Unlike traditonal museums, historic sites have a rhythm about them that is as predictable as Nantucket’s tides and the arrival of summer daytrippers. Ever so quietly, springcleaning and seasonal staff training give way to packed walking tours, guided tours of Hadwen House and the Oldest House, and corn-grinding demonstrations at the Old Mill. In town the lines lengthen in the foyer at the Whaling Museum as visitors flock into Sanderson Hall where interpretive staff continues the NHA’s long-standing tradition of recreating the whaling story, a tradition that Peter Wilson in this issue of Historic Nantucket ascribes to the Whaling Museum’s first curator and real-life whaler, George Grant.
The Nantucket Historical Association preserves and interprets the history of Nantucket through its programs, collections, and properties, in order to promote the island’s significance and foster an appreciation of it among all audiences.