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Losing the Night
The Last Catch
Keeping Nantucket
The Guilded Trap
The Monopolist in the Mist
To Sink a Barge
From Open Tables to Closed Circles
The Shovel and the Sea
The Offshore Question
The Borrowed Shore
The Service Estate
The 40B Fracture
What Petrel Landing Is — and Isn’t
Buried Truths
The Real Cost of Our Island Home
Dawn to Dusk
The End of the Golden Ticket
A Market for Drugs
The Nantucket Veto
The "Nantucket Gold" Myth
The Madaket Monopoly
Miacomet Pond To Be Dredged This Fall
Sparks Avenue’s Hidden Hand
The Sidewalk Bar
When the House Next Door
Raises Your Taxes
Latest Coverage
Economy
The Guilded Trap
How Nantucket’s pursuit of a low tax rate is reshaping the cost of staying
The Monopolist in the Mist
Walter Beinecke’s "Grand Design" saved the architecture of Nantucket, but did it kill the soul of the community?
From Open Tables to Closed Circles
Four years after the restaurant closures of 2022, Nantucket didn’t lose its dining scene — it changed who it serves
The Service Estate
When a Home Becomes an Industry
The Sidewalk Bar
A Symptom of the "Festival Fever"
Public Way, Private Pressure
A $630,000 grant cycle from the Great Harbor Yacht Club is funding eelgrass restoration, research, and new harbor equipment — highlighting the increasing role private philanthropy is playing in Nantucket’s public harbor management.
What private funding means for the future of harbor governance
What private funding means for the future of harbor governance
Consultant Island
On Nantucket, major public decisions increasingly arrive through outside reports — engineering studies, housing plans, financial analyses, and climate assessments produced by consultants brought in to guide policy.
When expertise arrives by ferry — and what it costs.
When expertise arrives by ferry — and what it costs.
The Island Price Premium
Everything — gas, groceries, services — costs more here. But the premium isn’t just dollar tags; it’s tied to transportation, labor costs, and scale.
→ Why “the price premium” is a community constraint.
→ Why “the price premium” is a community constraint.
The Economics of Orange Street
Redevelopment proposals aren’t just aesthetic; they are economic signals about land use, equity, and who gets priority.
Land and labor in a changing neighborhood.
Land and labor in a changing neighborhood.
The Nantucket Tax Reality
Property tax rates here look low on paper. But once you factor in assessed values, state income tax, vehicle excise, and the island’s higher cost structure, the burden looks different — especially for year-round households whose incomes haven’t kept pace with asset inflation.
Community
Community
Keeping Nantucket
Wendy Schmidt and the modern form of private stewardship on Nantucket
Buried Truths
The Nation of Women and the Flue of Secrets
The Real Cost of Our Island Home
Beyond the Town Budget and the ‘Family Tax’
When the Whalers Came West
The Long, Complex Ties Between Nantucket and Lahaina After the Fire
A Market for Drugs
Why demand — from seasonal labor to summer wealth — sustains the trade
The Hidden Pressure on Homeowners
Rising valuations are creating wealth on paper — but higher taxes, insurance, and carrying costs are making it harder for some longtime residents to stay.
The Island’s Front Door
How Secure Are the Boats to Nantucket?
Left Behind?
Nantucket’s Aging Population and the Island’s Safety Net
How Drugs Reach Nantucket
And Why Federal Investigators Are Watching.
The recent federal sentencing of a Nantucket resident for distributing fentanyl and cocaine offers a small glimpse into a much larger reality that rarely gets discussed openly: even an island 30 miles out to sea is not isolated from mainland drug markets.
The recent federal sentencing of a Nantucket resident for distributing fentanyl and cocaine offers a small glimpse into a much larger reality that rarely gets discussed openly: even an island 30 miles out to sea is not isolated from mainland drug markets.
The Island of Parallel Lines
The island’s blue-collar workforce built and maintains nearly everything you see, yet they often can’t afford to stay here long-term.
