The Nantucket spirit
Crack open an oyster and breathe in some history in America’s first resort town
NANTUCKET, MASS.— Getting its name from an ancient Wampanoag word meaning “away off shore,” this glacier-formed, elbow-shaped island, situated 50 kilometres south of Cape Cod, certainly feels like a world unto its own.
Blessed with warm Gulf Stream currents, a mild oceanic climate and a continuous sandy coastline, Nantucket’s shores have been a haven for visitors for thousands of years — first as a seasonal fishing ground for Native Americans and then, in the mid-1600s, for English settlers who’d turn the island into the world’s largest whaling centre.
I’m getting this history lesson from Robert (Captain Rob) McMullen, a U.S. Coast Guard Certified captain, tour guide and Nantucket history buff at the Wauwinet, a charming boutique inn on the edge of Nantucket Bay, as we drive across the island in the inn’s beautifully restored cherry-red 1947 Chevy Woody.
“Nantucket’s transformation (into a whaling hub) was very fast,” McMullen says. “By the late 1700s, there were 19 candle factories in town, with ships coming and going.”
A199-ship fleet from Nantucket once hunted sperm whales around the world for their head oil, called spermaceti, which was used to make pure-white candles and long-lasting lamp oil. But the aromas from processing the spermaceti in the high summer heat weren’t pleasant.
“It was a busy industrial port and it stunk in the summer,” McMullen says of the main town, also called Nantucket. It still boasts many of its original 18th- and 19th-century buildings and narrow cobblestone streets, which now house high-end hotels, boutiques and bistros.
But back then, those who could leave town did. Many made the 13kilometre trek to Sconset, a picturesque village on the southeast corner of Nantucket, which is where we’re headed on one of The Wauwinet’s many complementary, Capt. Rob-led tours.
“It was basically the first resort town in America,” says McMullen, motoring past cranberry bogs and rolling wooded hills. “The fishermen began to bring their wives and children, just to get away and get some fresh air. Also, they were getting away from the vice that the sailors were bringing to town.”
Nantucket’s first English settlers originally hoped to make a life in Boston. But the strict Puritan government didn’t sit well with them or their Quaker beliefs, so they decided to move to freer shores in 1659. Some of these first settlers’ surnames will sound familiar, such as Folger (yes, like Folgers Coffee) and Macy (yes, like the department store).
They modelled this simple fishing village on the ones they remembered from their upbringing in England’s West County, says McMullen, who grew up on Nantucket himself.
“Even in its day, in the late 1600s, Sconset was a remarkable relic of an earlier era, as it looked and functioned just like a medieval village.”
Nantucket, which was designated a National Historic Landmark District in 1966, goes to great lengths to honour its past. For example, to help preserve the traditional esthetic of the island’s architecture, homeowners can only choose from 12 historically accurate colours to paint their exterior (although most still go with traditional bare cedar shingles and white trim).
But rather than being stodgy, Nantucket is instead defined by a spirit of constant reinvention.
When the whaling industry suddenly collapsed in the mid-1800s thanks to the discovery of oil in Texas, Nantucketers were in need of a new industry. Locals began advertising off-island about the delights of sea bathing and freshly cooked seafood, and opened their homes to summer boarders. The Wauwinet saw its first guests in 1875, first as a beachside dinner destination for day-trippers from town serving up clam chowder and boiled lobster and later as an inn.
Getting back to the fully renovated, modern-day inn after our driving tour of Sconset, we find ourselves in the kitchen of the Wauwinet’s-award-winning Topper’ s restaurant, which strives to continue the tradition of serving fresh, local sea-harvested specialties.
“We all love being surrounded by the ocean,” says Kyle Zachary, executive chef at Topper’s restaurant, which hosts clambakes through the summer. “Seafood brings people together, a lot of times in celebrations.”
Zachary is showing a group of us how to shuck and prepare oysters that came from the choppy waters of Nantucket Bay just 100 metres from The Wauwinet’s front door.
That locality comes courtesy of the recently launched, family-run Retsyo Oyster farm, one of eight oyster beds that form part of the latest burgeoning industry on Nantucket.
“Oysters are ocean filters, so it’s great for the water,” Zachary says. “This is the true terroir of Wauwinet, because oysters will take on the flavour of their surroundings, much like a grape would in a vineyard.”
After a few minutes fighting with the sharp-edged shell, I hear a satisfying pop and pull back the top with my oyster knife to expose the meat inside. I throw it back with a dash of whipped mignonette Zachary had just prepared and am happily met with a soft, salty flavour.
It’s a true taste of Nantucket, a place where the nautical history is ho- noured, but a pioneering spirit continues looking ahead to an ocean-fuelled future.
Not to mention that it’s delicious.