Nantucket's Sea-Washed Charm
Nantucket Harbor in the morning. Kickstand via Getty Images
Happy Hour Spot: Cru – Rosé and local oysters on the dock, waterfront people-watching
Population: 11,800
Coffee: Handlebar Cafe
Best day of the year: Daffodil Festival, April
Thirty miles off the coast of Cape Cod, Nantucket is about 15 miles long and 3 miles wide—an “elbow of sand,” wrote Herman Melville. Once the Whaling Capital of the World, the tiny island is now a tony summer retreat, known for gray shingled houses, sailboats, clambakes and 50 miles of (mostly) quiet beaches. A bike is the best way to get around: Rent one from Young’s on the Steamboat Wharf and ride to Something Natural, just outside town, for sandwiches on homemade herb bread and a freshly baked cookie for the road. The 6-mile Madaket Road Path offers glimpses inland: ponds, hills and the Madaket Mall—the “take it or leave it” where locals trade treasures at the town dump. Before you ride to the beach, stop at Millie’s for a Madaket Mystery, a rum punch made here for decades.
Cape Cod & The Islands
Field Guide
Clam shacks and boatyards, oyster farmers and sailmakers, beaches and salty bike trails.
Read more like this
NEVADA’S BASQUE COMMUNITY KEEPS RICH CULTURAL TRADITIONS ALIVE
Four ways to bask in the scene across the Silver State
