'Sconset

'Sconset sits on the eastern tip of Nantucket, nine miles from town, and feels entirely removed from the summer crowds on Main Street. The village is a cluster of tiny rose-covered cottages, many of them barely larger than a good-sized room, dating from the 17th and 18th centuries when Nantucket fishermen built seasonal shelters here. The roses — primarily climbing rosa rugosa — cover the shingled walls from June through August.

The bike path from town to 'Sconset is one of the best rides on the island: flat, well-surfaced, and passing through open heath. At the bluff above the beach the path ends and you can walk along the high sandy cliff with the Atlantic below. 'Sconset Café on the village square is a reliable stop for lunch.

things to do neighbourhood sight
A story
The village's full name is Siasconset, but nobody has called it that in two centuries. In the late 1800s it became a summer colony for New York and Boston actors, who found the old fishing shacks charmingly humble and began renting them for the season. The tradition of theatrical habitation continued long enough that 'Sconset developed a reputation as an artists' village, a reputation that survives even now.

Other places in Things to do