74 topographic sheets and 7 fire insurance atlases across 1 place.
4 National Register listings published here, 2 of them National Historic Landmarks · 7 businesses named in the fire insurance atlases from 1892 to 1904 · the county-history sources name 1 person · people the book names include Julia A. Eastman (Nantucket Town, 1889) (machine-read).
Sources: the county history on the Internet Archive · the National Register database, National Park Service
Taken for the Office of War Information and the Farm Security Administration, who photographed the country between 1935 and 1944. Works of United States government photographers, with no known restriction on use. Each opens its catalogue record.
Every property in this county listed on the National Register of Historic Places, with the year it was listed and the federal nomination document.
| Photograph | Property | Type | Listed | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Brant Point Light Station | structure | 1987 | 87002029 |
 | Jethro Coffin House | building | 1968 | 68000019 |
 | Nantucket Historic District | district | 1966 | 66000772 |
 | Sankaty Head Light | structure | 1987 | 87002028 |
Drawn when these were printed as single large sheets: the town seen from the air, and the county divided into its farms with every owner named. Each opens the original at the Library of Congress.
Selected from the Digital Public Library of America's 5,012 image records catalogued for this county. Every one shown here carries a public-domain status or a licence that permits reuse on a site that carries advertising; non-commercial, share-alike and restricted images are excluded. The selection is spread across the county's towns (at most eight per town), so no single institution's bulk upload crowds out the rest. Each opens the holding library's record, and the complete set at the Digital Public Library of America is one click away.
Flown by the U.S. Geological Survey between 1937 and 1989, the Aerial Photo Single Frames collection is the definitive mid-century view of the land: fields, roads and rivers as the camera saw them. The Survey holds 314 frames inside the rectangle that bounds this county; the 28 frames below were taken over the county itself, chosen across the decades of flights (at most four a year from that rectangle), so one flight cannot crowd out the rest. The full set is free to browse and download at EarthExplorer under the dataset Aerial Photo Single Frames.
The thermometers that kept this county's weather, as the federal records hold them. The extremes below are measured values from those records, not estimates.
Who lived here in 1950, one enumeration district at a time, as the Census Bureau described each district. Each row opens its official National Archives result, with Population Schedules and ED Maps available there.
Every Sanborn volume opens with a printed index naming the town's mills, tanneries, hotels and works by proprietor. Those indexes were read off the scanned sheets by machine and then matched to each other, so a business surveyed four times appears here once, with the years it survived. None of these 7 was named in more than one atlas. Each carries a crop of the line it was read from: the spelling is the recogniser's and the 1880s lithographer's, and the scan behind it is the proof.
Every wildfire the federal occurrence database records inside this county: 19 of them, burning about 6 acres. 1 started naturally and 4 were recorded as arson. Each settlement page carries the fires within five miles of it.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 4 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 2 |
| Smoking | 2 |
| Other causes | 1 |
| Debris and open burning | 1 |
| Natural | 1 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 1 |
The five largest, by the area the report gives. Two of them were set deliberately.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 March 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 1.0 acres | Massachussetts State Fire Marshal's Office | not named |
| 14 April 2005 | Debris and open burning | 1.0 acres | Massachussetts State Fire Marshal's Office | not named |
| 28 April 2006 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.0 acres | Massachussetts State Fire Marshal's Office | not named |
| 22 July 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 1.0 acres | Massachussetts State Fire Marshal's Office | not named |
| 1 September 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 29 March 2019 | Other causes | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 10 April 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
| 8 May 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Massachusetts Bureau of Forest Fire Control | not named |
Every settlement page carries the fires within five miles of it - see the settlement index below.
