2 Best Sights in Nantucket, Massachusetts

With exhibits that include a fully rigged whaleboat and a skeleton of a 46-foot sperm whale, this must-see museum—a complex that includes a restored 1846 spermaceti candle factory—offers a crash course in the island's colorful history. Items on display include harpoons and other whale-hunting implements; portraits of whaling captains and their wives (a few of whom went whaling as well); the South Seas curiosities they brought home; a large collection of sailors' crafts; a full-size tryworks once used to process whale oil; and the original 16-foot-high 1850 lens from Sankaty Head Lighthouse. The museum also offers a rotating gallery with a new exhibit each season, a fine art gallery, and a world-class scrimshaw collection. The Children's Discovery Room provides interactive-learning opportunities. Be sure to climb—or take the elevator—up to the observation deck for a view of the harbor.

When the island abolished slavery in 1773, Nantucket became a destination for free blacks and escaping slaves. The African Meeting House was built in the 1820s as a schoolhouse, and it functioned as such until 1846, when the island's schools were integrated. A complete restoration has returned the site to its authentic 19th-century appearance. Next door is the late-18th-century Seneca Boston-Florence Higginbotham house, originally purchased by Seneca Boston, a former slave and weaver, and purchased by Florence Higginbotham in 1920. The museum offers a free self-guided Nantucket Black Heritage Trail map that includes 10 sites around the island.