THE TOWN OF NANTUCKET. 5 



"And what a town! Not very large, indeed; once 

 having a population of 10,000 souls, now less than 

 4,000 ; quaint, a choice bit of antiquity, as antiquity 

 goes in this country ; seated like an empress on her 

 throne, upon the rising shore and encircling bluffs, 

 and looking out on the peaceful harbor, and beyond 

 on the restless sea. Historic in respect to a great in- 

 dustry, now as dead as the issues of the late ' un- 

 pleasantness ' ; the nursery of noted men and high-bred 

 women; and although in decadence as a seaport, com- 

 ing to renown and a new pre-eminence as a summer 

 resort which, once visited, is visited again, and always 

 remembered with delight and affectionate longing." 



Arrived safely at Nantucket wharf, you find the 

 usual crowd of hackmen, teamsters, and express- 

 men, — the jolliest, kindest, and wittiest set of human 

 beings upon the face of the globe, — ready to take you 

 and your baggage to any hotel or boarding-house which 

 you may have selected. There are five hotels in the 

 town, and innumerable boarding-houses, and all are 

 worthy of patronage. 



The first question usually asked by the tourist, upon 

 his arrival in any place, is, " What are the principal 

 objects of interest in this locality? " There is cer- 

 tainly enough upon the little island of Nantucket to 

 entertain, instruct, and amuse the historian, the sci- 

 entist, the seeker after pleasure, the curious, the an- 

 tiquarian, the relic hunter. Perhaps the first on the 

 list is the Athenaeum, with its fine library, and museum 

 of wonderful and rare things, brought from " over the 

 sea," from the burning sands of the " gold coast," 

 from the frozen North, from the isles of the Pacific, 