The NOAA Storm Events Database holds 25 reports for this county, causing no deaths, no injuries and about $20,500 in recorded property damage. Each settlement page carries the reports that name it.
| Kind of event | Reports |
|---|---|
| Heavy Rain | 7 |
| Thunderstorm Wind | 6 |
| Flood | 6 |
| Lightning | 3 |
| Hail | 2 |
| Funnel Cloud | 1 |
The most serious of them, by death, then injury, then recorded damage. The accounts are quoted exactly as the forecast office filed them.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 2017 | Lightning | Nantucket | $10,000 | The Nantucket Mirror newspaper reported two lightning strikes that caused damage. The first strike was to a home on Friendship lane, causing a small portion of the wall to be blown out and the flashing near the chimney to be bent upward. The second strike was to the Nantucket High School, causing a gymnasium window to be broken. |
| June 2006 | Flood | Countywide | $5,000 | no account filed |
| August 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Nantucket | $2,500 | On Nantucket, although the worst part of the storm passed just offshore to the north, on Jetties Beach tables were overturned and umbrellas broken at a restaurant. One person was hit by flying debris but not injured. Also, the fire department reported a tree down blocking Goose Pond Ln. |
| August 2023 | Lightning | Nantucket | $1,000 | In Nantucket, a house was struck by lightning on Goose Pond Ln. Shingles on the roof were thrown off by the strike. |
| March 2016 | Lightning | Nantucket | $1,000 | Lightning struck a house on Wanoma Way in Nantucket, damaging the chimney. |
| July 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Nantucket | $1,000 | Shingles were blown off a house on Barrett Farm Road by thunderstorm winds. |
| May 2020 | Flood | Nantucket | - | Minor street flooding was reported in downtown Nantucket with water up to sidewalks. |
| May 2020 | Flood | Nantucket | - | Washington Street was closed due to flooding. |
| October 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | (Ack)Nantucket Mem A | - | In Nantucket at 741 PM EDT, the ASOS at the Nantucket Airport (KACK) recorded a wind gust to 60 mph. |
| June 2020 | Hail | (Ack)Nantucket Mem A | - | Dime size hail was reported on Nantucket. |
| August 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | (Ack)Nantucket Mem A | - | The Nantucket Airport KACK Automated Surface Observation Station measured a wind gust to 62 mph at 407 AM EST (507 AM EDT). |
| July 2016 | Flood | Nantucket | - | One of the control tower operators at Nantucket Memorial Airport reported flooding in the parking lot of the airport, with cars stalled due to the depth of the water. Amateur radio operators reported eight inches of water flooding Sparks Avenue. A report on social media indicated significant flooding in the main airport loop, but no stalled cars a couple of hours after the report from the control tower operator. |
| December 2014 | Flood | Nantucket | - | Heavy rain resulted in several sections of Orange Street, Bartlett Road, and Sparks Avenue flooded with up to one foot of water. This was compounded by high tide occurring which inhibited the draining of water. |
| November 2014 | Flood | Nantucket | - | Union Street was closed at Francis Street and Orange Street and Washington Street was closed at Coffin Street due to flooding. Portions of Easy Street were also closed due to flooding. |
| March 2003 | Heavy Rain | Countywide | - | no account filed |
| March 2000 | Heavy Rain | Nantucket | - | no account filed |
| April 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | (Ack)Nantucket Mem A | - | no account filed |
| October 1999 | Heavy Rain | (Ack)Nantucket Mem A | - | no account filed |
| September 1998 | Funnel Cloud | Nantucket | - | no account filed |
| December 1996 | Heavy Rain | Countywide | - | no account filed |
| September 1996 | Heavy Rain | Countywide | - | no account filed |
| September 1996 | Heavy Rain | Countywide | - | no account filed |
| October 1996 | Heavy Rain | Countywide | - | no account filed |
| April 1982 | Hail | not stated | - | no account filed |
| April 1958 | Thunderstorm Wind | not stated | - | no account filed |
The Survey's mineral resources record lists 3 workings inside this county. 1 still produces and 2 are closed or unrecorded. Each settlement page carries the workings within five miles of it.
