Atlantic House, 1848 Main Street, Siasconset

In 1848, Atlantic House opened on Main Street in Siasconset as Nantucket's second fine hotel (the first was the Ocean House on Broad Street in town). Billed as having a fine situation "overlooking the level Atlantic," the hotel was an early attraction for Siasconset's emerging tourist trade. With the islandwide depression of the 1860s, it would take another two decades for tourism fully to blossom on island, but the Atlantic House led the way, as proclaimed in its advertising: "As a place of summer resort, no spot in the United States offers greater attractions than Siasconset. The fine, cool, bracing air, and the excellent water and sea-bathing, are admirably adapted to refresh and invigorate both mind and body.... Persons leaving the cities to escape from the cholera, cannot possibly find a safer retreat than Siasconset."

Sketch of Atlantic House Hotel, by Anne D. Swift
Gift of Sylvia H. Knowles
1985.9.1

A digital exhibition by the Nantucket Historical Association