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Nantucket is an island 30 miles south of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, in the United States. The history of Nantucket's settlement by the English did not begin in earnest until 1659, when Thomas Mayhew sold his interest to a group of investors, led by Tristram Coffin, "for the sum of thirty Pounds...and also two beaver hats, one for myself, and one for my wife". The "nine original porchasers" were Tristram Coffin, Thomas Macy, Christopher Hussey, Richard Swain, Thomas Barnard, Peter Coffin, Stephen Greenleafe, John Swain and William Pike. Seamen and tradesmen began to populate Nantucket, such as Richard Gardner (arrived 1667) and Capt John Gardner (arrived 1672), sons of Thomas Gardner (planter)
- 1602 The island of Nantucket was discovered by Bartholomew Gosnold, an Englishman.
- 1648 Thomas Mayhew first came to Nantucket as a missionary from Martha's Vineyard, he found 4 tribes totaling more than 3,000 native people living here.
- 1659 This year the island was deeded by Mayhew to the ten original purchasers for the sum of thirty pounds sterling and two beaver hats.
- 1660 After a series of epidemics, the Indian population had decreased to about seven hundred.
- 1663 Mary Starbuck, the first white child, bom on Nantucket, daughter of Nathaniel Starbuck and "Great Mary" Starbuck (seventh child of Tristram Coffin).
- 1665 King Philip, Grand Sachem of the Wampanoag, visits Nantucket
- 1667 Abiah Folger, mother of Benjamin Franklin, born on Nantucket.
- 1671 The town was incorporated
- 1673 Whaling commenced
- 1681 Death of Tristram Coffin
- 1682 Death of Thomas Macy
- 1691 Nantucket was part of New York, transferred to Massachusetts.
- 1698 Thomas Chalkley, a famous minister of the Society of Friends (Quakers), visits the island.
- 1704 Friends Society formed, Mary (Coffin) Starbuck, husband Nathaniel lead the Quaker movement.
- 1708 The Nantucket Quaker Meeting formed with Mary serving as an elder, son Nathaniel Jr. as clerk.
- 1711 First meeting house built
- 1715 Town site changed to present location
- 1716 The Nantucket Friends, take a public stand against slavery.
- 1715 There were 6 vessels engaged in whaling
- 1719 The white population was 721
- 1719 There were 25 vessels engaged in whaling
- 1746 Brant Point Lighthouse constructed, second lighthouse built in the USA
- 1761-62 Large numbers emigrate to Nova Scotia
- 1762 Population 3,220 of which 2,400 persons are Quakers
- 1763-64 "Yellow fever" epidemic kills 222 of the 358 Indians on Nantucket.
- 1765 First ship built at Nantucket, the 'Neptune' built by William Rotch, Nathan Coffin Master
- 1766 There were 118 vessels engaged in whaling
- 1773 Ship Dart. Eleanor & Beaver sailed for England with oil and returned laden with tea. Those were the ships on which the "Boston Tea party" took place In Boston Bay.
- 1771-75 Nantucketers are troubled with conflict between the colonies and England, and many emigrate from the island. 50 families move to New Garden, NC.
- 1775-1781 more than 134 ships lost and 1,600 Nantuketers die in Revolutionary war
- 1783 Ship Bedford Capt. William Mooors hoisted the first American flag in England
- 1790 Population reaches 4,600
- 1795 Name of town changed from Sherburne to Nantucket
- 1794 Population reaches 5,600, more than 50% are Quakers.
- 1822 Arthur and Mary Cooper, fugitive slaves, were rescued from pursuers and protected by Quaker citizens. (First case on record). The Coopers lived the rest of their lives on Nantucket.
- 1822 Dorcas Honorable, the last full blooded native Nantucket Indian died.
- 1822 Nantucket African-American whaling Captain Absalom Boston was the first to lead an all-black crew on a whaling voyage, aboard the ship 'Industry'.
- 1840 Population reaches almost 10,000
- 1841 Frederick Douglass speaks on Nantucket, at one of the first mixed-race, anti-slavery assemblies in the country
- 1846 Great fire July 13 and 14, wiping away over one-third of the town, hundreds are left homeless, and leave Nantucket.
- 1849 A large exodus from Nantucket this year owing to the California "gold fever."
- 1860 sixty-eight vacant houses were demolished
- 1861-5. Nantucket sent 213 men into the Union army and 126 into the navy. 73 die in the war.
- 1869 The last whaling ship "The Oak" leaves Nantucket never to return.
- 1794 Population has dropped to 6,000
- 1872 Opening of the the Springfield Hotel on Nantucket, the island becomes a popular summer resort, other hotels follow.
- 1880 Population 3,727
- 1900 Eunice Paddock, last member of the Society of Friends on Nantucket, died.
- 1916 German submarine U-53 sank six steamers off Nantucket.
- 1977, Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard attempted (unsuccessfully) to secede from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
- 2012 Year round population 9,520, summer population can exceed 55,000.