Here’s another Nantucket post for you! I think one of my favorite things about the island is how diverse it is for such a little place. Harbor side you have the hustle and bustle and on the other side of the island you have peace and tranquility. We biked out to Siasconset or ‘Sconset (for short) and it was probably my favorite part of our trip.
Now that both of our boys are old enough, we chose to bike our way around the island. We rented our bikes from Cooks Cycle Shop. They were really helpful with tips and gave us a map to help us navigate our way. I knew I wanted to go out to ‘Sconset and see the rose covered cottages and Sankaty Lighthouse.
Here’s a little highlight reel from our ‘Sconset biking adventure…
A Coastal Village in Bloom
It’s about a 10 mile bike ride out to ‘Sconset from the bike shop. We chose the Milestone Road path on our way out there. Some of it you have to ride along the road, but once you get out of town it turns into a bike path most of the way. It’s pretty flat too, so even our youngest did a good job biking on it.
Once we got into ‘Sconset, our first order of business was checking out the blooms. We locked up our bikes at one of the many bike racks and decided to walk around town a bit.
I don’t know what they feed those flowers but they do put on quite the show! It was simply breath-taking!
After walking around the town and spying all the beautiful cottages, we decided to grab a lunch at The Chanticleer right down the street from where we parked our bikes. The picture of the two of us is in the restaurant’s garden. They have indoor seating and outdoor garden seating. Outdoor seating in peak season (July and August) is reservation only. They had no problem at all seating us inside without a reservation— even during the 4th of July long weekend. It was a beautiful restaurant and it had really good food!! It fueled us back up for part two of our biking adventure.
Biking out to Sankaty Lighthouse
We grabbed our bikes and set out for Sankaty Lighthouse. This was probably my favorite stretch of the bike ride because it was filled with beautiful bloom covered homes that looked out onto the ocean. The air was so sweet with salt and flowers. I wish I could have bottled that aroma! It was only about 1.5 miles to bike to the lighthouse from town center. We even got to stop for lemonade on our way back. The sweetest group of kids had a maple lemonade stand set up outside their vacation rental.
This lighthouse is tops in my book right next to The Nubble Light in Maine. The setting is so beautiful. You can hear the waves hit the shore. The grass does this dance when the wind hits it. It is so peaceful and the ocean view is all around you. Also, I love a red and white lighthouse.
Biking to the Beach & Back to the Harbor Side
I would plan on ‘Sconset taking up a good portion of your day if you are trying to plan ahead. By the time we were coming back from the lighthouse, it was getting close to mid-afternoon. You’ll want to take your time here and enjoy it. Once we got to the beach, there was a haze in the light that was so pretty.
We biked back into town to grab some more waters from the Sconset Market. We stopped by the Sconset Beach before catching the bus back to the other side of the island. The Wave is the island’s bus and it stops in ‘Sconset about every 15-20 minutes. It’s a nice alternative to biking back. Fare is only $1.00 per person too. With the boys along for the ride this time, it seemed like the best option since they had put in around 20 miles of biking that day. We wanted enough time to freshen up and return our bikes before grabbing dinner.
Here’s a few more photos from before we hopped on the bus…
It was nice to end our time in ‘Sconset walking the beach. Granted, we were a bit ready for a little break once we got back to the harbor side.
As I said before, I would plan on spending most of the day out here if you aren’t staying on this side of the island. It is considered the sleepy side of Nantucket and it has so many good places to see. If we would have had more time that day, we would have walked the Sconset Bluff Walk. We’ll have to make sure we do that next time. I’m already compiling a list of things to do for our next visit.
In my next Nantucket post, I’ll share with you all the things we did and places we dined, etc.