In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex I then made it a mission to visit the Whaling Museum on Nantucket. In the spring I purchased the tickets to get there on the Hyline Cruise Line, and this week Don and I headed off to Nantucket. The book tells the true story of the Essex, the ispiration for Herman Melville's classic, Moby Dick. We made reservations in the wonderful, quaint Anchor Inn.
I would highly recommend going to Nantucket especially in the fall when crowds are down. The hotels are discounted and many of the stores have great sales. Our weather for mid October was spectacular, calm seas and warm temperatures. On the first day we visited the Whaling Museum and it was well worth the visit. Wonderful artifacts and presentations on whaling and the island kept us there for
the entire afternoon. The photo below is the view of the harbor from the walk at the top of the museum.
The food on the island was excellent and many fine restaurants abound, although many close near mid October. On day two we took an island tour with Gail, a fifth generation island resident. There was nothing she diid not know and much of what we learned was fascinating and puzzling as well. Below is the island's oldest house, the Jethro Coffin House built in 1686. The windmill is one of the oldest operating windmills in the United States. The lighthouse shown is the Sankaty Headlight which has been moved 400 feet back from the ocean's edge as the Army Corps of Engineers predicted it would soon fall off the bluff. Another interesting fact we learned was that the island only has 400 years left to exist, a mere blip of geological time. The island is really just a large sand bar in the Atlantic Ocean, and is eroding at a rapid rate of over three feet per year. Island residents are spending fortunes moving the houses back a few feet so that they can keep them for at least their lifetime. Another interesting tidbit we learned was that island residents have a very high incidence of dyslexia and autism within their population, certainly a genetic anomaly.
Below Don and I stopped for a photo op in Hyannis. We couldn't resist this beautiful church with thousands of pumpkins displayed. All in all a great short trip
