Breakfast was served in the hotel 'cafe' this morning - homemade granola, muffins, fruit cups. It was very nice. We noticed last night that most things don't seem to open until 10am so we planned on taking our time this morning. That was until 7am when the clock/bell on the island chimed 52 times. I'm not sure where the clock is but it must be nearby because I did hear it a couple of times during the night.
I googled the clock and found out that the clock is linked by GPS to the Royal Navel Observatory in Greenwich, England which means it is accurate to within a thousandth of a second. The clock is linked to a church bell which strikes on the hour but also rings 52 times at 7am, noon & 9pm. The 52 rings last precisely 3mins. In days gone by, it was intended to let Islanders know when to wake up, when to break for lunch and when to go home to bed.
We went to the Visitor Information Centre this morning to ask about the whale watching tours. They gave us a brochure but said we had to ring the company direct. I did that but was told no whale watching boats would be going out over the time we were here because of the weather. So, we have booked on a sunset harbour cruise for late Sunday afternoon. It is the only day forecast to be sunny so fingers crossed.
We spent the next couple of hours wandering around looking in some shops and around the wharf areas until it was time to go back to the Visitor centre to get on our tour bus. We had chosen this tour - Tours with Gail - because of the hotel recommendation and the fact she has won best tour for the last 20yrs. Gail is a 6th generation Nantucket resident. I expected that she would give us lots of information on the history of Nantucket but she didn't.
Nantucket was inhabited by native Indians until 1641 when it was given to Thomas Mayhew and his son. Nantucket has a big history of whaling which we will discover when we go to the Whaling Museum tomorrow. Now the main business is tourism.
As we drove around, Gail pointed out the homes belonging to many famous residents - Jerry Stiller, Peter Benchley, Tommy Hilfiger and John Kerry among them. Properties on Nantucket are among some of the most expensive in the United States. We looked in a Real Estate window and saw some houses for sale $5mil, $7mil and the most expensive at just under $23mil.
All the houses on Nantucket look the same. Apart from the occasional brick house we have seen in town, they are all grey and white. Most houses are made of cedar which turns grey within 2yrs. They are not allowed to use any other colour. The houses are nice and most have hedges to give privacy, but it is boring to have them all the same.
One row of houses up on the bluff, is in serious danger of falling into the sea from erosion. There has been a couple of big storms which has eroded chunks from the cliffs. Although they are trying to stabilise it with special piping, most residents have already moved their houses. Firstly, they all had to be raised with new foundations placed underneath because a recent hurricane resulted in the street flooding. Secondly, they are picking the houses up and moving them closer to the road, away from the cliff. Some have even moved their house to the other side of the road. They were lucky enough to have also owned that land. Imagine the cost of moving your house! Money doesn't seem to be an issue for those residents. Most of them only come here for the summer. Gail told us the yard sales at the end of the season were worth going to because people were packing up for the season. They will be on tomorrow and there will be a list of addresses in the local paper.
The oldest house on Nantucket was built on 1686. It was struck by lightening in 1987 and part of the roof was destroyed. It has been rebuilt to look exactly as it did in 1686.
There are 3 lighthouses on Nantucket. We stopped at the Sankaty Lighthouse. This one is up on the bluff and was in danger of going over the cliff so it was moved 405ft northwest in 2007. It was very windy and cold up there so we didn't stay out very long.
Nantucket has 2 cranberry bogs. It is cranberry season at the moment so Gail drove us out there. The first one we saw had been harvested yesterday so unfortunately the sea of red had gone. We stopped and got out at the second one which they hadn't flooded yet. We could see the red berries growing on the plants. The plants are very small and there was a lot of grass and poison ivy growing around too.
We stopped at the old mill which was built in 1746 and is the oldest operating mill in the USA. It wasn't operating today as it is weather dependant but 2 of the millers were there and came out to talk to us. They grind corn in the same way they did in the 1700s.
We got back into the town about 3pm. We hadn't had lunch so wandered down to the tavern on the wharf. We had a couple of cocktails and some finger food but it closed at 4pm. Seems very early to close when there were people around.
Tomorrow is supposed to be wet and windy again so we are going to visit the Whaling Museum and the Shipwreck Museum.