New England Road Trip; Chapter 10 - Cape Cod (Nantucket)

(written by Bill)

This is a series of blogs covering a 21 day road-trip my wife and I made through eight New England States during the month of September – Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts (Cape Cod, Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard, and Boston).

We’ve covered Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts Cape Cod – Provincetown and Chatham to date.

Chapter 10 - We realized over the first day and a half that staying in Chatham was one of our best decisions.  It’s easy to go north, south, or east and the driving is simple. On our second full day we caught a ferry and headed over to Nantucket to do some shopping and sight seeing.  The ferry was easy to catch and the cruise over was quiet and very comfortable. Although you can take an automobile over we elected to go without. We did, however, pay a little extra to take the faster ferry so we could enjoy more time on the island since we were only going to be there one day.  Glad we did, it was worth it.

When we arrived on the island, we got tickets to take the island bus tour.  We have found this type of tour gives us a lot of great information (history and facts) and covers the entire island most efficiently.  During our tour we saw two of the three lighthouse on Nantucket, Brant Point Light and Sankaty Head Light (the third, which we didn’t see, is Great Point light). We also saw the oldest home on Nantucket, named Jethro Coffin House, as well as the oldest working Windmill in the country, named the “Old Mill“.  We had lunch at the pier at a wonderful restaurant and walked up and down many of the streets near the harbor.  The weather was great and the time we spent on Nantucket was so relaxing and enjoyable. We loved it!

Beautiful view down one of Nantuckets many cobblestone streets

A unique display at one of the shops on Nantucket

There was beautiful flora all throughout the town that would light-up the views.

Jethro Coffin House, which is the oldest home in Nantucket, was built in 1686 as a wedding gift

“Table for two please”, some of the restaurants were on the pier right above the water. Great ambiance!

Would you really expect to see a windmill on Nantucket? Built in 1746 by Nathan Wilbur, a Nantucket sailor who had spent time in Holland, the “Old Mill”, as its named, is the oldest functioning windmill in the country.

Sankaty Head Lighthouse built in 1850 and miraculously moved in 2007 to save it from seaside erosion. (notice the golfer in the foreground).

Harbor view from the pier at Nantucket

Brant Point Lighthouse is one of the most photographed Lighthouses.

Click here to see more photo’s of Nantucket

Next blog will cover Martha’s Vineyard, another absolutely wonderful location.

Hope you enjoy…

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