There is something about the island of Nantucket that steals ones heart and beckons one back, again and again.  It gets under your skin, into your very soul.  For the second time in my life, I have chosen to make the island, and more specifically the Martin House Inn, my home.  The first time, nearly 25 years ago, and with no experience beyond my mother having taught us a fierce hospital corner and how to clean a house top-to-bottom, I was offered the position of innkeeper. 

When I first arrived, car packed to the gills and cat in carrier, I had a comforting sense that I had somehow belonged here all along.  Times have of course changed.  We have the World Wide Web now.  Back then, reservations were on 11x17 paper charts – with #2 pencil as you might need to revise them. This meant any trip away from the inn meant taking those charts and pencils and something to secure them from high winds, and a mobile phone that could easily have doubled as a doorstop. The big debate had become should Cat5 internet ports (no Wi-Fi at that point in time) be added to the inns. Would people want to be working while on vacation or rather be out sitting on a beach or riding their bikes island-wide?  As it turned out, they wanted the option of both.  We now have Wi-Fi, cable TV, the ability to take reservations not only on our PC’s but on portable devices -- tablets, and on phones with a thickness of 0.4 inches.  The inn now too features a secluded patio and gardens with fountain and fire pit, outdoor shower, monogrammed robes, a roof walk with panoramic harbor and town views, and so much more.  Wonderful improvements to an already lovely locale.

Twenty-five years later, I found myself drawn to the Martin House Inn and to Nantucket, and once again I think that returning as the innkeeper is one of the best moves I have made.  The inn truly feels like home, as it did then, and I cannot imagine a better place to be.  

The best part, though, is in meeting our guests who visit from all over the world.  Hosting you is truly a gift I cherish each day.   It is my great joy that you, in turn, experience not  only the camaraderie of meeting new friends over breakfast; exploring the island and learning of its history; visiting its windswept beaches and frolicking in its restorative salt waters; and enjoying the myriad of wonderful shops, restaurants, museums and theatres that Nantucket has to offer; but that you also have an opportunity to step back in time, to slow down, and to truly relax.  No matter the season (or the weather) – there is always an adventure to be had here.  Even if it is curling up with a good read, a coffee, and a homemade brownie!  

I am overjoyed to again be a part of a team that puts so much care into making each guest’s visit the best that it can be.  To us,  you are all family, and we want you to feel that the Martin House is your home away from home and to leave each time with memories of Nantucket that will last a lifetime and with plans to return.  I am thrilled to be back and look forward to the opportunity to host all of you.  Come home to the Martin House Inn in the “Heart of the Sea”! 

For whatever we lose (like a you or a me), it’s always our self we find in the sea.

–e.e. cummings