Destination of the Week
Nantucket Beds
Sophia Banay,
09.15.05, 12:30 AM ET
New York -
Some say Nantucket, like the Hamptons, is best
enjoyed from the comfort of a friend's summer house.
In the wealthiest East Coast enclaves, the most
desirable real estate--sprawling beach-side houses
off some quiet lane named after a pond or a
bird--belongs to home-owners, and not luxury hotel
chains. In fact, luxury hotels are few and far
between in the best neighborhoods, and where they do
exist, visitors must face the indignity of paying
over $525 per night to stay in them while their
luckier friends, with home-owning friends of their
own in the area, stay for free.
Visitors to Nantucket don't have to make the
compromise, however. They can stay in a luxury inn
with rooms decorated and maintained to feel like
their very own, or at least their new Nantucket best
friend's--and a very generous best friend at that.
One who has granola made from a secret recipe and
shipped from Nebraska. One who spends $500 a day
just on blueberries, raspberries and blackberries.
Welcome to breakfast at The Century House,
the oldest continuously operating inn on Nantucket.
Built on land purchased in 1833, The Century
House was completed in the 1840s on a spot noted for
its privacy and ocean views. Although the subsequent
development of the island has almost obscured the
ocean view, the spot is still a serene five minute
walk from Nantucket's busy town center.
The Inn's 16 rooms are all named after natural
flora or fauna: "Daylily," "Partridge Berry" or
"Thistle." The homey feel of the rooms is enhanced
by mantelpieces crammed with good beach reading, and
a brightly colored bag with beach towels hangs
waiting in the bathroom as if placed by a
considerate host, and not a member of the
housekeeping staff. Rooms are decorated with Laura
Ashley and Ralph Lauren wall hangings, wall paper
and bedding, and antique mirrors and beds,
fireplaces and paintings by local Nantucket artists
(the innkeepers sponsor an "artist in residence"
program) make every room unique.
Molton Brown toiletries in the bathroom and free
wireless Internet throughout the hotel prove that
the Inn hasn't stayed stuck in the 19th century,
however. Televisions with DVD players sit hidden
within antique wardrobes, and each floor has an
unobtrusive complimentary computer station, where
you can check your e-mail, the weather or your stock
quotes. The innkeepers believe that computers
encroach on guests' relaxation, which is why the
workstations, though very accessible, aren't
consolidated into a larger business center.
One highlight of a stay at The Century House is
breakfast, where guests enjoy a variety of berries,
scones, muffins, coffee cake, yogurt, granola,
juice, coffee and fruit. Breakfast is complimentary,
as is the chocolate, freshly baked cookies, crackers
and cheese placed in the Inn's central dining room
throughout the day. These snacks are a good chance
for fortification before setting off to explore the
island on bicycles: The picturesque towns of Sconset
and Madaket are both well within biking distance,
and Cliff beach, a good spot for kite- and
wind-surfing, entails a stroll past Tommy Hilfiger's
house.
If you find yourself charmed by a visit to The
Century House, you won't be the first. The executive
producers of Wings, the 1990s sitcom about
brothers running an airline out of Nantucket, chose
The Century House as the representative Nantucket
home on the island. One glance at the wrap-around
veranda, grey-shingled facade and outdoor patio
where guests eat breakfast and store their bikes,
and you won't want to leave, either.
Forbes Fact
The word "Nantucket" has its roots in a Native
American word that loosely translates to "faraway
island." The 14 by 3.5 mile island had been settled
by 1,500 Wampanoag Native Americans before it was
discovered in 1602, and was resettled by the English
in 1659. For much of the 1800s, until 1840,
Nantucket was considered the whaling capital of the
world, with 88 Nantucket whaling ships fully
operational. By 1849, however, a great fire on the
island and waning demand for whale oil, coupled with
California's gold rush, brought on an economic
depression in Nantucket. Fewer new buildings were
built, meaning that the town was aesthetically
frozen in the mid-19th century, with quaint shingled
houses dominating the landscape. The depression was
only reversed with the introduction of tourism as
the island's major industry, at which point the
modest grey houses became one of Nantucket's most
recognizable features.
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