Nantucket Landmarks

There are a lot of great landmarks in Nantucket that should be visited if you're on the island.  Being such an old city the landmarks in Nantucket have a lot of history behind them and are very interesting.  Some of the great landmarks that should definitely visit are Great Point Lighthouse, The Nantucket Whaling Museum, and Brant Point Light house.  All these landmarks have great history and are really amazing to see.

  Great Point Lighthouse is one of the most history filled landmarks on Nantucket.  It was originally built in 1784 out of wood but was destroyed by a fire in 1816.  It was reconstructed as a stone tower in 1818 and was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.  It was then destroyed by a storm in 1984 but rebuilt yet again in 1986 and is still standing today.  It sits at Great Point on Nantucket which is a small stretch of land that is surrounded on one side by the Atlantic Ocean and by Nantucket sound on the other.  Great Point Lighthouse is an almost synonymous image to Nantucket and is a great place to visit.

Great Point Lighthouse

 The Nantucket Whaling Museum is another great landmark in Nantucket.  The museum allows one to look into Nantucket's past and see what life was like for people 400 years ago there.  The museum contains a large collection of whaling artifacts and memorabilia.  It has things such as long boats, and harpoons.  But the main exhibit in the museum is a 46 foot sperm whale skeleton that hangs from the ceiling of the museum.  The museum before it became a museum had been a candle factory.  When whales were brought into Nantucket they were brought here to make candles, and so to stay true to its original purpose the building still has an exhibit on candle making and how the business works.  The whaling museum is a great exhibit and should be visited when on the island.

Sperm Whale Skeleton in Nantucket Whaling Museum

Brant Point Lighthouse was first constructed in 1746, this lighthouse was made of wood and burned down in 1758.  The current Brant Point Lighthouse was built in 1901 and has been in use ever since.  The lighthouse marks the entrance to Nantucket Harbor and is settled nicely on Brant Point with a small rock wall and beach surrounding it.  The lighthouse has been a landmark on Nantucket ever since its construction and it is a great place to visit.  Something fun to do when visiting Brant Point is to go when the 10:00 PM ferry is coming around the point and it is an amazing thing to watch.

Brant Point Lighthouse

Travel Arrangements

The first thing you are going to want to do, if you plan on vacationing in Nantucket, is to figure out how you are going to get there.  Since Nantucket is an island thirty miles out to sea you cannot simply drive there.  There are though many different ways to get to Nantucket and they range from; a fifteen minute flight to a two hour long ferry ride.  If you want to take your car with you on the island then you really only have one option, which is to drive to Hyannis, MA and go to the Steamship Authority which is located at  141 School Street.  There you can buy a ticket to take both your car and all its passengers on the ferry.  The ferries that the Steamship Authority uses to take cars across to Nantucket each hold about 100 cars and have a top speed of around fifteen miles per hour, this means one that space is very limited so it is always smart to make a reservation and also that the thirty mile trip takes about two hours.  A reservation can be made at the Steamship Authority Website, and is very easy to do.

Steamship Authority Car Ferry "M/V Eagle"

      If you don't want to take your car over to the island there are a few more options for you.  You can still take the car ferry over as a foot passenger or with a bicycle, doing this is much less expensive than taking your car across $35 to be a foot passenger compared to $400 to take your car on, both of these are for a round trip.  If you don't want such a long crossing there is also a fast ferry, this ferry leaves from the exact same dock as the car ferry but only takes 45 minutes to get to Nantucket.  The fast ferry is a very fun and quick way way to get to Nantucket but it does cost a bit more than the "slow" ferry at $67 round trip.

Steamship Authority Fast Ferry "M/V Iyanough"

   The quickest way to get to Nantucket is to fly there.  There are a few airlines that fly to Nantucket, such as JetBlue which flies out of JFK on a direct flight to Nantucket.  The most used airline though is Cape Air, which flies out of Hyannis directly to Nantucket.  The flight from Hyannis to Nantucket takes about fifteen minutes and costs $56 each way.  Flying is a great and fairly cheap way to get to Nantucket and offers a really nice view of the island.  Although Nantucket airport is considered one of the scariest airports in the world because on days when its very foggy, as it often is in Nantucket, the run way is very hard to see and it can be unnerving to some people.  Even so plane crashes are not at all common on Nantucket and flying to Nantucket is very safe.

Aerial View of Nantucket Memorial Airport

While all of these modes of transportation are great ways to get to Nantucket, I myself prefer taking the "slow" ferry to Nantucket.  If it is a nice day the ride is very nice and relaxing.  The two hour ride across the Atlantic really gives you a sense of how far out to sea the island actually is.  From leaving the moment the boat leaves the harbor in Hyannis to the time it docks in Nantucket the ride is enjoyable and there is a lot to look at.  You can see hundreds of boats, jetskis, and even a few windsurfers on the way out of Hyannis.  Out in the Atlantic there are big fishing boats, other ferries making the trek, and also you can see Martha's Vineyard at some points on the trip.  Once the ferry closes in on Nantucket you can begin to make out buildings, then you begin to see jetties on either side of you, which mark the entrance to the harbor.  Finally the ferry enters the harbor and you see the entire town and all the houses that mark the shoreline and it is very nice.  This ferry may be the slowest way to get to Nantucket but it is by far the most pleasing.  And if your not a boat or plane person, a thirty mile swim would be great exercise.

Nantucket Harbor