Nantucket History & People

Nantucket Events, Nantucket History & People

Heart of Community & Culture on-Island

Nestled in the heart of downtown Nantucket, the Nantucket Atheneum has been a beacon of learning, connection, and community spirit for nearly two centuries, providing access to knowledge in a close-knit island setting. Founded in 1834, our island’s public library has evolved into much more—it’s a vibrant hub that nurtures minds, supports well-being, and fosters a sense of belonging for residents and visitors.

Bartlett’s Farm Nantucket 2025 man holding up corn
Nantucket History & People

Generations of Farming Island Fresh Flavors

or many Nantucketers, summer doesn’t officially start until that first bite of Bartlett’s sweet corn, so fresh you can eat it raw—and if you ask the Bartlett family, that’s exactly how they prefer it.

Corn season is just around the corner, with Bartlett’s signature sweet corn expected to be ready for harvest by mid- July: one of the busiest times of year on Nantucket’s oldest and largest farm.

Men in a dory fishing for herring in Madaket (NHA, 1900s)
Island Science, Nantucket History & People

Secrets of the Ditch

The Madaket Ditch…it doesn’t have a very sexy name, but it is one of the most fascinating and vital parts of the western end of our island. For something so essential to the water quality of Long Pond, it is an often-missed feature of the landscape. Most islanders and visitors have never even seen it.

Nantucket fishing legacy
Nantucket Essays, Nantucket History & People

It’s a Family Tradition

“It’s in his blood.”

“He comes by it naturally.”

How many times do we hear someone say things like this? I’m guessing that these are common refrains if you’re hanging out around the University of Texas football field, watching young Arch Manning warming up. Arch, projected to be one of college football’s better quarterbacks this season, is the son of Cooper Manning. Cooper was a football player at one time as well, destined to play for Ole Miss, but a diagnosis of spinal stenosis caused Cooper to leave the game. Cooper went on to have a successful career as an entrepreneur, a slight variation of the quarterback business.

Juneteenth Nantucket 2025
Nantucket Events, Nantucket History & People

Honoring Juneteenth

This Thursday, June 19 a collaboration of Nantucket organizations are hosting an island gathering to memorialize and honor Juneteenth. The block party at the African Meeting House, 29 York Street, runs from 11 am to 3 pm and will include music, a documentary screening, games, arts & crafts, food, and […]

Reading Jackie
Nantucket History & People

A Voice Alive on the Page

In contemporary American literature, Dawn Tripp stands out as an author who bridges the worlds of poetry, essay, and historical fiction with a strong voice and impressive literary finesse. A nationally bestselling author whose novel The Season of Open Water won the Massachusetts Book Award for Fiction, Tripp is a writer with an extraordinary ability to paint with her words a compelling picture of complex historical figures and intimate human experiences. Tripp’s literary craftsmanship and storytelling skills overlay deep and careful research of her subjects—her newest novel, Jackie, took her ten years to research and write.