A day on Nantucket

Cape Cod, Massachusetts: We had a fabulous day, and a long day. We left the camper this morning at 9:30 and have just arrived home - nearly 11 p.m.! This morning we drove to Hyannis and took the ferry to Nantucket! Quite an adventure, and so much fun. I visited Nantucket with girlfriends in 1980. But, I wasn't much of a tour guide for DT today. 24-ish years later, I certainly didn't recall much about my weekend visit. One thing has changed - the ferry is now only one hour for the 30-mile cruise. It is also a staggeringly expensive $56 round-trip! We enjoyed our quick trip over - also on board were the Cape Cod Academy Lacrosse team. They were on their way to play Nantucket High. It never rained today, but we never saw the sun!

Nantucket is still completely charming. City codes are strictly enforced. All buildings (whether they are private homes or a hospital) must be clad with either shingles or brick. So, nearly every building is covered with greyed white cedar shingles. There are no neon signs, actually no signs larger than 2x2 feet. Nantucket has no fast food chains and only has one gasoline brand (Mobile) and gasoline has been over $2 per gallon for years. Everything used on the island must be brought in by boat, so prices are sky-high. (Just your basic fish & chips are $20.) If you want to have a home on the same island as Bill Gates, Steve Forbes and John Kerry - you need to come up with a minimum of a million dollars. A million will buy one of the least expensive, smaller homes. Needless to say, there are no RV parks on the island. Actually, there is no camping allowed in any form at any time, anywhere.

Nantucket-style house

Immigrants began living on Nantucket in the late 1600's. In the early 1800's the 14-by-4-mile island was home to the world's largest whaling fleet and was the whaling capital of the world. Many successful American families today owe their original wealth from whaling money - like the Macy Department Store family. But the whales were nearly gone and oil was discovered in Pennsylvania... Nantucket fell to a quiet fishing village until tourism brought it back to life. Even 10 years ago you could get a nice house on Nantucket for $100,000. Those days are gone forever. Now 10,000 people live year-round on the island and shop at the two grocery stores. On a summer weekend, the population swells to nearly 50,000! But there is no traffic problem, because there are few cars. If you want to bring your car to Nantucket, the ferry charges you $320 dollars. Each way. Plus, you have to pay your fare too! Most people walk off the ferry to their hotel and cruise around the island on rented bicycles.

The island is blessed with a wonderful spring that supplies all the water for the town. Four years ago, they closed their diesel-fired electricity plant and ran a giant extension cord to the mainland for power. In hard winters (like this past year) the port can be frozen solid and no ships or ferries can dock for days. The residents seem to do okay for food, but they have only limited storage facilities for heating oil. If the port is frozen for more than 5 days, the Coast Guard comes in with an ice breaker so more heating oil can be delivered. The streets in town are cobblestone, flowers are everywhere and the houses are simply covered with climbing roses! The only bad thing about visiting Nantucket this time of year is that many things are not yet open for the season, and the famous Whaling Museum is closed for a year due to renovation. The island is "open" from Memorial Day until Labor Day, the rest of the time it is a very sleepy village.
 
Because the season is getting ready to start, nearly every shop, restaurant and hotel has a "HELP WANTED" sign in the window. We were curious as to how a shop girl or waiter could afford to live on the island, considering the disparity between their assumed salary and the price of real estate/goods. So, we asked a local. He told us most places provide some sort of housing for their employees, plus cover their ferry fares. Of course, sometimes this may mean 14 college kids living in a house together, but it is all a lot of fun they say. If you never hear from us again, go to Nantucket and start looking in the taverns. We may be pouring beer.
 
DT and I took an organized tour of the island on a small bus and here are a few snapshots of our day on Nantucket:

Sunset Hill

The oldest house on Nantucket, Sunset Hill, was built in 1686 by Jethro and Mary Coffin. It has an unusual upside-down horse shoe pattern designed in the chimney brick. Story says the owner wanted all the luck to "run down into the house". The strange sky-light-looking door on the roof is actually a trap door used in case of a chimney fire - but not for escape. If there was a fire, someone could hop out on the roof and pour buckets of sand down the chimney to extinguish the flames.

The Old Mill

The wind mill is the only remaining grain mill on the island. The entire top portions can rotate (using the long pole on a wheel) to catch the wind. During the tourist season, the blades on the mill have sails in place. Built in 1746, this mill is still in operation (in season, naturally).

Sankaty Head Light, above Sankaty Golf Club

Our two-hour tour took us all over the island, our driver/guide was very knowledgeable, and there were only 6 people on the bus, so we really enjoyed ourselves. Would you believe that our driver's daughter works in Portland for Oregon Public Broadcasting? Small world. We took the 6 pm ferry back to Hyannis (the victorious lacrosse team was also onboard) and were just leaving town in the car when Matt phoned from Orleans and wanted to know if we could join them for dinner. We arrived at the Inn where about a dozen friends and family had gathered and by the time we left, there must have been more than twenty people around the two tables! It was so much fun seeing everyone again.

We will be here for several days enjoying the wedding festivities. Catch us later down the road...

RV Park: Atlantic Oaks Campground in Eastham, Massachusetts