Preserving History, Renovation on Nantucket

Nantucket Preservation Trust National Historic Landmarks In the middle of the 19th century, Nantucket was considered the whaling capital of the world. A rapid economic decline caused by the shift of whaling to New Bedford, whose harbor could host larger ships and closer transportation to railroad tracks, as well as the subsequent discovery of petroleum captured a moment in America's history on the island. As Bill Tramposch, Executive Director of the Nantucket Historical Association, said in our video on How Nantucket Helped Light the World: "What was left here was a landscape that experienced economic decline and hardship to a point that development didn't threaten it. By the time the 20th century came along, there's a landscape that's very well preserved." Nantucket was first incorporated as a National Historic Landmark in 1966 and the town has been dedicated to preserving its history ever since. Director of the Planning Department Andrew Vorce provided these numbers of the division of land on Nantucket:

• 60%: In conservation or publicly owned
• 32%: Developed
• 8%: Vacant

Vorce tentatively predicted that about half of the vacant land will be acquired by various conservation groups and the other half will be privately developed. Director of the Historic Distric Commission Mark Voigt pointed to estimates that by 2015 all the vacant land that is now available will be used up. However, as Vorce stated, there are “continuing trends for re-devolopment of existing properties” and new zoning regulations will likely lead to more subdivisions. The Inquirer and Mirror reported that while the number of new building permits were down in 2007 (127 new permits were issued), the permits issued for renovations, additions, conversions hit record highs in 2006 and 2007. Historic homes provide an insight to how people lived and the technology that was available to them. Voigt said, “I can’t stress it enough, historic structures are really a finite resource.” Check out our video of the on-going renovations at 12 Orange Street for an in-depth look at this critical process.