Examining the labor hidden behind the seasonal shine
Examining the labor hidden behind the seasonal shine
From Comets to Circles
Nantucket’s STEAM Festival Meets Pi Day
An Island Shared
From migratory birds along the Atlantic Flyway to seals hauling out on winter beaches, Nantucket is both a year-round community and an active wildlife corridor — where volunteers often step in when animals and human activity intersect
Turf on Trial
As Nantucket weighs a ban on artificial fields, the science — and the stakes — remain unsettled
The Island Price Premium
Everything — gas, groceries, services — costs more here. But the premium isn’t just dollar tags; it’s tied to transportation, labor costs, and scale.
→ Why “the price premium” is a community constraint.
→ Why “the price premium” is a community constraint.
Underground Tom
In the late 1980s, as housing prices surged, one man quietly built a small home beneath Nantucket’s State Forest. Thomas Johnson lived underground for nearly a decade before a hunter discovered the hidden hatch in 1998.
The story of the man who lived beneath the island
The story of the man who lived beneath the island
The Year-Round Squeeze
Housing prices on Nantucket have ballooned far beyond incomes for people keeping the island running — creating a widening gulf between market value and year-round livability.
Why price alone doesn’t measure community sustainability.
Why price alone doesn’t measure community sustainability.
More Than a Field
More Than a Field
Football at Capizzo Stadium isn’t just a game — it’s a mirror of community identity, investment priorities, and cultural continuity.
Sport as place and pressure point.
Football at Capizzo Stadium isn’t just a game — it’s a mirror of community identity, investment priorities, and cultural continuity.
Sport as place and pressure point.
The Nantucket Tax Reality
Property tax rates here look low on paper. But once you factor in assessed values, state income tax, vehicle excise, and the island’s higher cost structure, the burden looks different — especially for year-round households whose incomes haven’t kept pace with asset inflation.
Who actually carries the tax weight on Nantucket?
Who actually carries the tax weight on Nantucket?
Affordable Housing Audit
“Affordable” isn’t always affordable in practice. Dollars spent, units built, and outcomes delivered don’t always match the promises.
Accountability and what the numbers actually show.
Accountability and what the numbers actually show.
Managing the Herd
Managing the Herd
Nantucket’s white-tailed deer population has grown well beyond what biologists consider sustainable for an island this size, raising concerns about ecosystem damage and Lyme disease risk.
Managing a herd that has outgrown the island.
Nantucket’s white-tailed deer population has grown well beyond what biologists consider sustainable for an island this size, raising concerns about ecosystem damage and Lyme disease risk.
Managing a herd that has outgrown the island.
The Island That Endures
Some patterns persist generation after generation — but endurance isn’t the same as resilience, especially under modern pressures.
History as a lens on present stressors.
History as a lens on present stressors.
Development
THE 40B FRACTURE
Inside the 8-Year Struggle for the Future of Nantucket
The $3.7 Million "New Downtown" Gamble
Why Wall Street is Trading Doughnuts for Debt
When the House Next Door Raises Your Taxes
How Nantucket’s property assessment system can push valuations higher — even if a homeowner hasn’t changed their property.
When a Single Property Changes the Neighborhood
In Tom Nevers, an area long known for modest homes on large lots, one property offers a striking example of how redevelopment can transform the value profile of an entire neighborhood.
The Hidden Pressure on Homeowners
We’ve examined Nantucket’s year-round job market. Now we look at the housing pressure:
longtime homeowners facing rising taxes, insurance, and carrying costs.
Ecosystem
The Shovel and the Sea
How a local scalloper’s decades of "guerrilla openings" and a stint in jail transformed a radical act of protest into the island’s most vital environmental ritual
The Offshore Question
What the record shows about dredging sand east of Nantucket
The Borrowed Shore
How Long Can Nantucket Import Its Way Out of Erosion?
Miacomet Pond Will Be Dredged This Fall
The fully permitted project moves toward construction as ecological tradeoffs remain unresolved
An Island Shared
From migratory birds along the Atlantic Flyway to seals hauling out on winter beaches, Nantucket is both a year-round community and an active wildlife corridor — where volunteers often step in when animals and human activity intersect
Preparing the Nests
The Nantucket Conservation Foundation has been inspecting osprey nesting poles across its properties — checking platforms and making repairs so the structures are ready when the birds arrive.
