Smith’s Point, Nantucket’s westernmost sand extremity is a great hike to see gray seals during the winter, see nesting piping plovers, least terns and American oystercatchers during the summer and catch a glimpse of Tuckernuck Island. This is one of the longer hikes Nantucket Walkabout does. For the full hike out and back, allow at […]

Two island ecosystems, a shrub swamp wetland and island moors dotted with kettle holes makes for fascinating hike through a section of the island molded by 500 feet of ice bearing down on it 21,000 years ago. A trail meanders along the edge of the Stump Swamp offering views of water and the birds that […]

Although Polpis Harbor is part of Nantucket Harbor, with its own narrow channel leading into it and two distinct coves or, lobes, this former kettle hole definitely feels like its own small harbor with a mooring field in its east lobe and a few boats in its west cove. Native Americans living around it spelled […]

Shawkemo Hills offers a hiking experience through a portion of the island dramatically shaped by the last glacier to cover most of North America. From a high spot on this hike, see and learn about the formation of Coatue, Great Point, the Haulover, Nantucket Harbor and inner harbor shores. And from a low spot along […]

Combining elements of the Lost Farm and Gardner Farm hikes, this is a longer loop hike at approximately 2.5 miles, which helps you explore plant succession on globally threatened habitat known as sandplain grasslands. Although both former vegetable farms are well past the expression “gone to seed” and now dominated by the ubiquitous pitch pines, […]

Sand, gravel and boulders laid down by the last glacier during the Wisconsinan Glacial Stage was not the first layer of foundation for Nantucket; an ocean bottom created during the Sangamonian Interglacial Stage and another pavement of glacial material during the Illinoian Glacial Stage are also underneath us. The only place to see all three […]

Although Polpis Harbor is part of Nantucket Harbor, with its own narrow channel leading into it and two distinct coves or, lobes, this former kettle hole definitely feels like its own small harbor with a mooring field in its east lobe and a few boats in its west cove. Native Americans living around it spelled […]