| Commodity | Workings |
|---|---|
| Sand and Gravel, Construction | 3 |
The least common of them first, because a county's hundredth gravel pit says nothing its first ten did not.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cape Cod and Islands Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Glowacki Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Nantucket Construction Company | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
Museum specimens collected in and around this county - inside the rectangle that bounds it - and catalogued with a date and a place: 4,712 of them, by kingdom 2,796 plantae, 1,262 animalia, 394 fungi, 137 unrecorded, 116 chromista. Each is a physical object in a named collection, not a sighting. Held by VT, NY, YPM, USNM, KU, BPI among others, and each settlement page carries the specimens collected near it.
The oldest of them. A specimen proves something was collected on that day; its absence proves nothing.
| Photograph | Year | Species | Kingdom | Where | Collector | Catalogue |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 1825 | Rumex maritimus var. fueginus (Phil.) Dusén | Plantae | Martha's Vineyard. Block Id. | Collector unspecified | NY 2405614 |
 | 1827 | Chrysopsis falcata (Pursh) Elliott | Plantae | not stated | F. A. Greene | NY 2036847 |
 | 1827 | Platanthera flava (L.) Lindl. | Plantae | Nantucket. | T. A. Greene | NY 4120482 |
| 1829 | Desmodium rigidum (Elliott) DC. | Plantae | not stated | Oakes | NY 2568132 | |
 | 1831 | Ceramium cimbricum H.E.Petersen | Plantae | Nantucket. | not recorded | MEL MEL 2583076A |
 | 1836 | Gloeosporium polygoni Dearn. & House | Fungi | Nantucket Co. Cultivated Fields on Hummock Rd. | Guba E. F. | BPI BPI 395402A |
| 1848 | Chondria dasyphylla (Woodward) C.Agardh | Plantae | not stated | M. L. Owen | NY 02177113 | |
 | 1899 | Acer rubrum L. | Plantae | not stated | Nellie F. Flynn | VT UVMVT080894 |
Illustrated Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, Taunton, New Bedford, Fall River; a Guide and Souvenir to the Famous Resorts and Noted Cities of Southeastern Massachusetts, with Maps, List of Hotels, Rates, Time-tables, Etc devotes a chapter to each township: its boundaries and streams, who settled it and when, the mills, the schools and the churches. The one chapter is reproduced here in full. Each row shows the township's own shape and where it lies in the county, drawn from the Census Bureau's boundary. Which settlements belong to which township is computed from that same boundary, not taken from the book.
| Shape and position in the county | Township | Settlements in it | Length | Sections |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nantucket Town | Chadwicks Folly, Cisco, Codfish Park, Coskata, Fishers Landing, Further Creek, Head of Plains, Hoicks Hollow, Long Josephs Point, Madaket, Maddequet, Middle Pasture, Mikas Pond, Monomoy, Nantucket, Narrow Creek, North Pasture, Plainfield, Pocomo, Polpis, Quaise, Quidnet, Sesachacha, Shallow Pond, Shawkemo, Shimmo, Siasconset, Smooth Hummocks, South East Quarter, South Pasture, Squam, Surfside, The Plains, Town Pasture, Trots Hills, Warren Landing, Wauwinet | 17,013 words | 27 |
Everyone Illustrated Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, Taunton, New Bedford, Fall River; a Guide and Souvenir to the Famous Resorts and Noted Cities of Southeastern Massachusetts, with Maps, List of Hotels, Rates, Time-tables, Etc stops to write about, with the section that describes them. Among them are the men who founded the place and governed the Territory. Each name opens the passage itself, in the words of 1889.
Named settlements recorded in the Geographic Names Information System, each with the topographic sheets covering it. Villages, hamlets and abandoned places alike. Each is shown with the nearest named watercourse or landform and the survey quadrangle it falls on. The 1 place that was also surveyed for fire insurance comes first, with the number of atlases and photographs held for them.
