Nantucket Family Vacations

Named by the native Wampanoag Indians, members of the Algonquin family, named this island 30 miles off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts "Natockete" -- "faraway place." It was eventually changed to Nantucket, which means "faraway island." The legend is Maushop went to sleep on a beach on Cape Cod and got sand in his moccasins. Irritated, he kicked one off and it flew into the ocean and became Martha's Vineyard. When sand in the other moccasin woke him again, he kicked it off even farther and it became the island known as Nantucket.

Quaker families arrived on the island in the 1700s and shortly thereafter, sperm whales became the island's bread and butter. Oil from the sperm whales was as good as oil we use today and the island thrived as the Whaling Capital of the World. Whaling dwindled with the whale population and the invention of electricity and modern machinery, and the island fell into disarray, further succumbing when the Great Fire of 1846 nearly destroyed the island. The sleepy island was eventually discovered by the wealthy of Boston and New York as a quaint and quiet summer resort, and soon it became and remains one of New England's most popular summer destinations.

You won't find amusement parks and throes of miniature golf courses here. This island is a step back in time and remains a quiet place to bond with the family while riding a bike across the 80-mile island, enjoying an intimate beach, shopping in Harbor Town, and sailing off the island's Atlantic Coasts. This is a place to visit to escape smart phones, video games, Internet and TVs. Instead, sit on a front porch overlooking a white picket fence and count the fireflies.