What is the great appeal of Nantucket? (Lincoln, Edgartown: middle-class, homes)

[jayrandom]

Originally Posted by bostonguy1960

Any Block Island stickers (so what abbreviation is that? BI, or maybe their airport code?) out there?

The block island sticker is a circle with the shape of block island. I see them here and there.

Here is one example for sale

Around me, the most common circle stickers I see are for elementary schools.

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by brk330

Never been to Nantucket myself, I'm saving my pennies for Naushon Island.

I'm on Naushon quite a few times in the summer. There's a nice small beach on the Buzzards Bay side of Robinson's Hole I've always used. You can go to the high tide mark if you're fishing, fowling, or navigating. I've spent dozens of nights anchored in Tarpaulin Cove on the Vineyard Sound side. Hadley's is a really popular anchorage.

[BostonMike7]

Originally Posted by brk330

Never been to Nantucket myself, I'm saving my pennies for Naushon Island.

Can you go there? I thought the island was privately owned?

[P Larsen]

MV is not particularly different in terms of class affordability. Nantucket is a beautifully preserved preppie theme park, with fantastic beaches and the closest brush with the warm waters of the Gulf Stream in the Northeast USA. It's a perfect example of the boom-bust-boom cycle of historical preservation of many New England towns and cities. In its heyday, it was the Abu Dhabi of what might be called the Whale Oil "Emirates" (the various whale oil ports of the Northeast); it had the ability to remain neutral in the War of 1812. Then it went into such a steep decline, and was so remote from the mainland, that there was no point of redeveloping it, and by the time it became a fashionable resort again between the World Wars, it's amberlike quality became its draw and meal-ticket.

Less well known is that, while settled from Massachusetts Bay, Nantucket's corporate status started out as a county of the New York colony, along with Dukes County (which was part of a matched set with Kings County and Queens County).

Of the main Islands along the southern New England coast*, I like Block Island best. The commercial strip there is so tiny as to make it much less attractive to daytrippers on a mission to acquire more stuff.

* From west to east: Fishers, Block, Cuttyhunk (the rest of the Elizabeth Islands being off limits to the general public), MV and Nantucket. Fishers is part of New York and, while accessible to the public, it's so Very Old & Discreet Money that it's purposely kept to be uninteresting to anyone who doesn't have a connection there.

[P Larsen]

Originally Posted by BostonMike7

Can you go there? I thought the island was privately owned?

Along with all but two of the Elizabeth Islands, it's owned by the Forbes clan.

[P Larsen]

[quote=masssachoicetts;63750220]I don't see the joys of Nantucket. Martha's Vineyard? Yes. Cape Cod? Meh, in parts.

A severely underrated, charming, fun and just all around awesome place to go is the Jersey Shore.

Each town is different and the towns of Ocean Grove, Stone Harbor, Cape May, Cape May Point and Sea Bright remind me of a Nantucket-ish vibe.

Jersey Shore is a really good alternative to the Cape and Nantucket, every year I convince a few new New Englanders head on South for a few days. "

* * *

Unfortunately, most of the Southern Jersey Shore is packed with generic in-fill ripped right out of Coastal Living. But the compensation is Philadelphia-oriented foods, which are fantastic.

Cape May is a special case: just two blocks in from Ocean Avenue, it's mostly very middle class homes from the 20th century, and it appears it's been able to stay mostly that way because tear-down-and-rebuilds are exorbitantly dear because you'd have to build flow-through first-floors, et cet. (some have been done). What Nantucket is for early 19th century preservation, Cape May is for post-WW2 seaside resort preservation.

[pikabike]

I only visited Nantucket twice, first time as a kid in the late 60s and second time about 1986, possibly 1987.

I’ve been to MV many more times than that and enjoyed it more, riding my bike around the bigger island.

Could the snob thing be a holdover from the days of whaling captain’s homes or some other class-denoting symbol? Like Victorian houses in other seaports? The incredibly detailed craftsmanship, some of it similar that seen on wooden ships, had to have been extremely expensive and time-intensive.

[msRB311]

Originally Posted by pikabike

I only visited Nantucket twice, first time as a kid in the late 60s and second time about 1986, possibly 1987.

I’ve been to MV many more times than that and enjoyed it more, riding my bike around the bigger island.

Could the snob thing be a holdover from the days of whaling captain’s homes or some other class-denoting symbol? Like Victorian houses in other seaports? The incredibly detailed craftsmanship, some of it similar that seen on wooden ships, had to have been extremely expensive and time-intensive.

Yes, I'm guessing that's where some of the snobbery comes from. The whaling days. It just has a very quintessential blue blood brahmin feel. I feel like Boston has kind of moved on from those days and is pretty open minded to all who visit/pass through...but not Nantucket. I was actually shocked to see hired help/nannies (many of them black women) following around expensively dressed moms with kids in tow. It just had a really weird vibe. Like oh I'm on vacation with my kids but I still need my mammy behind me to pick up the trash and do whatever I don't want to do as we walk.

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by P Larsen

MV is not particularly different in terms of class affordability.

So billionaires own the gingerbread cottages in Oak Bluffs? Who knew?

There are lots of middle class families who own houses on the Vineyard. They bought long before prices there went nuts. It’s not affordable if you’re buying now. It was a different story if you were buying in 2010. An OB cottage in 2012 was sub-$300k.

[msRB311]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

So billionaires own the gingerbread cottages in Oak Bluffs? Who knew?

There are lots of middle class families who own houses on the Vineyard. They bought long before prices there went nuts. It’s not affordable if you’re buying now. It was a different story if you were buying in 2010. An OB cottage in 2012 was sub-$300k.

True. Two of the people I know whose grandparents own homes on Nantucket were probably upper class when they bought the homes at the time. They weren't anywhere near what they'd cost today.

It's crazy but I know a few folks who own multiple homes on Nantucket. One family they were purchased in the 70's/80's, another purchased 2 in around 2015 then again in 2017 and is building a 3rd. I couldn't even imagine....