Nantucket town · 02554 · Near Popsquatchet Hills · Siasconset quadrangle
32 sheets, 1889 to 1994
Fire insurance: 7 atlases
Nantucket town · 02554 · By Squam Head · Siasconset OE E quadrangle
31 sheets, 1889 to 1994
Nantucket town · 02564 · By Sankaty Head · Siasconset OE E quadrangle
31 sheets, 1889 to 1994
Nantucket town · 02554 · Near Long Hill · Nantucket quadrangle
32 sheets, 1889 to 1994
Nantucket town · 02554 · Near Esther Island · Nantucket quadrangle
30 sheets, 1887 to 1994
No longer a settlement
Nantucket town · 02554 · Near Quampache Bottom · Nantucket quadrangle
32 sheets, 1889 to 1994
No longer a settlement
Nantucket town · 02564 · By Sankaty Head · Siasconset OE E quadrangle
31 sheets, 1889 to 1994
Nantucket town · 02554 · Near Quampache Bottom · Nantucket quadrangle
32 sheets, 1889 to 1994
Nantucket town · 02554 · Near Long Hill · Nantucket quadrangle
32 sheets, 1889 to 1994
No longer a settlement
Nantucket town · 02564 · Near Sauls Hills · Siasconset quadrangle
32 sheets, 1889 to 1994
No longer a settlement
Nantucket town · 02554 · Near Sunset Hill · Siasconset quadrangle
32 sheets, 1889 to 1994
Nantucket town · 02554 · Near Nantucket Island · Siasconset quadrangle
32 sheets, 1889 to 1994
Nantucket town · 02554 · Near Esther Island · Nantucket quadrangle
30 sheets, 1887 to 1994
No longer a settlement
Nantucket town · 02554 · Near Shawkemo Hills · Siasconset quadrangle
32 sheets, 1889 to 1994
No longer a settlement
Nantucket town · 02564 · Near Cains Hill · Siasconset OE E quadrangle
31 sheets, 1889 to 1994
No longer a settlement
Nantucket town · 02554 · On Fulling Mill Creek · Siasconset quadrangle
32 sheets, 1889 to 1994
Nantucket town · 02554 · By Sankaty Head · Siasconset OE E quadrangle
31 sheets, 1889 to 1994
Nantucket town · 02554 · Near Swain Hill · Nantucket quadrangle
32 sheets, 1889 to 1994
Nantucket town · 02554 · Near Nantucket Island · Siasconset quadrangle
32 sheets, 1889 to 1994
Nantucket town · 02564 · Near Cains Hill · Siasconset OE E quadrangle
31 sheets, 1889 to 1994
Nantucket town · 02564 · On Phillips Run · Siasconset OE E quadrangle
31 sheets, 1889 to 1994
No longer a settlement
Nantucket town · 02554 · Near Nobadeer Valley · Siasconset quadrangle
32 sheets, 1889 to 1994
No longer a settlement
Nantucket town · 02554 · Near Nobadeer Valley · Siasconset OE S quadrangle
32 sheets, 1889 to 1994
Nantucket town · 02554 · Near Trots Hills · Nantucket quadrangle
32 sheets, 1889 to 1994
No longer a settlement
Nantucket town · 02554 · Near Sunset Hill · Siasconset quadrangle
32 sheets, 1889 to 1994
Nantucket town · 02554 · On Hither Creek · Nantucket quadrangle
32 sheets, 1889 to 1994
Nantucket town · 02554 · By Squam Head · Siasconset OE E quadrangle
31 sheets, 1889 to 1994
The vanished settlements of Nantucket County: the places named above that are no longer on the map.
32 topographic sheets and 7 fire insurance atlases, 1887 to 1949
Each is a separate federal document with its own page: a survey report, or the case file that argued a property on to the National Register. Both are public domain and reproduced word for word. There are too many to list here without burying the rest of this page.
The complete index for Nantucket County, and the vanished settlements.
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