News and Events for Nantucket Island
Nantucket is considered one of the most idyllic places to summer on the East Coast, but living here year-round has many challenges and can be isolating, especially in the deep winter. This, coupled with the struggle to retain mental health professionals on-island full-time, has resulted in difficulties matching locals to needed mental health resources.
The Oxford English Dictionary dates the first use of the word tourist only as far back as 1800, but as the dictionary’s definition implies, the new word describes an old habit—travelling for pleasure was not new when the word first appeared in print. By the beginning of the 19th century, the elites of English and European society had been touring for two centuries, travelling to the great cities and watering places, and taking the “Grand Tour” of the Continent. Nantucket was an early tourism destination, but not for its sea breezes or cultural offerings: they came for the sheep, or rather, the sheep shearing festival.
Caravan to the shores of Polpis Harbor, where you’ll discover a field of tents set up for an evening of dining and dancing under the very stars that have guided the explorers before us. Partygoers will enjoy the beautiful colors of the evening sky as the sun sets, dancing to […]
Formed in 1834 as a private, membership organization, the Nantucket Atheneum has had nine librarians in its storied history, beginning with famous astronomer Maria Mitchell. Nantucket’s Great Fire of 1846 destroyed the former building and virtually all of the library’s collections. The Atheneum was rebuilt on the same site in […]
Swim Across America Nantucket kicks off its annual swim on Saturday, July 22nd at 8 am at Jetties Beach. The Swim is a summer highlight and a moving experience that is not to be missed. Year-round and summer residents are invited to join the Swim, which features a kid’s splash, […]
Blues music is about the realities of life. It expresses the ebb and flow of our human emotions, focusing mostly on the melancholy. When we’re sad, we have the blues. When we want to move away from that sadness, we can chase the blues away with music. Musically, it’s the famous 1-3-5 chord progression and a call and response lyric. But here on Nantucket, we’re often chasing the blues and trying our best to catch them. Never more so than this August, as the inaugural August Blues fishing tournament is ready to hit the Nantucket inshore fishing community.
The Maine turnpike goes through a lot of nature. It wanders through hundreds of miles of pine trees, oaks, and salt water rivers. On our way south from Boothbay, with presents in the back, cupcakes in the front, Dar Williams on Spotify, and the air conditioning humming, we came across Momma Duck.
Last weekend, the first Portuguese Man-o-War of the season were spotted off of Cisco and Ladies Beaches. By the time this article is printed, I expect there will have been more sightings.
Known for its vibrant blue and pink colors, Portuguese Man-o-War has a gasfilled bag on top with tentacles that can extend up to 30 feet in length. During the day, the Man-o-War tentacles coil up, and appear thicker and shorter, but when they fish for prey at night, the tentacles extend out further, difficult to avoid for a swimmer.
Astrophotography is the use of photography in astronomy: the photographing of celestial objects and phenomena. In addition to capturing details of extended objects like Earth’s moon, it also has the power to photograph objects not visible to the human eye, such as dim stars, nebulae, and galaxies. The Maria Mitchell […]
