India Street
Mornings begin early in that hushed, golden way only Nantucket can manage. We tuck into a tiny table at Black-Eyed Susan’s: the kitchen clattering, coffee strong, and fellow early risers making plans for boats and beaches.
VISIT NANTUCKET
The BON TON City Guide
A Guide to Nantucket
A love letter to cobblestone streets, weathered shingles, salt air, and the island rituals we return to summer after summer.
There are places we return to not for what changes, but for what remains—unchanged, unhurried, and achingly beautiful. Nantucket is one of those places.
An island suspended in time, where breezes carry the scent of salt, roses, and memory, and every seashell in your pocket feels like a keepsake from a story only you remember.
A personal selection This is not a definitive island guide. It is the Nantucket we love: a handful of places and rituals that hold the soul of summer for us.
From dawn light to dusk breezes
An Island Day
Under Sail
By midday, we slip into our Nantucket Reds and set sail into a soft wind. The water sparkles, the sails snap gently overhead, and everything unnecessary falls away.
Jetties Beach
Later, with sand still between our toes, we head to Sandbar. The oysters and rosé are cold, laughter travels on the breeze, and the day lingers like salt on your skin.
Where we go, what we love
Eat & Drink
Island institutions where meals become rituals and lunch has a habit of stretching toward sunset.
Breakfast first
Black-Eyed Susan’s
An intimate island institution, now serving breakfast and dinner again. Breakfast remains walk-in only; dinner reservations are available.
Toes in the sand
Sandbar at Jetties Beach
Fresh oysters, cold rosé, seafood, and sunset at a table directly on the sand. First come, first served and unmistakably summer.
After dark
The Club Car
A restored railway car, candlelight, cocktails, dinner, and live piano—the setting for more than one midsummer toast.
Books, cloth, and island memory
See & Shop
Places where Nantucket’s history and material life remain visible—in scrimshaw, figureheads, woven cloth, old books, and objects made to last.
Island history
Nantucket Whaling Museum
Maritime history, scrimshaw, the great sperm-whale skeleton, and the mysterious carved women who once watched from ships’ bows. Do not miss the roofwalk.
A Main Street ritual
Nantucket Looms
Handwoven throws and linens, wooden frames, art, and island-made objects that feel less like souvenirs than things for a lifelong home.
For the beach bag
Mitchell’s Book Corner
A beloved independent bookshop on Main Street, especially good for island history, local writers, and the novel you will finish before the ferry home.
The quieter joys
Island Rituals
The most lasting Nantucket experiences are rarely complicated. They are made of weather, water, repeated walks, and the particular pleasure of having nowhere more important to be.
The Cliffs
Walk Cliff Road when the sea turns silver, continuing toward Steps Beach for one of the island’s most beautiful views.
Sailing
Leave the harbor beneath canvas if you can. From the water, the island becomes quiet, low, and elemental.
Nantucket Reds
That washed-out, sun-faded color belongs completely to this place. Wear them until the salt and sun make them truly your own.
Oysters & Cocktails
Some addresses are private, including our own evenings at the Yacht Club. We keep them here as a personal memory rather than a public recommendation.
Golf at Day’s End
Late light, long shadows, and the sea never far away—the island’s gentlest transition into evening.
Lobster Rolls Seaside
Best eaten without ceremony: warm air, a paper wrapper, and somewhere nearby to watch the boats return.
Where the name began
The Original Bon Ton
Among our island memories is Bon Ton, the Nantucket curiosity shop that helped inspire the name and spirit of BON TON goods. We remember it not as a current address to visit, but as part of our own story: a place of discovery, personality, and objects gathered with imagination.
Nantucket’s influence continues through our shop and through Mikkel Brøgger’s Nantucket Collection—jewelry shaped by sea light, pebbles, shells, rigging, and the talismanic objects carried home from summer.
Let this be your invitation to return—or perhaps to arrive for the very first time.
Many Nantucket businesses are seasonal, and hours change throughout the year. Please confirm directly before visiting.