70˚ W 41˚ N
The island, county, and town of Nantucket (the only island which stands as all three) is known for many things: rich whaling history, an old cobblestone Main Street and lewd limerick.
But there is much more to learn about Nantucket besides what you can observe on a casual walk-through.
If we’ve missed anything, let us know by emailing us at [email protected].
Check out these intriguing facts about Nantucket below.
- Nantucket is 10 degrees warmer than the mainland during the winter and 10 degrees cooler in the summer, due to its proximity to the Gulf Stream
- The island came into existence about 12,000 to 10,000 years ago by massive retreating glaciers
- Nantucket, the town, was originally called Sherburne, but changed it in 1795
- Cars were not allowed on Nantucket until 1918
- There are over 700 shipwrecks surrounding the island
- “Nantucket” is a rough interpretation of an Algonquin term for “Faraway Land” – 3,000 Wampanoags lived on the island when it was taken by the English in 1659
- There are over 800 buildings on Nantucket which predate the Civil War
- Excluding the Wampanoag’s longtime presence, the island was “discovered” in 1602 by Bartholomew Gosnold – he would later help colonize Jamestown, Virginia
- The mother of Benjamin Franklin, Abiah Folger, was born on the island in 1667
- Rowland Hussey Macy lived and operated a dry goods store on Nantucket at the corner of Main Street and Fair Street – he moved to New York City in 1858 and opened “Macy’s”
- The purity of Nantucket’s groundwater does not require the town to add chlorine – it comes from an aquifer created by glaciers thousands of years ago
- The island has the greatest variety of vegetation than any other place of similar size in the United States, although many species of plants were imported there
By CapeCod.com Staff
