NANTUCKET

NANTUCKET. An island twenty-five miles south of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, Nantucket was first explored in 1602 by Bartholomew Gosnold and settled by English Quakers in 1659 with permission of the native Wampanoag people. Poor soil led colonists after 1670 to fishing, whaling, and raising sheep. Deep-sea vessels made possible long cruises hunting whales in the Atlantic Ocean and after 1790 in the Pacific Ocean. Nantucket enterprise and hardihood also led to profitable trade in Asia, Polynesia, and South America. By 1842 the island fleet had grown to eighty-six ships that went on whaling voyages lasting as long as six years. However, the California gold rush, the discovery of petroleum, and the Civil War contributed to the decline of Nantucket whaling. In 1869 the last whaling ship cleared port and brought to a close a brilliant chapter in American economic history.

After the Civil War the sandy beaches, good fishing, and picturesque bluffs of Nantucket brought it a new reputation as an artist colony and summer resort, and tourism became its principal industry. The painter Eastman Johnson depicted the landscape in a memorable series dealing with cranberry picking on the island in 1870– 1880. The town of Nantucket, incorporated in 1687, has many historic features, including cobblestone streets, fine nineteenth-century homes, and a whaling museum. The population by 2000 increased to 9,520.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Gambee, Robert. Nantucket Island. 2d ed. New York: Norton, 1993.

Schneider, Paul. The Enduring Shore: A History of Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket. New York: Henry Holt, 2000.

Peter C.Holloran

Nantucket an island off the coast of Massachusetts, south of Cape Cod and east of Martha's Vineyard. First visited by the English in 1602, it was settled by the Quakers in 1659, and was an important whaling centre in the 18th and 19th centuries.