NANTUCKET: YESTERDAY'S ISLAND

NANTUCKET: YESTERDAY'S ISLAND Story and photography by Margaret & Eric Anderson
	The Wauwinet (800-426-8718 wauwinet.com) is a 35-roomed Relais & Chateaux resort built as a restaurant in 1876. Then, three vessels a day offered boat service Up Harbor. Cottages were added later but by the early 1980s the run-down inn was failing. It was bought in 1986 and completely rebuilt by two New England enthusiasts and again recently refurbished to be the quintessential Nantucket experience: Expensive but value for money with a lot of things to do that don't cost extra. For example, private beaches and 26 miles of deserted beaches beyond. Jitney services to Nantucket town nine miles away. Four wheel drive nature excursions along the beaches. Sunrise and sunset cruises. Bicycles, row boats, sea kayaks and Sunfishes -- and tennis. Golf on two public 9-hole courses. And the inn's award-winning restaurant, Topper's (named after the innkeepers' Welsh Terrier) has a wine list of 1800 labels and 20,000 bottles.



If living a life of luxury in an idyllic location seems too self-indulgent, you can do the same in town at the White Elephant, a newly restored elegant hotel on Easton Street, a five minute walk from the harbor. Like the Wauwinet, the White Elephant (800-ISLANDS whiteelephanthotel.com) has a prize-winning restaurant, the Brant Point Grill, arguably the best in Nantucket Town.

It also has a history; it started as an collection of vacation cottages in 1917 so dilapidated its owner heard her property described as her white elephant. The name stuck. The waterfront site, however, was perfect. The buildings were moved and in the early 1960s a new hotel was added maintaining the past well enough to qualify for inclusion at the Library of Congress as a Historic American Building. The property was purchased in the fall of 1999 and after a major renovation has re-opened as Nantucket Town's premiere hotel. Like the Wauwinet, the 54-roomed White Elephant offers, complimentary, a hearty breakfast and afternoon cheese and wine-tasting and jitney services.

Families coming to Nantucket and looking for something less upscale -- and with a swimming pool -- might check out the Harbor House Village (800-ISLANDS harborhousevillage.com) in the historic downtown and two short blocks from the ferry. SUGGESTIONS: Nantucket Island Chamber of Commerce 508-228-1700 nantucketchamber.org If you are taking the first fast ferry in the morning, the one-hour Hy-Line Ferry (800-492-8082 hy-linecruises.com) that leaves Hyannis at 6:30 am, stay the night before at the Hyannis Harbor Hotel on Ocean Street (508-775-4420 hyannisharborhotel.com ), 50 paces from the ferry dock. If you are flying Cape Air (800-352-0714) from Boston, the new Harborside Hyatt (800-233-1234 harborside.hyatt.com) is right there with a five-minute shuttle to the airport Nantucket is pricey. If you've come back to Hyannis with a wallet smaller than the one you left with -- and your kids say THEY'RE still on vacation consider the recently redone Cape Codder Resort & Spa on Iyanough Road (888-297-2200 capecodderresort.com) owned and run by the Catania family. Great food, reasonable prices and the mother of all indoor pools: 2-foot waves with 50 foot and 80 foot water slides. The kids will love it.