The small but charismatic island of Nantucket, Massachusetts, has become one of the top summer vacation and second home destinations in the USA in the last 100 years.
Many tourists choose to visit it not only for the endless sandy and beautiful beaches. It also attracts visitors thanks to its untouched nature, its perfectly preserved historical buildings, its lighthouses, the cobblestone streets, the gas street lamps, the multiple museums, cultural venues, multiple festivals, and more.
Also, it is a place where you can take some of the most memorable and impressive photos to add to your Instagram feed and to add to your family photo albums.
You can start from the house or other residence you choose to book for your stay in Nantucket and then explore the island for other photo ops.
Here are the top Instamable spots to visit when spending time in Nantucket.
Brant Point Lighthouse
This is the first Instagram-worthy site visitors see when arriving on the island via ferry. The historic lighthouse was built in 1746 and is still fully functioning. This is the smallest of all three lighthouses on the island but is one of the iconic symbols of the island.
In the summer, it is decorated with the American flag. But during the spring daffodil festival, the Brant Point lighthouse is covered with beautiful flower wreaths. At Christmas, if you decide to attend the famous Nantucket Christmas Stroll, you can take a photo of the lighthouse decorated with a Christmas wreath.
Sconset Bluff Walk
This 1-mile walking path is one of the most picturesque walking trails in the country. Covered with white shells, it passes through the postcard-like village of Siasconset. The walk passes by the most beautiful cottages with gray weathered shingles, red roses on the trellis, and old-fashioned blooming gardens.
It will lead you to Siasconset Beach and to the Sankaty Head Lighthouse on the easternmost point of the island.
This is one of the top-rated places for photo ops for engagement, wedding, romantic, and family photos in Nantucket.
Altar Rock
This is one of the highest points on the island, where you can take stunning panoramic photos of the entire island and the ocean view. You can view and take pictures of the Sankaty Head Light, Great Point Light, Polpis Harbor, Pocomo Head, and other sites from this 100-foot high spot.
Altar Rock is located in Middle Moors, which is the largest wildlife reservation on the island, and itself has some of the most beautiful natural scenes, perfect for your Instagram feed.
Great Point Lighthouse
This lighthouse is located on the northernmost point of Nantucket and has been navigating mariners since 1784. The lighthouse is located at the end of the beautiful Coskata-Coatue wildlife refuge, where you can see deer, seals, raptors, shorebirds, and more.
You can drive to the lighthouse with a special beach and oversand 4WD vehicle permit, or you can hike through the refuge or take a boat to get there. Either way, you will get many photo opportunities along the way, with the picturesque wildlife, beaches, and ocean views.
Steps Beach
There are over 25 beaches on the island of Nantucket, each of which is worth visiting and is Instagrammable. But one of the most popular ones for photoshoots is Steps Beach.
What makes it unique are the long set of steps that lead to it and the incredible view of the beach and the ocean from the top of these steps.
This beach is on the northern shore of Nantucket, and in the fall, you can visit it at night to take photos of some fascinating bioluminescent swimming creatures which gather by the shore.
Sankaty Head Lighthouse
This lighthouse was built in 1849 and was the first one to receive a mayday signal from the Titanic. Still functioning today, it was among the first lighthouses in the USA to have a Fresnel lens installed. The lighthouse is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
It is on the easternmost point of Nantucket and, interestingly, was moved about 400 feet inward into the shore in order to protect it from the eroding bluff edges.
The red and white lighthouse is a favorite spot for taking vacation photos. You can take photos of the lighthouse and the nearby bluffs, the golf course, and of course, the endless ocean view.
The Compass Rose
This is one of the most distinctive symbols of downtown Nantucket. It is a beautifully drawn compass with the directions, the destinations, and the sea mileage to most of the leading whaling destinations which the whaling ships used to travel to in the times when Nantucket was known as “the whaling capital of the world.”
It was and remains a symbol of these glorious years when the whaling industry was the leading one on the island and one which fed the rest of the USA and other parts of the world with the valued whale oil used for lighting lamps and other needs.
Some of the destinations illustrated on the compass include Calcutta, Samoa, Iceland, Hong Kong, Moscow, and more.
It was originally painted on the side of the H.Marshall Gardiner art shop and photo store back in the 1930s and is still one of the top spots for taking vacation photos in Nantucket.
