Nantucket! Take out your map and look at it. See what a real corner of the world it occupies; how it stands there, away off shore, more lonely than the Eddystone lighthouse.(Herman Mellville, Moby Dick, Chap. 14)

Nantucket, an Island 30-miles south of Cape Cod in Massachusetts, is

historically one of the main centers of Whaling in the U.S. -- whaling

ships based in Nantucket traveled all over the world. It is also home

to the characters in Herman Melville’s novel Moby Dick--and home

port to the whaling ship Essex, on whose true story the adventures in

Moby Dick were based. The island and its whaling history form the

backbone of the novel and indeed are central symbols in the epic

journey of the Pequod in its hunt for Moby-Dick, the white whale.

Melville based the essentials of his plot upon all that he had read

about Nantucket’s whaling history, and in particular, the tale of

the Nantucket whaleship Essex. After the publication of Moby-Dick,

Melville finally visited the island, and met face-to-face with Captain

George Pollard Jr., who survived one of the most harrowing

ordeals at sea in human history.

Moby Dick – book illustrations

The cobblestones enabled heavy, oil laden carts to move up from the wharves without sinking in the mud.

The Oldest House – built in i686 by Jerry Coffin – Coffin Family reunion

Jared Coffin House is a stately 1845 brick mansion in the heart of Nantucket Town.

Flowery homes

Nantucket has over 82 miles of pristine beaches, about two miles of which belongs to the town. The remaining beaches belong to private non-profit

organizations and landowners, who open them to the public.

Tower steps The first Great Point Light (also known as Nantucket Light) was

built in 1785

Great Point Light

Top of a lighthouse

Oil press

The sperm whaleis a marine mammal species, order Cetacea, a toothed whale(odontocete) having thelargest brain ofany animal

Nantucket Daffodil Festival’

DAFFODIL

Festival

Old Baptist Church

A sumptuous beach house

The Brant Point light (1746) was the second lighthouse built in the American Colonies, after the light in Boston.

Cranberry Festival

Natucket cranberry pie

A row of mansions lines Main Street, Nantucket, reminders of the golden age of whaling

The Three Bricks, commissioned by Joseph Starbuck for his 3 sons during the golden age of whaling.

Buildings of the Maria Mitchell Liones Observatory - Maria Mitchell was the first woman astronomer of America

Historic Maria Mitchell Housebuilt 1790

-Typical Quaker style

Sankaty Head Light - built in 1850, automated in 1965, and still in operation.