On Friday, February 12, the Nantucket Historical Association will reopen their Whaling Museum to the public. In partnership with the Nantucket Atheneum, a family-friendly scavenger hunt will launch on the reopening weekend in celebration of its important donation to the NHA collection. Families can search for many of the historic artifacts, natural history specimens, and ethnographic objects from around the world on display during their visit to the Whaling Museum.
This world-class museum takes visitors through the history of Nantucket Island. Learn how glaciers melted and deposited what would become our island, how native Americans established villages here, the arrival of European settlers and how they transitioned from farming and raising sheep to whaling and traveling the world.
The museum tells the history of Nantucket using artifacts and art, diaries and dramatic tales. The NHA has a room filled with scrimshaw, an exhibit in the Overlook Gallery about the Essex, the clockwork of Nantucket’s Town Clock from the 1800s, an interactive exhibit about whale ecology, a special digital exhibit entitled The Road from Abolition to Suffrage, and so much more.
Because pandemic restrictions ended public access to the NHA’s annual Festival of Trees in December, the decorated trees will remain throughout the museum for visitors to view through the Presidents’ Day Weekend.
Entry to the Nantucket Whaling Museum is free to year-round island residents this winter, but all who visit must reserve a time for physical distancing purposes. Masks must be worn at all times.
