News and Events for Nantucket Island
There comes a moment every July when Nantucket settles into itself. The fireworks have faded from Jetties Beach, the last parade chairs have disappeared from Main Street, and another Independence Day has become part of the island’s memory. Families unpack their suitcases, restaurants find their rhythm, gardens burst into bloom, and the island seems to slip effortlessly into the busiest weeks of the year.
I never needed an alarm clock on the Fourth of July. I was always awake before anyone had to tell me it was time: the excitement had a way of beating the sunrise. Before the coffee was brewed or breakfast was finished, I was already figuring out which friends to call. One by one we’d meet on our bikes, towels draped over our handlebars, pockets full of nothing, and an entire island ahead of us.
For most of the day, Nantucket moves surprisingly fast. Contractors race between job sites, restaurant staff hustle through double shifts, and delivery trucks bounce down cobblestone streets. Cyclists pedal furiously toward beaches, brunch reservations, and ferry departures, while tourists clutch maps, trying to squeeze every possible experience into a single week they spent eleven months looking forward to. Summer arrives with a kind of beautiful urgency. Everybody is headed somewhere.
Tammy King had a vision. She had just been appointed to the board of directors for the Nantucket Anglers Club. This gave Tammy an opportunity to set a plan in motion to make her dream a reality.
The author of eight New York Times bestsellers, winner of the National Book Award and the George Washington Book Prize, and a Pulitzer Prize finalist, islander Nathaniel Philbrick is one of America’s most celebrated narrative historians. And on July 10, he will be the recipient of the Nantucket Atheneum’s 2026 Luminary Award.
Well would you look at that: Memorial Day weekend was a few days ago and Nantucket is insta-busy. Not surprising, of course, but it does feel often sudden this year. Perhaps it’s due to the lack of any real warm weather. Or maybe it’s that this national holiday was celebrated a week earlier than usual this year. Whatever it may be, it’s busy! Joggers, bikers, e-bikers, rental cars, Ubers, summer neighbors, people riding scooters or those crazy big wheel skateboard thingies – the island is very people-y all at once.
by Steve “Tuna” Tornovish Sing it with me, my fellow fishing types: “It’s the most miserable time of the year…” We Nantucket fishers have been watching for weeks as the striped bass migration moves slowly north from the Chesapeake Bay. Then into the Connecticut River. Throughout the Rhode Island costal […]
If you’re not smart, you need smart friends. Yes you do. And that has long been my motto, the key to whatever limited success that I’ve had over these many years. Thank you, smart friends. You know who you are, I’m sure!
Wrapping up its 96th year, the Hospital Thrift Shop presented a check this November to Nantucket Cottage Hospital totaling $660,000. The Hospital Thrift Shop has donated more than $8 million to the hospital since its founding in 1929, when a group of dedicated volunteers came together to provide affordable clothes […]
Hurricanes make for wonderful metaphors but lousy forecasts. Hurricane Erin came a’ creeping up the east coast and ruined a lot of late August plans. Number one on my list was the Derby Day fishing event, wisely cancelled out of an abundance of caution. High winds, rip currants, and huge ocean swells are not conducive to a great family beach day. On the bright side, some of the surfing pictures and videos that came from the southern shores of Nantucket are flatout amazing. The good with the bad, right?
