead Horse Valley is the island's best sledding area. Chicken Hill was named for an old chicken farm maintained by William G. Egan.

Squam Swamp

Squam Swamp, a large swamp in the northeastern portion of the island of Nantucket, is located between Wauwinet Road, Squam Road, and Quidnet Road, just northwest of Quidnet and northeast of Polpis Harbor.[11]

Demographics

The cobblestone Main Street in historic Downtown Nantucket
There is also a census-designated place called Nantucket, with a 2000 population of 3,830, which is located within the Town of Nantucket.

As of the census[12] of 2000, there were 9,520 people, 3,699 households, and 2,104 families residing in Nantucket. The population density was 199.1 people per square mile (76.9/km2). There were 9,210 housing units at an average density of 192.6/sq mi (74.4/km2). The racial makeup of the town was 87.85% White, 8.29% Black, 0.64% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 0.01% Native American, 1.60% from other races, and 1.58% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.23% of the population. 19.9% were of Irish, 17.1% English, 7.2% Italian, 6.1% Portuguese, 6.0% German and 5.1% French ancestry according to Census 2000. 92.6% spoke English, 4.1% Spanish and 1.6% French as their first language.

There were 3,699 households out of which 26.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.7% were married couples living together, 8.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 43.1% were non-families. 29.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.37 and the average family size was 2.90.

In the town the population was spread out with 19.2% under the age of 18, 7.4% from 18 to 24, 40.4% from 25 to 44, 22.5% from 45 to 64, and 10.5% at 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 105.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 105.0 males.

The median income for a household for year-round residents in the town is $55,522, and the median income for a family was $66,786. Males had a median income of $41,116 versus $31,608 for females. The per capita income for the town was $31,314. About 3.0% of families and 7.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 2.3% of those under age 18 and 7.1% of those age 65 or over.

Government

Sankaty Head lighthouse at the eastern end of Nantucket Island, Massachusetts ca. November 2000

Local:

State:

National:

Presidential elections results
Year Republican Democratic
2008 30.8% 1,863 67.3% 4,073
2004 35.6% 2,040 63.0% 3,608
2000 33.0% 1,624 58.3% 2,874
1996 29.4% 1,222 59.0% 2,453
1992 27.5% 1,158 48.3% 2,037
1988 39.4% 1,469 59.2% 2,209
1984 53.5% 1,697 45.9% 1,456
1980 40.5% 1,149 36.6% 1,040
1976 53.3% 1,399 42.5% 1,115
1972 59.6% 1,418 40.0% 952
1968 55.3% 991 41.5% 744
1964 32.8% 587 67.0% 1,197
1960 63.5% 1,219 36.4% 698
Voter Registration and Party Enrollment as of October 15, 2008[14]
Party Number of Voters Percentage
  Democratic 2,293 28.09%
  Republican 1,360 16.66%
  Unaffiliated 4,434 54.31%
  Minor Parties 77 0.94%
Total 8,164 100%

Education

Nantucket is served by Nantucket Public Schools. The Nantucket school system has approximately 1,200 students, about 400 of whom attend the high school.

Schools include:

See more from Nantucket Public Schools[15] from Plum TV on Nantucket.

A major museum association, the Maria Mitchell Association, offers educational programs to the Nantucket Public Schools.

Arts and culture

Theodore Robinson painting Nantucket, 1882

The island is well-known as a center for both visual and performing arts.

Nantucket has several world-class museums, including the Maria Mitchell Association and the Whaling Museum.

Nantucket has a high concentration of artists and galleries, and have created an ongoing art colony since at least the 1920s. They have come over the decades to capture on canvas and in other media the natural beauty of the landscape, the seascapes, the flora and the fauna. On Friday evenings during the summer season, many of its galleries have open houses and special exhibits. Notable artists who have lived on, or painted in, Nantucket include Frank Swift Chase and Theodore Robinson.

Numerous authors followed the influx of specialists in the visual arts. Well-known writers who are or were residents of Nantucket include Herman Melville.

Music and theater are well-represented in Nantucket as well.

Transportation

Nantucket is served by Nantucket Memorial Airport, a three-runway airport on the south side of the island. The airport, whose three call letters are ACK, is one of the busiest in the Commonwealth and often logs more take-offs and landings on a pleasant summer day than Boston's Logan airport. This is due in part to the large number of private/corporate planes used by wealthy summer inhabitants, and in part to the 10-seat Cessna 402s used by several commercial air carriers to serve the island community. The airport is currently undergoing an expansion.

Nantucket Regional Transit Authority (NRTA) operates seasonal island-wide shuttle buses to many destinations including Surfside Beach, Sconset, and the airport.

Nantucket can be reached by sea from the mainland by using one of three commercial ferry services or by private boat.[16]

Historically, Nantucket was served by the narrow-gauge Nantucket Railroad. There is not a single traffic light on the Island of Nantucket (except for the one in the car wash), and cars were not permitted on the Island until 1918.

Disasters

The Argo Merchant ran aground on December 15, 1976. A silvery oil slick can be seen coming from the center holds.

Major disasters on or near Nantucket, include:

National Register of Historic Places

Brant Point Light in Nantucket Harbor

The following Nantucket places are listed on the National Register of Historic Places;[17] and the List of Registered Historic Places in Nantucket County, Massachusetts:

Notable residents

17th, 18th & 19th centuries

20th & 21st centuries

Nantucket Range Lights at Brant Point

Road.[18]

References in popular culture

Television

KRAMER: The Andrea Doria collided with the Stockholm in dense fog 21 miles off the coast of Nantucket. (...) 51 people died.
GEORGE: 51 people?! That's it?! I thought it was, like, a thousand!
KRAMER: There were 1,650 survivors.
GEORGE: That's no tragedy! How many people do you lose on a normal cruise? 30? 40?!

