photo - Immanuel Chac

Nantucket - A Blissful Oasis During Troubled Times

photo ~ Immnuel Chac

Finally, we are nearing our June 8^th anticipated re-opening!  Like the rest of the Massachusetts hospitality industry, the Martin House Inn falls into the second phase of the reopening guidelines. In anticipation, we have been bustling about, energized by the thought of welcoming you back to this beautiful oasis of an island!  Ferns rustle gently in the breeze on our gracious veranda.  Our window boxes and planters are filled with vibrant flowers; the herb garden is bountiful, overflowing with fresh herbs to complement our recipes.  The fountains again create a peaceful trickling backdrop to our serenity gardens, awaiting only your presence.  In our many gathering areas, there is ample room for relaxation and social distancing.

We are excited to welcome you home to the beauty that is Nantucket, to the endless walking trails and empty beaches, the island’s culinary and cultural offerings, and to the extraordinary health benefits of being ocean bound.  Restaurants island-wide have opened for curb-side pick-up and will open further during this next phase.  Once again, we savor the tastes of a Nantucket summer- the sweetness of Bartlett’s fresh tomatoes and corn, ice-cream in waffle cones at the Juice Bar, Sayle’s lobster bakes, Wicked’s morning buns, the ‘Sconset Market’s croissants and coffee, and Cisco’s cold beers.  We revel in how the sun and the breeze feel as they move across our skin, and we awake and end the days to the haunting  sound of the ferry’s horn as it rounds Brant Point, reminding all of how carefree and timeless a summer day on island can be, and knowing it will soon bring you to us.   

COVID has changed us in ways we couldn’t have envisioned- allowing us to catch up on our reading, learn to cook, bake or meditate, take a virtual course, get in shape, and fall in love with ourselves and others and Nantucket all over again.  We have had time to adapt, to reinvent ourselves when we needed to and to find ways to adjust the parts of us that needed adjusting.  Each day, we learn how little we really need to survive, and in the process we learn what is truly important.  Put simply, we consciously choose positivity and possibility, and connection, as socially distanced as that may have to be; we stay connected through social media and the wonders of technology.  As we moved through these months, we have been increasingly astounded and inspired by the sense of community that has enabled Nantucket to reenvision the summer of 2020.   Our island and its businesses embraced the necessary changes with creativity and optimism, sustaining residents and visitors alike in the knowledge that we are all interconnected and that we will all do everything we can to foster and ensure the safety of all who come to our shores. 


As our shelter in place orders slowly lift, and the island reopens in baby steps, there is still time to love ourselves and each other more fiercely, to cherish our time together and our time apart, to believe in the best that is in us, to redefine success and to be governed not by hope or by fear but by the realization of how interconnected we all are - each person and each nation.  We can learn to remain open to the future unfolding in all of its tainted glory, and to love it nonetheless.  We move forward in  the knowledge that in the end, we become only what we believe we can be.  So believe in the best that is in you and in each of us. 

We at the Martin House Inn look forward to welcoming you home, to a sweet and peaceful respite, on a magical far-away island.