Celebrate amidst the festively decorated trees and Nantucket treasures placed throughout the Whaling Museum, a wonderful location for holiday parties, weddings, cocktail parties, and corporate events. 

 

Surround your guests with elegant art and important objects that bring the story of Nantucket's past to life at our world-class museum. 

 

Call Susan Beaumont for details at 508-228-1894, ext. 131, or visit our Web site for more information 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unrestricted support from the Annual Fund nourishes everything we do - every program we offer, every visitor we inspire, every artifact we exhibit, and all twenty-two historic properties we maintain and interpret. It helps turn on the lights each day and enables us to fulfill our mission of education and preservation for our members, supporters, and the Nantucket community. Remember that the NHA receives no operating funds from local, state, or federal sources.

 
This is why we are turning to you - our members, event and program participants, and supporters of exhibitions and special projects - to achieve our Annual Fund goal of $210,000 by December 31.

Please know how important your gift is in helping us meet the Annual Fund goal so we can continue offering programs of the quality you have come to expect from the NHA. Even if you have contributed to the NHA in other ways this year, your gift to the 2009 Annual Fund is greatly appreciated. Donations of all sizes make a difference!
 
To contribute to the Annual Fund, contact Cristin Merck at 508-228-1894, ext. 114, or cmerck@nha.org, or send your donation to: Annual Fund, Nantucket Historical Association, PO Box 1016, Nantucket, MA 02554.

 

In 1881 a monument was erected at the Founders Burial Ground containing the names and dates of ten early settlers of Nantucket, all men. Each of those men had a wife, and those women gave birth to a total of eighty children. At the rededication of the site in July 2009, there was a groundswell of support to erect a second monument of equal size and the same proportions listing the names and dates of the wives.

 

The unveiling for this stone will be December 6. Call Catherine Stover at 508.228.7217 for more information.

The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 allows you to make a tax-free transfer of your excess retirement assets to the Nantucket Historical Association before December 31, 2009.

 

For more information, click here to visit our Web site, call 508-228-1894 ext. 114, or email ask@nha.org 

 

Gifts may be directed to the permanent endowment, the Annual Fund, or a specific area of interest, such as Greater Light, the Whaling Museum, Research Library, 1800 House, or educational programs. 

Click here to see images of the 2008 Festival of Trees. 

 

The festival runs through December 21: Thursday - Monday, 11 A.M. - 4 P.M.; Friday, December 4, 11 A.M. - 8 P.M.  The festival will reopen on December 26-28, Saturday - Monday, 1 - 4 P.M., and January 2 - 4, Saturday - Monday, 1 - 4 P.M.

 

General admission is $15; for Nantucket year-round residents, $5 (with a valid Nantucket driver's license); free for children under 6, and NHA members. The Whaling Museum is handicap accessible.

 

For those who might enjoy making sailor's valentines, boxes, theorem painting, or a vast selection of other crafts, consider giving a gift certificate to the NHA's 1800 House program. A certificate in any amount can be applied to the recipient's choice of a hands-on class during the 2010 season. Please call 508-228-1894, ext. 128, or 508-228-7785 for additional information; or go to the 1800 House Web site to learn more about the offerings.  

 

The winter holidays are almost upon us, so visit our cozy shop to find distinctive gifts, including books on Nantucket and maritime topics, silk ties, jellies and jams, clocks, bells, brass, and candles and candlesticks. Visit the shop in person and save 25% on most items through December 23.

 

A one-year membership is the perfect holiday, birthday, hostess, or anniversary gift that will provide unlimited admission to the Whaling Museum, Old Mill, Quaker Meeting House, Oldest House, and Hadwen House; free use of the NHA Research Library; subscription to Historic Nantucket; 10% discount at the Museum Shop; discounts on certain classes and Explorations trips; and invitations to special events, concerts, and lectures.  Please call Beth Moyer at 508-228-1894, ext. 116, or visit our Web site for additional membership information.

 

Gifts that Give Back to the NHA

www.giftsthatgive.com is an innovative online shopping site that donates 25% of your purchase back to the NHA.

Ralph Lauren has added an attractive new cream and navy canvas beach tote to its special collection of merchandise featuring the Compass Rose mural that adorns the east side of the Nantucket store, designed in 1936 by photographer H. Marshall Gardiner. The Compass Rose Collection was created to preserve and honor this significant piece of Nantucket history. Available at the Main Street store, where signature t-shirts, hats, and caps are also available, and 100% of sales is donated to the Nantucket Historical Association.

 

 

Gallery is open during library hours.

 

Explore one of the world's most spectacular destinations imaginable with Cruise West, a small family-owned, small-ship cruise line voted among the world's top lines by readers of Condé Nast Traveler, and consistent award winner for Best Small Ship and Expedition Cruising.  The 138-guest Spirit of Yorktown, staffed by exploration leaders with many years of experience as naturalists and educators, will be your home for this exciting 11-day, 10-night adventure.

 

Boarding in Seattle, the ship follows the route of the original stampeders of the 1898 Klondike Gold Rush, encountering along the way the culture and whaling heritage of the Northwest Native American tribes. From dense, forested shores to stunning fjords, immense glaciers, and unspoiled waterways, the inside passage is a world of spectacular beauty. Our small ship allows entry into waterways inaccessible to larger vessels. We will cruise the pristine waters of the San Juan Islands, visiting the Whale Museum at Friday Harbor, once an important whaling center and now a center for whale research. Continuing on to the Strait of Georgia, home to orcas, bald eagles, and seals; Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, a World Heritage Site; Frederick Sound, where humpback whales abound; and the Tracy Arm Fjord and Sawyer Glacier. We will also visit the beautiful town of Sitka with its Russian heritage; the Norwegian-heritage fishing village of Petersburg; and Skagway, where we revisit the Gold Rush of 1898.  An optional excursion on the White Pass and Yukon Railroad will be available here.

 

Nina and Bob Hellman of Nantucket will be your hosts on this adventure, throughout which you will enjoy the services of the cruise line's accommodating staff and Exploration Leaders as well as Park Service Rangers and Native Cultural Interpreters.  Believing that smaller is better, and making connections up-close and casual, Cruise West passengers are the recipients of friendly, personal attention. Each day offers the opportunity for a shore excursion at no additional cost.  Bob Hellman will offer a special on-board lecture about the relationship between Alaska and the Far North and Nantucket and New England, during the era of American whaling. 

 

Don't miss your chance to experience Alaska. Small-ship cruises book quickly, so save your place soon.