Published On Nov 5, 2023
Peaceful walking tour along the amazing bluff walk of 'Sconset on the Island of Nantucket. Relax and walk through the village and its historic homes.
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0:00 Introduction
4:20 Sconset Foot Bridge
12:20 Sconset Bluff Walk (Northbound)
35:44 Sconset Bluff Walk (Southbound)
58:40 Codfish Park Road
1:04:08 Historic Homes
1:08:50 Sconset Market
1:13:36 King Street
1:20:55 Main Street
1:26:50 South Sconset
This video is one of three filmed on Nantucket in August 2023.
People say:
Siasconset, as âSconset is properly but rarely called, derives its name from an Indian word meaning ânear the great whale bone.â The village was first settled three centuries ago as a whaling outpost, centered about a lookout tower for spotting the giant sea mammals as they swam off âSconsetâs shores. Many of âSconsetâs cottages date from these early origins, from rough-hewed 17th and 18th century fishermenâs shanties. They have been altered and added on to over the centuries, of course, but in scale and style they remain true to their history.
Like so many others whoâve enjoyed the walk, I have William J. Flagg to thank for it. Flagg was a forward-thinking Nantucket resident and developer, who, in the late 1800s, could see even then that Nantucket in general, âSconset in particular, with its towering bluffs and endless ocean scenery, would grow in value and exclusivity. To help offset that he built into the deeds of the house lots he was creating on the eastern end of the island a public right of way. His foresight became a gift to future generations.
Not only does âSconset today carry physical embodiments of the past in its architecture, the village also maintains an air of peacefulness that was noted long ago. âI had never before seen a spot better calculated to cherish contemplative ideas,â an 18th century visitor wrote, âperfectly unconnected with the great world, and far removed from its perturbations.â Itâs a description that many who know âSconset would fondly apply nowadays.
One island, two towns: Nantucket and âSconsetâNantucket town placed centrally on the islandâs harbor, the village of âSconset clustered at its eastern end, looking out into the Atlantic Ocean. How could there exist in the midst of one of the most charming, historic, and beautiful islands in the world, a village even more remote, more trapped in time, more evocative and whimsical, dare one say, even more beautiful than Nantucket itself?
This difference within such similarity is captured by a well-known tale that has achieved the quality of a local myth: Two ladies stand in the ticket line at an airport in Athens, Greece. One notices that the other is wearing a Nantucket lightship basket on her arm. She taps her on the shoulder and says, âI couldnât help noticing that youâre from Nantucket, and so am I.â To which the other replies, âO heavens, no, my dear, I am from âSconset!â
It is difficult to describe the essence of âSconset, except to hint that it is perhaps indescribable. Edward Underhill, one of the villageâs early promoters, comes very close:
"Life out-of-doors, under awnings on the beach or in hammocks; saunters or rides over moors laden with perfumes of wildflowers; lawn tennis; croquet; golf; baseball; cycling; straw-rides in odd-shaped Nantucket box wagons or carts; âsquantums.â (Squantum is half picnic and half clambake.) Indoors, social gatherings; evening entertainments; games; music; dancing."
âSconset is a kind of refinement, or elixir, of all that makes Nantucket belovedâa community of beauty, set against a backdrop of history, with a magic all its own.
"Situation, 120 miles S.E. of the Hub of the Universe; 50 miles out in the Ocean. Nearest land East, Portugal. Ditto South, the West Indies. Neither in sight. 200 houses, big and little, perched on a grassy bluff. Such is âSconset. Real name SIAsconset⌠.A place with a history written and unwrittenâmostly unwritten. A veritable PATCHWORK village."
--E. F. Underhillâs âSconset in a Nutshell, 1895
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