One of the old homes owned by a whaler typical of many homes on the island. Roses grow across the house.
Lighthouse on the edge of the exclusive golf course. This light will be moved in a few months because the land has eroded to within 25' of the light from over 500' when built.
Nantucket harbor
High speed ferry
Returning to the mainland7/14 Saturday We took the Hi-Line’s ferry to Nantucket Island, a 1:50 ride each way. We took the slow boat for $34 vs. the high speed for $69 that takes only one hour to reach the island. The ferry was built in 1988 and was showing her age. I would think the company would have ongoing maintenance to keep the boat looking much newer.
As for the island, it is a different life and group. Of course everything must come in by plane or boat, so prices are higher and the selection is greatly reduced. For example, there is only one car dealer on the island; fortunately for many there, it is a Ford dealer. If you drive another brand and it breaks down, it may be necessary to have it towed to a dealership on the mainland and this tow bill can easily exceed $300. Just taking your car there will cost $135 each way. The cost is based on length and height.
There is one small hardware store, one bank, and one grocery, but two gas stations selling at the same price of $3.55 while the same product on the mainland is $3. There were more cars on the island than I expected, so of course they had a traffic jamb in town at lunch.
The location of homes on the island is very restricted. About 40% of the island is limited to open land that anyone can enjoy; most of this land is covered with trees. All beach land is public property, so even the beach at the extremely exclusive resort on the island can’t keep anyone off that beach area. On the other public lands, they have topped the trees to keep them from growing too tall and being blown over by the strong east wind that is almost constantly blowing and gets much stronger in the winter. The soil is mostly sand with a little clay as a binder, so the engraving on grave stones face west so these winds will not blow sand against the face of the markers and remove the engraving.
The island has no mayor; instead, a very powerful counsel of 5 aldermen runs the government. There is an equally powerful architectural committee. This committee passed rules that all future construction on the island could only use siding that was white cedar, lapboard or brick. One large commercial building not built to these rules was forced to cover the building with cedar over the original material. One home on the island is stucco, but it was grandfathered when the rules were passed.
Many homes have what we have come to call ‘Widow’s Walks’. This is a misnomer, as a widow has no reason to walk around a high platform on the roof looking for her sailor husband to come home. These were originally just platforms around the chimney where buckets of sand were stored to put out a chimney fire. Access was gained through a hatch in the roof from the attic called a scurry; the name derived because you would scurry through it to put out a fire. It was reported women wanted the railings installed so they would not fall while up there. It then served the dual function of storing buckets of sand for fire suppression and a place the wife could look for incoming sailing vessels.
A really good story that failed to make the news relates to the very exclusive golf club on the island. It has only 200 members and one must die or not pay his $500,000 yearly dues before there is an opening for a new member. When that occurs, they raffle the membership and the club gets the money. The membership may not be part of a Will or sold to another individual. And now the story –
Clinton wanted to play the exclusive course on a Nantucket visit, so the Secret Service showed up at the club and announced Clinton wanted to play there. They said even though he was the president he would need to be an invited guest of a member. The Secret Service then asked for a list of the members and they could approach the members until they found one who would invite him. They were advised the list was private and they would not release the names. The Secret Service then went to town and began asking the natives if they were members or could tell them the name of some of the members – the town refused to provide any information. Clinton ended up playing a much less prestigious club in Martha’s Vineyard – the ultimate snub. It seems the members of the club are all Republicans. No, this did not make the evening news.
About 300 yachts call Nantucket home in the summer. It appeared the number was only a fraction of that July 12, but the summer is still young. Needless to say, what was there was costly.
The island is called the Gray Lady. Although the basis of the name is unknown for sure, several possible explanations exist. One relates to the drab gray color of the dresses of the Quaker women who lived on the island in its beginning. Another had to do with the gray paint on the battle ships during WW-II. Another has to do with the weathered white cedar siding and red cedar roofs on the structures on the island. Another has to do with the weather and the gray haze that exists around the island most of the year. Pick one of these and you are as right as anyone today.
The local airport was taken over by US government for the air force in WW-II as the weather here is so much like that in the English channel. It was given back to the town after the war, but now it was in much better condition then when it was taken over. It is a very busy airport as air flights from the mainland are only about 15 minutes by plane vs. one hour by high-speed ferry. Watching the planes, there was almost always a plane on a long straight in final approach.
On one final note, one of the nine original settlers on the island was a family named Macy. He was a whaler like the others on the island, but on one trip he decided whaling was not going to be his lot in life, so he came home and began a dry goods store that became extremely lucrative. He then built a large store in New York City to sell the fashions that he was getting from Europe. We know this now as the Macy’s Department Store chain.
Nantucket is currently designed to separate the tourist from his or her money, but it is very interesting place to visit and tour. We would recommend a bus tour so you can see major parts of the island while getting information on the locations. Our guide, who was a high school teacher, lived in Bourne by the Sagamore Bridge. Four days a week she takes the ferry to work, then drives at least two tours before catching another ferry back to the mainland. She loves her job and it is apparent in the tour information she provided. Her information was not the normal canned speech, nor did it sound like she had done this for 20 years and was tired of the whole thing. Instead she was excited and caused others to get equally excited about what they were seeing. She even acted as the resident photographer so everyone could have their picture taken with one of the three lighthouses in the background.
