We’ve all seen the little stickers on the back of cars - the stickers that tell a story of where people have traveled, what mountain the car has climbed, how many miles they’ve run or how many stick figure children they have in their back seat. Most of the stickers you see are easy to figure out - MV = Martha’s Vineyard, OBX = Outer Banks, CA = California. Easy, right? But ACK? What is that? I guess the little “island nation” of Nantucket wanted to try something different, so instead of using something people might actually remember like NTK or NAN, they used the call letters of their airport to put on the sticker. Since then those three little letters have found their way into virtually every part of tourism on the island!
“Left base for Runway 6. Coming in for lunch!”
Ah, Nantucket. Where to begin? By far, this island is my favorite little place in the world. I probably could have started a website just about the island and the adventures we’ve had with family and friends there, and all there is to see and do, but I think we’ll stick to the occasional article. If you’ve never traveled to this island, even for just a day trip, please do yourself a favor and move it up a few spots on your travel list, you won’t regret it.
One of the many quiet, windswept places on the island.
Nantucket is a tiny island, thirty miles out to sea, only 15 miles long, 3-6 miles wide and only 111 feet above sea level at the highest point on the island. Nantucket was formed essentially from a retreating glacier and its deposits. As the massive ice sheets pushed their way south, they plowed enormous amounts of rocks, dirt and debris ahead of them. As the glaciers retreated and melted away, and the seas rose, the piles of rock and debris that were left behind were slowly cut off from the mainland by the rising waters - Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard both formed as a result of that process.
I could spend much more time writing about the history of the island, the whaling industry, its rise to immense wealth, its fall to hard times, its reinvention as an art colony, then a resort town, and eventually as a home for the super wealthy. I could write for pages about the summers people enjoy there, the food you can find, the Wampanoag Indians that first settled there, or any of the famous people that have come from this tiny island - but for this first article, I just want to talk about what this little island means to me. And yes, it is so much more than any of those other things.
A great little reminder.
One cool fall afternoon, with the docks much more barren than they usually are in the bustling height of summer, my wife and I came across this little boat, gently rocking with the tide in a corner all by itself. I remember looking at it only because it was so alone and so, blue…there off in its own corner, but the name really caught my attention. As I stood there for a moment, I started to think about it, and just started to do what the name said. I could hear the birds flapping around the harbor as they searched for their next tasty morsel. Off in the distance was the tiny silhouette of the ferry coming in from the mainland, gliding silently across the water coming towards us. Across the docks and out into the harbor there were a few more scattered boats, bobbing and drifting in the gentle afternoon breeze. And then, there was quiet. The loudest sound was the water lapping against the old wooden pylons and the beating of my heart. And so I sat there, just for a moment, savoring life.
Taking it all in.
For me, Nantucket is about enjoying life. Reflecting on the blessings we’ve received, enjoying a unique natural landscape, and just being quiet. Something about being thirty miles out to sea, with no way back to the mainland if the boats stop running, puts you in another state of mind to really just calm down and reflect. To really savor life. We’ll explore in much more detail many of the adventures this island has afforded us in the past, but for now, I leave you with this. Are you savoring life? Are you taking time to reflect on the simple things we have to enjoy, to stop and take a breath, even in this 6AM to 9PM every day go-go world? Do you have a place you can go, even locally, that helps you relax and enjoy life, even if just for a brief few moments.
Peaceful and chilly. My favorite.
As a Nantucket Nectars bottle cap I found once said underneath - “Everyone should have a Nantucket.” What is your place that you can go to to savor life? To enjoy the moment? Maybe its a far away land, maybe its the coffee shop across town, maybe it’s on the couch with your kids reading books - wherever it is, take note of it, and visit it as often as you can.
Until next time,
Ben