Nantucket

Nantucket lies south of Cape Cod, its sandy shores exposed to the Atlantic. Wampanoag communities lived on the island long before English settlement, under leaders known as sachems. In time the island became famous for whaling, with Wampanoag men serving aboard the vessels that sailed from its harbour.

English settlement expanded after Thomas Mayhew sold shares in the island in 1659. Early settlers farmed and raised sheep, but turned increasingly to the sea as pressure on the land grew. When the first harbour silted up, they dismantled houses and moved the settlement. The town, originally called Sherburne, took the name Nantucket in 1795. Freed African Americans established a neighbourhood known as New Guinea near its windmills, with homes, shops and churches. A building founded there in 1824 served as a school, church and meeting house. The island's maritime community also included Wampanoag people and Hawaiian sailors who had worked on its whaling ships.