Nantucket, Massachusetts, USA
1890 Nantucket Massachusetts

Nantucket, the town, embraces the entire island of the same name, and the smaller islands of Tuckernuck, Muskegat, with the three Gravelly Islands; and the town constitutes the entire county of Nantucket. Nantucket is also the name of the principal village; containing the court-house and jail. It is situated midway of the north side of the island, on a harbor of its own name. This place is 110 miles southeast of Boston, with which it has communication by the Old Colony Railroad and steamers.

At the northern extremity of the Nauma peninsula is Great Point Light; southeast of this, on the eastern extremity of the island, is Sankaty Head Light; and on the north shore of the western section is Bug Light, — with Nantucket Light eastward on Brant Point, marking the entrance to Nantucket harbor. From the wharves of the village the harbor extends northeastward above 6 miles, forming two basins, each about one and a half miles in extreme width; and on the south side of the first is Polpis Harbor.

In the water approach, after passing Brant Point, the old town of Nantucket comes fully into view, extending along the harbor for more than a mile, and rising from the water's edge in irregular terraces to the height of the land. Along near the summit are seen the towers and spires of churches, with hotels, a school-house or two, and other large buildings, and the standpipe of the water-works at the northwest. On the principal streets and square near the steam-boat wharf are the custom-house, with the U. S. Signal Service apparatus on its top, the excellent building of the Pacific Bank, and the post-office. About the square there are many fine old mansions, such being also found at various other points in the village. In the midst of it stands the substantial brick building of the Coffin School, an academy founded in 1826 by Admiral Sir Isaac Coffin of the British navy, a native of Boston, but of Nantucket family. Not far from this is the Nantucket Atheneum, a fine structure containing a good hall, a valuable collection of curiosities, and a library of about 8,000 volumes, — all accessible to the public for a small fee. The academy also has a library of some 1,200 volumes. In the older parts of the village many buildings are unpainted, many have lookouts on their roofs, and some have vanes, simulating usually the form of a fish. The oldest house shown here was built in 1686. For the best edifices the Grecian temple style of architecture is the favorite. Many fine trees along the streets add their attractions to those of lawns, shrubbery, flowers, and the frequent grape-vines. Through streets and lanes often resounds the bell, the horn and the voice of the town-crier; and in the high tower of the Unitarian church a watchman stands ready, day and night, to sound the bell at sight of a blaze. The place has suffered three fires of great destructiveness, in 1836, 1838 and 1846. The last destroyed about $1,000,000 worth of property, making room for much change in the appearance of the village. The old windmill, on a hill near the village, still remains a conspicuous object, having been in continuous use since 1746. The court-house and the wooden jail are not impressive in appearance. In the outskirts, on the road to "Sconset," is a large asylum, with an extensive farm.

In 1841 the population of this town was 9,012; and it had about 100 ships engaged in the whale fishery. But other whaling ports were growing; and a great fall in prices of whale products, beginning in 1842, the great fire of 1846, the rush of young men to California in 1849 and years following, all wrought to dwindle this business; and the year 1870 saw the sailing of the last whaler. The pursuit of bass, bluefish and cod still engages a small number of the inhabitants. Large quantities of lobsters, clams, quahaugs and scallops are also sent to market from these islands. A considerable number of the common manufactures have slowly come in, instead of the old ropewalks and candle factories, affording larger opportunities for home industry. The national bank in this place has a capital stock of $100,000; and the savings institution, at the close of last year, held deposits to the amount of $359,621.

The post-offices are Nantucket and Siasconset, at the southeast extremity of the town. The place is a small village of one-storied houses, shingled from top to bottom. Other villages, or prominent localities, are Coatue, Madaket, Polpis Village, Quaise, Quidnet, Wauwinet, "Tuckernuck" and Surfside. The last is on an elevated and fertile plain on the south shore; and is connected with " Sconset" and Nantucket by a narrow-gauge railway. Scattered over the island, solitary or in clumps and groves, are pine-trees, some of large size, whose green shoots escaped the nibbling of the formerly superabundant sheep. The religious societies having church edifices in the town are the Baptist and colored Baptist, Congregationalist, Unitarian, Methodist, Protestant Episcopal, Roman Catholic, and Friends — who have two. Nantucket furnished about 300 men for our army and navy during the late war, and from 60 to 70 of them were lost. In Monument Square, in Nantucket village, stands a handsome monument to their memory.

The climate of this place is delightful, being very equable, salubrious, and from ten to twenty degrees milder in winter and cooler in summer than in Central Massachusetts. The inhabitants are noted for longevity, many attaining to the age of 80 and 90 years. There were formerly many Indians on this island; but the last full-blooded Nautican died in 1822, and in 1854 the last individual in whose veins ran a strain of Indian blood.

This town was incorporated June 27, 1687, as "Sherburn;" but the name was changed to the present one, June 8, 1795.

Among the eminent persons not previously mentioned were Peleg Folger (1733-1789), a noted poet; Gen. Joseph Gardner Swift, LL.D. (1783-1865), an able officer; Timothy Gardner Coffin (1788-1854), an eminent lawyer; Lucretia Coffin Mott (1793), a talented preacher of the Society of Friends; Charles F. Winslow (1811), an able author, and appointed U.S. consul at Payta, Peru, in 1862; Miss Maria Mitchell (1818-1 889), distinguished for her knowledge of astronomy; the Rev. Phebe A. Hanaford (1829), a popular preacher and author. Others are Walter Folger, Barker Burnell, M.C., Hon. Charles J. Folger, Hon. Alfred Macy and Rev. Ferdinand C. Ewer, D.D.

A Gazetteer of the State of Massachusetts, with Numerous Illustrations Rev. Elias Nason, M.A.; revised and enlarged by George J. Varney. Boston: B.B. Russell. 1890, 724 pages

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