Fourth of July in Nantucket – Part One

Hi friends, welcome back! Today I’m sharing the first part of our Fourth of July trip to Nantucket! As you could’ve guessed, I absolutely LOVED Nantucket! I loved the slower pace, the never-ending scent of hydrangeas and roses, and the classic Nantucket cottages (well more like sprawling mansions!). I’ve always wanted to go to Nantucket, so last September we finally reserved a hotel for Fourth of July weekend, one of the busiest weekends on the island. The ten months wait flew by as you can imagine, and a few weeks after getting home from our honeymoon, Jon and I headed off to Nantucket!

If you’re wondering about the logistics, there are a few options to get to the island of Nantucket. You can fly, take a direct five-hour ferry from NYC, or you can drive to the ferry in Hyannis and take either a one hour or two and a half hour ferry over. I looked into the ferry from NYC, but it only departed on Fridays and returned Sundays, so that was out of the question, plus the boat is out of service until end of July. In a perfect world that’s what we would’ve done because it’s the fastest route door to door. Jon and I ended up driving about 5 hours from NYC to Hyannis and parked our car in the ferry’s offsite lot. From there we rode the free shuttle to the port to drop off our luggage. The offsite lot cost half the price ($17 vs. $35 a day) as the third-party parking spots closer to the ferry and the shuttles are very efficient, so I’d recommend parking in the offsite lot.

The drive to Hyannis took a little longer than we anticipated because we didn’t know about the offsite lot ahead of time, but I booked the 4:15pm ferry in anticipation of future obstacles. We dropped our bags off and I placed an online order for Barbone pizza so we could have lunch before we boarded the ferry. I felt a little rushed because the pizza wasn’t ready until about 3:25, so we found a picnic table along the bay and ate as fast as we could. The pizza tasted great, we both ordered the Pepperoni & Hot Honey.

Our rushing was in vain because we probably could’ve eaten and drank on the boat, but nonetheless we made it on the ferry!! The comfortable ride over lasted about an hour and we were greeted with large yachts and tons of boats as we pulled into Nantucket Bay. Jon and I gathered our luggage and headed in search of our room. We stayed at Seven Sea Street Inn and had an enjoyable stay. The room was in a great location, incredibly clean, quaint, and comfortable. We also enjoyed the fresh daily cookies!

After collecting ourselves in the room, Jon and I ventured out in search of Brant Point Lighthouse. Right away I was in love with all the hydrangeas in bloom and decided that they MUST be in my future yard one day – along with all the Golden Retrievers I saw! I also loved the roses growing up the sides of the houses and garages. Jon and I could’ve walked around the island for weeks, Nantucket was even more beautiful and colorful than I expected!

If you read my Portland posts, you know I love a lighthouse and this one was very cute! I especially loved the festiveness of the American flag draped over it for the holiday weekend. Brant Point Lighthouse is the first sight you see coming in from the ferry and the second oldest lighthouse in the country built in 1746.

One of my favorite pictures from the weekend!

We spent a little time at the beach and spotted the sailboat we were riding at the end of our trip!

Jon and I continued on our walk and saw some of the most magnificent houses, I just LOVE these homes and how well maintained they are. Each house was so well cared for and had the most immaculate landscaping.

I think Nantucket is the perfect escape from NYC because it has everything NYC lacks – peace and quiet, fresh air, beautiful beaches, and endless flowers and greenery. It’s too bad the restaurant scene isn’t as good as NYC or I’d start packing my bags 😉

Thanks for reading 🙂 Stay tuned for part two featuring our day in Sconset and even more beautiful homes!