We are often asked “What do you do in the winter?”. Which makes us ponder what it is that we like about living on Nantucket all year long, even in the winter. One of our agents put it so well: “Living on island year round gives you two extremes. We live in a place that people run to come the summer months and our population swells to over 60,000. What is better than to live where other people want to be? I think what most people don’t know is how nice it is here come the winter months. These months are necessary to those that live here year round. It gives us time to slow down and recharge our batteries for the upcoming year. I think what I really enjoy about Nantucket winters is getting back in touch with those people who live here full time and see how things are going in their lives and in the community. In the summer things are too busy to actually do that. It just might be the winter months that make me stop and realize what a beautiful place I live in.”
More things that we like about living on Nantucket in the winter: No lines at the Stop and Shop and the social aspect of getting groceries – you know so many people in the winter that you always see someone to stop and chat with. Walks at the bogs and the beach, bike rides and runs at Sanford Farm. The peace and quiet and lack of snow and when the wind blows and kicks up the ocean. No need for dinner reservations. Enjoying fresh scallops, the solitude of a beach with no one but seagulls around, knowing everyone at the drug store lunch counter, post office and church. Knitting and making baskets. Planning with island non-profit boards for the upcoming season. Time to watch movies and try new recipes. Enjoying our role as island caretakers until our summer residents and visitors return.
There are lots of things to love about Nantucket in the winter….the crisp clarity of the nighttime winter sky is incredible for star watching, shooting stars and various constellations. The ability to be spontaneous – one is able to run to the supermarket, park, shop and be back home in minutes if you have a sudden craving for homemade brownies or stew. Walking – everywhere – poison-ivy free woods, collecting shells in windswept Dionis, the icy shoreline of Madaket harbor, watching seals and birds from the ‘Sconset Bluff and running into friends everywhere that actually have time for a little “chinwag”. The Tuesday night $5 burger at Kitty’s. Town Meeting in late winter, time to make music or movies and the variety of weather conditions from sodden gray days to howling storms. We appreciate the sun more when it doesn’t shine every day. These are a few of our favorite things.