A Lifestyle of Lodging

Since its settlement in 1661, Nantucket has remained a culture dependent upon temporary housing. Despite more than three centuries of economic and social shifts, the high demand for lodgment has persisted. The most evident change over the years has been the style of dwelling in order to meet the needs of the island's guests and laborers. This development can be categorized into four significant periods which coincide with critical moments in Nantucket's history.

Data collection consisted primarily of archival research within the Inquirer & Mirror, the Nantucket Historical Association, and books within the Nantucket Atheneum's collections, most notably Clay Lancaster's Holiday Island. Compiling the information gathered from these sources, a comprehensive list of documented boarding houses, inns, hotels, and more was created. Each entry includes any listed relevant information such as the address, the period(s) of significance, and individuals associated with the property. This information was then entered into four maps which display important periods of Nantucket's development. As a disclaimer, there are undoubtedly many more places of lodging not listed or mapped due to the sheer volume of resources and lack of thorough documentation in many cases. For this reason, a heat map indicating areas of higher and lower density is most appropriate in visualizing the shifts of Nantucket's hostelry industry.

The period from about 1661 to 1870, from settlement to the end of whaling, was one of Nantucket's most defining eras. For the first few decades, it is most likely that temporary lodgers stayed in the private homes of the settlers. This remained an element of Nantucket's culture for centuries as many families continued to seasonally open up rooms and even floors of their homes for boarders. Facilities specifically for lodgers were more prevalent once the area of Nantucket Town had developed, especially when the whaling industry was in full swing.

Boarding houses were common near the wharfs and extending inland down Main Street. Most of the boarders were sailors returning from or waiting for their voyages and there were two primary areas for them to stay. Lodging closer to the wharfs tended to be for less reputable company and operated by primarily men whereas boarding further inland was known as "genteel boarding," therefore more respectable, and typically run by women. As development continued through the early 19th century, complementary amenities such as salt-water bathing houses and restaurants appeared.

Innkeeping was a thriving industry by the time of the Great Fire of 1846. With whaling already on the decline due in part to the fire and several other factors, Nantucketers explored new opportunities including tourism centered around the natural resources of the island and its sense of place. By the end of the period hotels were becoming the ideal form of lodging, though instead of sailors, they were taking in tourists.

The boarding house was one of the most common forms of lodging during this period and was primarily utilized by sailors and businessmen in their travels to and from the island. Whereas most of these accommodations resided within the vicinity of the wharves, there were a select few businesses outside of the immediate town. One of the most notable places of lodging during this period is, perhaps, the most ambiguous. William Whippy and his wife, Maria, operated the Canacka Boarding House on Pleasant Street in an area known as New Guinea. The term "Kanacka" was used to refer to a Pacific Islander, originally of Hawaiian origin, of which there was a notable population in the early to mid-19th century. Most of these individuals arrived on whaling ships which picked them up along their voyages.

The New Guinea neighborhood within Nantucket Town was historically a Black community during the early to mid-whaling period which notably served as a respite for Pacific Islanders as well. There is currently no evidence of any other place of boarding during the whaling period that served specific nationalities or ethnicities other than the Canacka Boarding House. Documentation of the boarding house is very scarce given that William Whippy died in the late 1830s and the business was closed. What is significant is that we have evidence of a place lodging that served an underrepresented community nearly two centuries ago.

There was a significant transformation of lodging in Nantucket during the Gilded Age. With tourism having replaced whaling as the primary industry, boarding houses started to give way to larger inns, hotels, and private cottages targeted towards tourists and seasonal vacationers. Along with new lodging facilities came the improvement of a variety of amenities such as salt-water bathing, dining, parlors, and sports to keep guests and residents entertained. The emphasis on recreation and expansion of accommodations fostered a cycle of a growing summer residency and constant development.

The forms of lodging continued to consist of boarding houses and privately rented rooms, but the period is defined by a significant shift away from serving sailors and general workers and towards tourists who desired comfortable, seasonal stays within inns and hotels. The perpetual arrival and departure of whaling ships was no longer and Nantucketers instead found themselves in the midst of a summer economy supported by tourists and a winter economy held together by full-time residents.

Another trend of this period was the development, or at least proposed development, of "cottage cities" outside of Nantucket Town in areas such as Surfside and Siasconset. Developers such as Charles Robinson and Edward Underhill were responsible for constructing many homes and some neighborhoods on the island, though many of the larger proposals for an entirely planned community did not come to fruition. Surfside especially struggled, despite moving a hotel from the mainland to the community, when a storm in 1893 destroyed portions of the rail line. Just a few years later the hotel fell into disrepair and was abandoned.

The Wauwinet House was constructed on the northeast side of the island in 1876, offering guests an even more removed retreat than Nantucket Town. While the hotel could not be described as large by today's standards, it certainly represented a shift towards larger and more rooms as well as amenities for guests. The hotel was reached through regular ferry service between the town and Wauwinet through Nantucket Harbor. Guests arrived at the hotel with access to the northeast portion of the island and its beaches.