Turf on Trial
As Nantucket weighs a ban on artificial fields, the science — and the stakes — remain unsettled
Public Way, Private Pressure
A $630,000 grant cycle from the Great Harbor Yacht Club is funding eelgrass restoration, research, and new harbor equipment — highlighting the increasing role private philanthropy is playing in Nantucket’s public harbor management.
What private funding means for the future of harbor governance
What private funding means for the future of harbor governance
Public Way, Private Pressure
A proposal to restrict summer access to the ‘Sconset Bluff Walk has ignited debate over erosion, preservation, and public rights. Beneath the surface lies a deeper question: who ultimately governs Nantucket’s shared spaces.
What the Bluff Walk debate reveals about public access on Nantucket
What the Bluff Walk debate reveals about public access on Nantucket
Beneath the Surface
Every flush on Nantucket flows through a buried network of pipes to the Surfside Wastewater Treatment Facility, where millions of gallons are processed each day before returning to the island’s aquifer.
A closer look at the infrastructure quietly serving Nantucket.
A closer look at the infrastructure quietly serving Nantucket.
Managing the Herd
Managing the Herd
Nantucket’s white-tailed deer population has grown well beyond what biologists consider sustainable for an island this size, raising concerns about ecosystem damage and Lyme disease risk.
Managing a herd that has outgrown the island.
Nantucket’s white-tailed deer population has grown well beyond what biologists consider sustainable for an island this size, raising concerns about ecosystem damage and Lyme disease risk.
Managing a herd that has outgrown the island.
Workforce
The Last Catch
How Nantucket’s fishing industry slipped away and the high-speed plan that almost saved it
The End of the Golden Ticket
Why Having a Bed No Longer Guarantees a Summer Job
Plenty of Work, But at What Cost?
The island’s off-season economy is larger than many assume. The real question is whether the workers required to sustain it can still afford to live here
Consultant Island
On Nantucket, major public decisions increasingly arrive through outside reports — engineering studies, housing plans, financial analyses, and climate assessments produced by consultants brought in to guide policy.
The Island of Parallel Lines
Examining the labor hidden behind the seasonal shine
Preparing the Nests
Earlier this week, the Nantucket Conservation Foundation reported that its ecology and land management teams have been inspecting osprey nesting poles across its properties — checking platforms and making repairs so the structures are ready when the birds arrive.
It’s a small piece of maintenance that most residents never see. But it plays an important role in supporting one of the island’s most visible wildlife species.
It’s a small piece of maintenance that most residents never see. But it plays an important role in supporting one of the island’s most visible wildlife species.
An Island Shared
From migratory birds along the Atlantic Flyway to seals hauling out on winter beaches, Nantucket is both a year-round community and an active wildlife corridor — where volunteers often step in when animals and human activity intersect
The Year-Round Squeeze
Housing prices on Nantucket have ballooned far beyond incomes for people keeping the island running — creating a widening gulf between market value and year-round livability.
Why price alone doesn’t measure community sustainability.
Why price alone doesn’t measure community sustainability.
Beneath the Surface
Every flush on Nantucket flows through a buried network of pipes to the Surfside Wastewater Treatment Facility, where millions of gallons are processed each day before returning to the island’s aquifer.
A closer look at the infrastructure quietly serving Nantucket.
A closer look at the infrastructure quietly serving Nantucket.
The Nantucket Tax Reality
Property tax rates here look low on paper. But once you factor in assessed values, state income tax, vehicle excise, and the island’s higher cost structure, the burden looks different — especially for year-round households whose incomes haven’t kept pace with asset inflation.
Who actually carries the tax weight on Nantucket?
Who actually carries the tax weight on Nantucket?
Captain Jack McDonald and Nantucket’s Fishing Fleet
From the 1944 hurricane aboard the Gladys & Mary to the wheelhouse of the dragger Robert Joseph.
Governance
Losing the Night
For centuries, Nantucket’s dark skies were a matter of course. Today, preserving the stars requires a battle against "lumen creep."
What Petrel Landing Actually Is — and Isn’t
A project approved, extended, and challenged for more than a decade reveals a deeper question about public access on Nantucket Harbor
Dawn to Dusk
What Nantucket’s Waterfront Licenses Actually Require — and Why the GHYC Debate Is Only Part of the Story
If Nantucket Can Build $30 Million Homes
, Can It Build Our Island Home?
