article

Nantucket is an island south of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, in the United States. Together with the small islands of Tuckernuck and Muskeget, it constitutes the town of Nantucket, Massachusetts and the coextensive Nantucket County. The region of Surfside on Nantucket is the southernmost settlement in Massachusetts.

Nantucket is a tourist destination and summer colony. The population of the island soars from approximately 10,000 to 50,000 during the summer months, due to tourists and summer residents. It has some of the highest property values in Massachusetts.

The National Park Service has designated the entire island as a National Historic District, paying particular note to the towns of Nantucket and Siaconset. The island features one of the highest concentration of pre-Civil War structures in the United States.

Name

The name is Wampanoag or Narraganset, from nai-an, "sharp" or "excessive"(an) combined with "corner", tuck, "tidal run", and the locative ending, -et:
nai-an-tuck-et – "Tidal run around a sharp corner" with reference to Nantucket Harbor being separated from Nantucket Sound by a point. Bond identifies the dialect as "southern New England." Roger Williams spelled it as Nianticut in 1636. The name is also derived from a Native American word meaning "far away island" or "land far out at sea"

History

Nantucket was part of Dukes County, New York until 1691, when it was transferred to Massachusetts as a separate county.

Nantucket was formerly the world's leading whaling port (and still serves as home port for a small fishing industry). Herman Melville comments on Nantucket's whaling dominance in Moby Dick, Chapter 14: "Two thirds of this terraqueous globe are the Nantucketer's. For the sea is his; he owns it, as Emperors own empires."

By the Civil War, whaling was in decline and the island suffered great economic hardships, worsened by the 1846 "Great Fire" that, fueled by whale oil and lumber, devastated the main town, burning some 36 acres. It left hundreds homeless and poverty stricken, and many people left.

As a result the island depopulated and was left under-developed and isolated until the mid-20th century. The isolation kept many of the pre-Civil War buildings intact and by the 1950s, enterprising developers began buying up large sections of the island and restoring them to create an upmarket destination for the wealthy in the Northeastern United States. This highly controlled development can be compared to neighboring Martha's Vineyard, whose development served as a model for what the developers of Nantucket were trying to avoid.

On July 25, 1956, 51 people were killed in the collision of the Italian ocean liner SS Andrea Doria with the SS Stockholm in heavy fog 45 miles south of Nantucket.

In 1977, Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard unsuccessfully attempted to secede from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The secession vote was sparked by a proposed change to the Massachusetts Constitution, which reduced the islands' representation in the state legislature.

On October 31, 1999, EgyptAir Flight 990 traveling from New York City to Cairo crashed off the coast of Nantucket, killing all 217 on board.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Nantucket County has a total area of 786 km², 84.25% of which is water. The area of Nantucket Island proper is 123.8 km² (47.8 mi²). The triangular region of ocean between Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard and Cape Cod, is Nantucket Sound. Also, the highest point on the island is Folger Hill which stands 109 feet above sea level. Altar Rock stands at a height in close second at 108 feet above sea level.

The entire island, as well as the adjoining islands of Tuckernuck and Muskeget, comprise both the Town of Nantucket and the County of Nantucket. The main settlement, also called Nantucket, is located at the western end of Nantucket Harbor, where it opens into Nantucket Sound. Key localities on the island include Madaket, Surfside, Polpis, Wauwinet and Siasconset (often abbreviated as 'Sconset).

Demographics

There is also a census-designated place called Nantucket.
As of the census2 of 2000, there were 9,520 people, 3,699 households, and 2,104 families residing in Nantucket. The population density was 76.9/km² (199.1/mi²). There were 9,210 housing units at an average density of 74.4/km² (192.6/mi²). The racial makeup of the town was 87.85% White, 8.29% African American, 0.64% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 0.01% Native American, 1.60% from other races, and 1.58% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.23% of the population.

There were 3,699 households out of which 26.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.7% were married couples living together, 8.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 43.1% were non-families. 29.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.37 and the average family size was 2.90.

In the town the population was spread out with 19.2% under the age of 18, 7.4% from 18 to 24, 40.4% from 25 to 44, 22.5% from 45 to 64, and 10.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 105.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 105.0 males.

The median income for a household for year-round residents in the town is $55,522, and the median income for a family was $66,786. Males had a median income of $41,116 versus $31,608 for females. The per capita income for the town was $31,314. About 3.0% of families and 7.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 2.3% of those under age 18 and 7.1% of those age 65 or over.

The Nantucket school system has approximately 1,200 students, about 400 of which are in the high school.

Education

Nantucket is served by Nantucket Public Schools.

Schools include:

  • Nantucket Elementary School
  • Cyrus Peirce Middle School
  • Nantucket High School
  • Nantucket Community School

Trivia

Nantucket is home to the mythopoeic "Man from Nantucket" made famous in the opening line of countless limericks, one of the most familiar in all of poetry. Limericks were a popular poetic genre in whaling culture. The many whalers who once lived on Nantucket are the basis for the Man from Nantucket's sexually perverse and hypersexualized persona.

A bomb shelter built on the island for President John Kennedy in 1961 was disguised by the United States Navy as a "jet assist takeoff (JATO) fuel bottle storage area," but was never used.

In the Island in the Sea of Time trilogy, Nantucket gets sent back in time 3000 years, and ends up as the capital of the world-spanning Republic of Nantucket.

The 1986 Warner Bros. film One Crazy Summer, starring John Cusack and Demi Moore, was filmed and took place on the island.

References

  • Bond, C. Lawrence, Native Names of New England Towns and Villages, privately published by C. Lawrence Bond, Topsfield, Massachusetts, 1991.
  • Fabrikant, Geraldine, "Old Nantucket Warily Meets the New", New York Times, June 5, 2005, *

External links

Nantucket, Massachusetts | Coastal towns of Massachusetts | Islands of Massachusetts | Nantucket County, Massachusetts | Towns in Massachusetts

Nantucket | Nantucket | Nantucket | Nantucket | Nantucket | Nantucket County

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Nantucket, Massachusetts".

Home Page • arts • business • computers • games • health • hospitals • home • kids & teens • news • physicians • recreation• reference • regional • science • shopping • society • sports • world