The Wauwinet House like several other hotels on the east coast of the island, notably in Siasconset, experienced significant popularity not only for its lodging, but for its amenities. The article to the right references a masquerade ball that was held in 1905, one of many events that enticed Nantucketers and tourists to congregate in villages outside of Nantucket Town.

Something to consider is the distance of the Wauwinet House from the town and the necessity to provide services around the clock. There are currently no known references to on-site housing for hotel employees at the Wauwinet House or most other hotels and inns of the period. It can be assumed in this instance that there would have been some form of accommodation for at least a handful of hotel staff in order to maintain the property and provide services.

From World War I to World War II the entire nation experienced multiple economic and social shifts that left a lasting impact on the lodging industry on Nantucket. Besides the World Wars, events such as Prohibition and the Great Depression played significant roles in Nantucket's lodging industry. Two notable periods that can be seen in the chart below are from 1904 to 1909 and from 1930 to 1940. The first of these is interesting because the population and winter residency of the island remained the same while the summer residency significantly declined. The exact reason or reasons is yet unknown, though the St. Louis World's Fair of 1904 may have been a major factor in the decline in summer tourism. The second period from 1930 to 1940 is fascinating because the population of Nantucket drops while the winter and especially summer residency boom. It can be inferred that the Great Depression affected year-round residents the same as it did on the mainnland, but that the allure of the island as an escape was stronger than ever.

The Sea Cliff Inn was, historically, one of Nantucket's largest hotels and was situated on Cliff Road just north of the wharves of Nantucket Town. It stood as a testament of the tourism-centered economy that arose during the previous era, offering many rooms to guests looking to stay near town and the beaches. The Sea Cliff Inn prospered during the beginning of this period as summer tourism was consistently high enough to open back up for the next season.

A deeper understanding of the hotel is found in the letters of F. Chester Adams, stored in the archives of the Nantucket Historical Association, who gives full accounts of the operations of the Sea Cliff Inn in 1917. In the postcard to his mother on the right, Adams points out that he and other employees are housed in an adjacent addition to the building which is indicated with an arrow on the left of the card. This is one of the very few cases of documentation of where hotel or inn employees stayed while employed.

While Adams claimed that both the Sea Cliff Inn and its employees struggled to make ends meet during the early summer months, his experience was entirely different later in the season. By August, droves of tourists arrived in Nantucket and large hotels were hard pressed to accommodate them all.

An article from the Inquirer & Mirror in 1937 documents another interesting phenomenon that was increasingly common during this period. The owners of the Sea Cliff Inn operated other hotels so that Nantucket was the summer escape and Florida in this case was the winter resort. This ensured that the proprietors were operating thriving businesses in all seasons. The impact that this left on the Nantucket however, is that fewer places of lodging were operated by year-round islanders as time went on.

Nantucket experienced a lull in the wake of the Second World War which soon transitioned to a complete resurgence of the island's industry, especially Nantucket Town. The docks were in desperate need of repair, the accommodations at nearly every hotel and inn were outdated and insufficient, and the island was once again in need of restoring its economy.

The White Elephant located near Brant Point is an excellent example of hostelry to examine for this period. It is a historic hotel which first opened in the early 20 ^th  century which Walter Beinecke Jr. later acquired. The most evident shift in the lodging industry during this period as evidenced by the White Elephant is the prioritization of tourist appeal over preservation. During the early 1960s, while Beinecke was beginning to rebuild areas of Nantucket Town with a focus on seasonal tourism, the White Elephant was razed and rebuilt in a similar, though mostly new fashion. Additionally, the historic Breakers hotel, which had been annexed by the White Elephant decades prior, was demolished and replaced with a newer structure. The primary goal of this construction was not preservation, but to provide larger rooms and modern conveniences to prospective summer tourists.

Supposedly, many of the craftsmen who worked on the White Elephant's alterations at the time were year-round islanders and presumably did not require housing during their employment. There is currently housing for employees of the White Elephant just outside of Nantucket Town, within commuting distance to the hotel. Unlike many of the historic hotels and inns that provided housing, the White Elephant and many places of lodging on the island today have adopted off-site accommodations for their employees if any at all.

The general mapping and organization of Nantucket's historical places of lodging paves the way for further research which includes, but is not limited to:

• Exploring the Tourists' General Registry Agency's role in promoting Nantucket's hostelry
• Examining recurring proprietors of the island's inns, hotels, and boarding houses
• Comparing and contrasting modern lodging to the past
• Investigating the period from 1975 to the present
• Proposing how Nantucket can preserve a legacy of boarding and lodging with limited remaining historical resources

• Lamb, Jane. Wauwinet: as It Was…is Now…and Ever Shall Be! Privately Published, 1990.
• Lancaster, Clay. Holiday Island: The Pageant of Nantucket’s Hostelries and Summer Life from its Beginnings to the Mid-twentieth Century. Nantucket: Nantucket Historical Association, 1993.
• Gilbreth Jr., Frank B. Innside Nantucket. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1954
• Godfrey, Edward K. The Island of Nantucket: What It Was and What It Is: Being a Complete Index and Guide to This Noted Resort ... Including Its History, People, Agriculture, Botany, Conchology, and Geology. Boston: Lee and Shepard, 1882.