Nantucket (Images of America)

Nantucket, a Wampanoag word meaning far-away island, was first settled by Europeans in 1659. The earliest settlers, known as the Proprietors, envisioned a community of farmers and shepherds, but the island found its fortune as a preeminent whaling port in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. During its time under Quaker influence, Nantucket was a cosmopolitan and dynamic place; radical new ideas, like abolitionism and women s rights, found fertile ground in the Quakers firm belief in equality. As the entrance to the harbor became impassible, Nantucket lost its whaling focus and experienced a general economic decline. Ironically, this downturn and the resulting absence of new building, along with modern cultural change, became the springboard for its later revival. Nantucket was transformed into a tourist destination, an artist colony, and a summer home to the wealthy and famous, with a rich maritime heritage and a proud tradition of historic preservation.