Nantucket is an island 30 miles (48.3 km) south of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, in the United States. Together with the small islands of Tuckernuck Island and Muskeget, it constitutes the New England town of Nantucket, Massachusetts, and the coterminous Nantucket County, which are consolidated. Part of the town is designated the Nantucket (CDP), Massachusetts, or census designated place. The region of Surfside, Massachusetts on Nantucket is the southernmost settlement in Massachusetts.

Nantucket is a tourism destination and summer colony. The population of the island soars from approximately 10,000 to 50,000 during the summer months, due...

Nantucket is an island 30 miles (48.3 km) south of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, in the United States. Together with the small islands of Tuckernuck Island and Muskeget, it constitutes the New England town of Nantucket, Massachusetts, and the coterminous Nantucket County, which are consolidated. Part of the town is designated the Nantucket (CDP), Massachusetts, or census designated place. The region of Surfside, Massachusetts on Nantucket is the southernmost settlement in Massachusetts.

Nantucket is a tourism destination and summer colony. The population of the island soars from approximately 10,000 to 50,000 during the summer months, due to tourists and summer residents. According to Forbes Magazine, in 2006, Nantucket had the highest median property value of any Massachusetts zip code.

The Nantucket Historic District, comprising all of Nantucket Island, was added to the National Register of Historic Places on December 13, 1966. In doing so the National Park Service paid particular note to the settlements of Nantucket and Siasconset. The island features one of the highest concentrations of pre-Civil War structures in the United States.

Origin of the name
Also nicknamed'The Grey Lady'due to occasional intense fog, Nantucket takes its name from a word in an Eastern Algonquian languages of southern New England, originally spelled variously as natocke, nantican, and nautican. The meaning of the term is uncertain, though it may have meant'in the midst of waters,'or'far away island. '

Other sources state the Native American word'Natockete,'meaning'faraway land,'to be Nantucket's namesake. The Wampanoag Native Americans referred to the island as'Canopache,'or'place of peace. '