Nantucket Atheneum

I visit the library almost every single day. There is a great selection of movies and if you can’t find what you are looking for they usually can get it from another library.
There is also free WiFi and laptops available on the second floor.
I also LOVE the featured reading table they set up. My favorite was when the Chicken Flu was making headlines and they set up a table featuring books and movies about Yellow Fever, the Black Plague and other diseases and pandemic. They even put «Outbreak» on the table.
I guess we share a dark sense of humor.

Captain Ahab
would feel
right at home
The Nantucket Atheneum is the main public library on the island. It was original built in 1834 but burned down like most of the town during the Great Fire of 1846. The present building was completed shortly after the ashes cooled and has been here with very few changes ever since.
It was designed by Frederick Coleman and is a great example of the classic Greek Revival style. Stately, regal and powerful the building still has a very delicate aural about it. An architectural paradox and contradiction.
The library holds about 40,000 books, hardly an impressive amount but the collection does include some very rare and cool Nantucket historical documents. One of the young ladies that works there told me that since the building opened back in 1846 the library has had only 6 main librarians, reflecting the conservative and timeless quality of the island.
The Inside has three floors and lots of room to spread out and read or research in comfort. What really makes the Atheneum special are all the decorations. Figureheads and statues from old whaling ships and old portraits and paintings are hanging from the walls and located in corners. It’s almost more of a museum than a library. I spend time just walking around looking at everything but the books.
Outside the building is the library garden. Lots of indigenous plants and flowers line the walkways during the spring and summer and little benches offer a cool place to sit while reading.
The type of library that will never be built again. Sure the main purpose is to hold books but the books are the probably the least interesting thing about this place.