Did you know?

Maria Mitchell was the first American woman astronomer and born in Nantucket in 1818. The Maria Mitchell House is now a museum.

Nantucket Cottage Hospital is named because when it was started in 1911, it was housed in three cottages on West Chester Street.

Brant Point Lighthouse was built in 1746, Great Point in 1769, and Sankaty Head in 1850.

The Inquirer and Mirror, began as “The Inquirer” in June 1821 at the height of the island’s prominence in the global whaling industry. “The Mirror” acquired it in 1865, hence the name.

Nantucket encompasses a total of 47.8 square miles. 50% of the island is protected by The Nantucket Conservation Foundation and The Sconset Trust.

The Nantucket Atheneum, incorporated in 1834, and was opened as a free library in 1900.

The Nantucket Railroad line was built in 1881. The line closed in 1917. The track and rolling stock were sent to France as part of the Allied forces of the First World War.

The SS Andrea Doria wrecked offshore in 1956 and is documented at the Nantucket Shipwreck and Lifesaving Museum along with other historic information and exhibits about lighthouses and storms.

Nantucket’s summer population is about five times greater than its year-round population.

Herman Melville was inspired to write Moby Dick after visiting Nantucket on the Essex in the 1840s and speaking with his first mate Owen Chase.

1918 was the first year that cars were allowed on the island after an historic car ban was repealed. Now, the car ferries sell out nine months in advance!