Brant Point Light

Top choice in Nantucket


Welcoming ferries into Nantucket Harbor, this lighthouse was established in 1746 and is still in operation. It's quite tiny (only 26ft), but impossibly photogenic – you may see many wedding parties using it as a backdrop. It's well worth the walk or cycle.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Nantucket attractions

1. Children's Beach

0.4 MILES

Right in town, Children's Beach is heaven for young kids, with gentle water, a fun playground and picnic facilities. It's along S Beach St at the north…

2. Nantucket Whaling Museum

0.53 MILES

One of the island's highlights, this evocative museum occupies an 1847 spermaceti (whale oil) candle factory and the excellent exhibits relive Nantucket's…

3. Nantucket Atheneum

0.59 MILES

More than just the public library, this stately Greek Revival edifice is a sight in itself. The 2nd-floor Great Hall has hosted such notables as Ralph…

4. First Congregational Church

0.63 MILES

Everyone comes to this church, which traces its roots to the early 1700s, for the eagle-eye view from the top of the steeple. It's well worth the 94-step…

5. Nantucket Lightship Basket Museum

0.78 MILES

What the lighthouse is to the New England coast, the lightship was to the sea – essentially a floating lighthouse to warn of dangerous shoals or sandbars…

6. Hadwen House

0.84 MILES

A walk through the Nantucket Historical Association’s Hadwen House, a Greek Revival home built in 1845 by a whaling merchant, provides testimony to just…

7. Jethro Coffin House

0.84 MILES

Built in 1686, the Jethro Coffin House is the town’s oldest building still on its original foundation. It’s in a traditional ‘salt box’ style, with south…

8. Jetties Beach

0.88 MILES

Jetties Beach, 1 mile northwest of town via N Beach St, is the best all-round beach close to town. It's well equipped with changing rooms, a skateboard…