GEORGE: Ahoy! Mr. Eldridge. I understand you were on the Andrea Doria.
ELDRIDGE: Yes, it was a terrifying ordeal.
GEORGE: I tell ya, I hear people really stuff themselves on those cruise ships. The buffet, that's the real ordeal, huh, Clarence?
ELDRIDGE: We had to abandon ship.
GEORGE: Well, all vacations have to end eventually.
ELDRIDGE: The boat sank.
GEORGE: (Holding up Kramer's book) According to this, it took.. 10 hours. It eased into the water like an old man into a nice warm bath - no offense. So, uh, Clarence, how about abandoning this apartment, and letting me shove off in this beauty?
ELDRIDGE: Is that what this is all about?! I don't think I like you.
GEORGE: It's my apartment, Eldridge! The Stockholm may not have sunk ya, but I will! Ha, ha![20]

Film

Literature

Essex (Nantucket Historical Association)

Comics

See also

References

Title page of the first U.S. edition of Moby-Dick, 1851.

Notes

  1. ↑ http://www.fsbosellbuy.com/massachusetts/nantucket/nantucket/
  2. ↑ http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/biden_nantucket_holiday/2008/11/27/155858.html
  3. ↑ Huden, John C. (1962). Indian Place Names of New England. New York: Museum of the American Indian. Cited in: Bright, William (2004). Native American Place Names in the United States. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, pg. 312
  4. ↑ Gardner, Frank A MD (1907). Thomas Gardner Planter and Some of his Descendants. Salem, MA: Essex Institute. (via Google Books)
  5. ↑ http://www.goworldtravel.com/ex/aspx/articleGuid.66d4e159-b505-47c7-b7ee-ed1fcc60294a/xe/article.htm
  6. ↑ Macy O (1835). 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. Boston: Hilliard, Gray & Co.. ISBN 1437402232. 
  7. ↑ Van Deinse, AB (1937). "Recent and older finds of the gray whale in the Atlantic". Temminckia 2: 161–188. 
  8. ↑ Dudley, P (1725). "An essay upon the natural history of whales". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London 33: 256–259. 
  9. ↑ People Section Time Magazine, April 18, 1977.]
  10. ↑ 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.
  11. ↑ Squam Swamp Interview on Nantucket Plum TV.
  12. ↑ "American FactFinder". United States Census Bureau. http://factfinder.census.gov. Retrieved 2008-01-31. 
  13. ↑ Nantucket, MA
  14. ↑ "Registration and Party Enrollment Statistics as of October 15, 2008" (PDF). Massachusetts Elections Division. http://www.sec.state.ma.us/ele/elepdf/st_county_town_enroll_breakdown_08.pdf. Retrieved 2010-05-08. 
  15. ↑ http://nantucket.plumtv.com/archives/topic/401
  16. ↑ Getting to Nantucket Island
  17. ↑ National Register of Historical Places - MASSACHUSETTS (MA), Nantucket County
  18. ↑ http://www.nantucketindependent.com/news/2007/0815/The_Arts/030.html
  19. ↑ http://www.nantucketindependent.com/news/2007/0801/front_page/013.html
  20. ↑ http://www.seinfeldscripts.com/TheAndreaDoria.htm

Further reading

External links

Municipalities and communities of Nantucket County, Massachusetts
County seat: Nantucket
Town

Nantucket
CDP

Nantucket
Other
villages

Coskata | Madaket | Polpis | Shawkemo | Siasconset | Wauwinet
 Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Boston (capital)
Topics

Administrative divisions · Congressional districts · Culture · Demographics · Economy · Education · Elections · Geography · Geology · Government · History · Images · Music · People · Politics · Sports · State symbols · Transportation · Villages · Visitor Attractions · Windmills
Regions

The Berkshires · Blackstone Valley · Cape Ann · Cape Cod · Central Massachusetts · Greater Boston · The Islands · Merrimack Valley · MetroWest · Montachusett-North County · North Shore · Pioneer Valley · Quabbin Valley · Southeastern Massachusetts · South Coast · South County · South Shore · Western Massachusetts
Counties

Barnstable · Berkshire · Bristol · Dukes · Essex · Franklin · Hampden · Hampshire · Middlesex · Nantucket · Norfolk · Plymouth · Suffolk · Worcester
Cities
(See all
municipalities)
Agawam · Amesbury · Attleboro · Barnstable · Beverly · Boston · Braintree · Brockton · Cambridge · Chelsea · Chicopee · Easthampton · Everett · Fall River · Fitchburg · Franklin · Gardner · Gloucester · Greenfield · Haverhill · Holyoke · Lawrence · Leominster · Lowell · Lynn · Malden · Marlborough · Medford · Melrose · Methuen · New Bedford · Newburyport · Newton · North Adams · Northampton · Palmer · Peabody · Pittsfield · Quincy · Randolph · Revere · Salem · Somerville · Southbridge · Springfield · Taunton · Waltham · Watertown · Westfield · West Springfield · Weymouth · Winthrop · Woburn · Worcester
Note: Municipalities not listed above have a town meeting form of government. Municipalities listed above in italics have a city form of government, but have retained the name prefix "Town of " as part of their official names.