If a new nursing facility will cost taxpayers more than $100 million, the island may need to think beyond taxes. Across the country, hospitals and care centers are built with philanthropy and naming rights. On Nantucket, that model may be closer than people think.
Who Goes Next?
Nantucket has many things: cobblestones, ferry traffic, and roads designed long before anyone imagined August traffic volumes. What it does not have is a single traffic light.
Instead, the island has developed its own traffic system — eye contact, hesitation, and the occasional hand wave through an intersection.
Now the Select Board is considering adding another piece to that system.
Instead, the island has developed its own traffic system — eye contact, hesitation, and the occasional hand wave through an intersection.
Now the Select Board is considering adding another piece to that system.
Who Backed — And Opposed — OIH
Who voted for, who voted against, and who abstained on the proposal to rebuild Our Island Home.
Policing the Island
How Nantucket’s Police Force — and Crime Levels — Stack Up Against Coastal Resort Towns
The decisions that can't be undone
Nantucket has many things: cobblestones, ferry traffic, and roads designed long before anyone imagined August traffic volumes.
What it does not have is a single traffic light.
Instead, the island has developed its own traffic system — eye contact, hesitation, and the occasional hand wave Thirty years of choices that permanently reshaped Nantucket
What it does not have is a single traffic light.
Instead, the island has developed its own traffic system — eye contact, hesitation, and the occasional hand wave Thirty years of choices that permanently reshaped Nantucket
Turf on Trial
As Nantucket weighs a ban on artificial fields, the science — and the stakes — remain unsettled
Public Way, Private Pressure
A proposal to restrict summer access to the ‘Sconset Bluff Walk has ignited debate over erosion, preservation, and public rights. Beneath the surface lies a deeper question: who ultimately governs Nantucket’s shared spaces.
What the Bluff Walk debate reveals about public access on Nantucket
What the Bluff Walk debate reveals about public access on Nantucket
Consultant Island
On Nantucket, major public decisions increasingly arrive through outside reports — engineering studies, housing plans, financial analyses, and climate assessments produced by consultants brought in to guide policy.
When expertise arrives by ferry — and what it costs.
When expertise arrives by ferry — and what it costs.
The Good, The Bad, The Stats
A deep dive into Nantucket’s public schools: graduation rates, teacher shortages, test scores, and what students are really taking away from the classroom.
NPS: What the numbers reveal.
NPS: What the numbers reveal.
More Than a Field
More Than a Field
Football at Capizzo Stadium isn’t just a game — it’s a mirror of community identity, investment priorities, and cultural continuity.
Sport as place and pressure point.
Football at Capizzo Stadium isn’t just a game — it’s a mirror of community identity, investment priorities, and cultural continuity.
Sport as place and pressure point.
The Nantucket Tax Reality
Property tax rates here look low on paper. But once you factor in assessed values, state income tax, vehicle excise, and the island’s higher cost structure, the burden looks different — especially for year-round households whose incomes haven’t kept pace with asset inflation.
Who actually carries the tax weight on Nantucket?
Who actually carries the tax weight on Nantucket?
Affordable Housing Audit
“Affordable” isn’t always affordable in practice. Dollars spent, units built, and outcomes delivered don’t always match the promises.
Accountability and what the numbers actually show.
Accountability and what the numbers actually show.
Managing the Herd
Managing the Herd
Nantucket’s white-tailed deer population has grown well beyond what biologists consider sustainable for an island this size, raising concerns about ecosystem damage and Lyme disease risk.
Managing a herd that has outgrown the island.
Nantucket’s white-tailed deer population has grown well beyond what biologists consider sustainable for an island this size, raising concerns about ecosystem damage and Lyme disease risk.
Managing a herd that has outgrown the island.
Town Meeting 2026
Budgets, roads, housing, infrastructure, debt — the annual meeting isn’t a ritual. It’s a snapshot of where priorities and capacity collide.
Decisions that affect the lived economics of place.
Decisions that affect the lived economics of place.
We’d love to hear from you — story ideas, topics, or pitches.
Let us know If something is happening in the news, or not, that you think deserves a closer look.
hello@belowdecknantucket.com
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