Nantucket Blog

Old Brant Point Lighthouse // 1856

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Located nearby the present Brant Point Lighthouse on Nantucket, the old lighthouse remains as a significant piece of island history preserved. In the 1740s, Nantucket’s whaling industry was growing fast, so at a town meeting in 1746, it was determined that a lighthouse at Brant Point was to be built, to mark the point around which all vessels passed as they entered the island’s inner harbor. On or near this site, nine lighthouses stood, guiding ships into and out of the harbor. This brick tower and attached keeper’s house were constructed in 1856. The tower itself was brick, topped by sandstone, which supported the lantern. The cast-iron lantern had twelve windows. A circular iron staircase led to the lantern, situated forty-seven feet above the ground. By the 1850s, Nantucket faced a sudden decline after the invention of kerosene, cut the need for whale oil and a growing sandbar blocked the harbor. The shifting sands would eventually require a new lighthouse built nearby, the present 1901 wooden lighthouse. The 1856 tower was retained ever since and is an important historical artifact for Nantucket’s maritime history.

Andrew Myrick House // 1755

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Nantucket is an old house lovers dream. A large part of the reason for this is that much of the island was designated as a local historic district in 1955, making it one of the earliest historic districts in the United States! This means that since 1955, the Nantucket Historic District Commission has been overseeing the island’s preservation, demolitions and alterations to historic buildings. This is the Andrew Myrick House located on Orange Street. The Georgian dwelling was built in 1755 by Andrew Myrick (1704-1777), a shipbuilder and storekeeper who was born in Charlestown, Massachusetts and eventually settled on island, constructing this home for his family. He and his wife Jedidiah had over 16 children, some of which died in childhood. Myrick would eventually hang himself at the age of 71. The home remained in the family until 1827. Fun fact: Andrew’s grandson, Peter Myrick was said to have set sail from Nantucket in 1833 in search of sea serpents. He came back empty handed.