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Nantucket By Nancy and Richard Woodworth Stepping onto Nantucket's Steamboat Wharf after a two-and-a-half-hour ferry ride twenty miles into the Atlantic is a bit like stepping onto another land in another time. "This is the island that time forgot," announces one of Nantucket's visitor guides. "Steeped in tradition, romance, legend and history, she is a refuge from modernity." Flanked by brick sidewalks, towering shade trees and gas lamps, the cobblestone streets lead you past more fine old sea captains' homes still standing from Nantucket's days as the nation's leading whaling port than most people see in a lifetime. The 400-plus structures from the late 1700s and early 1800s that make up the historic district represent the greatest concentration in America, evoking the town's description as "an architectural jewel." So much for the island that time forgot. The island's romance draws thousands of well-heeled visitors to a sophisticated side of Nantucket that is uniquely chic and contemporary. More distant than other islands from the mainland and yet readily accessible to the affluent, Nantucket is all the more exclusive. That's the way island businessman-benefactor Walter Beinecke Jr. planned it when he created the Nantucket Historical Trust in 1957 and later co-founded the Nantucket Conservation Trust. His efforts led to the preservation of 6,100 acres of open space – one-fifth of the island's land total. Through his historic and real-estate interests, the village has been transformed into what the late New England Monthly magazine termed "a perfect oasis – neat, tidy and relentlessly quaint – for upscale vacationers." It's a bit precious and pricey for some tastes, this town in which whaling fortunes were amassed and which now is predicated on tourism for the elite. (Once you get away from Nantucket village and Siasconset, you'll find the folks on the south beaches and the west side of the island let their hair down). The week our family roughed it, so to speak, in a cottage near the beach at Surfside was far different from the fall weekends starting a decade later when we returned, as so many couples do, for getaways in Nantucket village, 'Sconset or Wauwinet. Nantucket is perfect for an escape – away from the mainland and into a dream combining Yankee history and the Preppy Handbook. You don't have to wear Nantucket pink trousers or dine at Le Chantecleer, although many do. Simply explore the village's treasures, participate in its activities, or relax and watch a select world go by. Material excerpted from Inn Spots & Special Places in New England, by Nancy and Richard Woodworth. Copyright 2004. Wood Pond Press E-mail feedback to: Home
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