• 1. Where to Stay
• 2. Where to Eat
• 3. What to Do
• 4. Insider’s Tip
• 5. An Oddball Day

Great Point Wide   (Photo: Courtesy of Galvin)

To commune with Nantucket’s wild side, head to Great Point, the sweeping peninsula at the island’s northeastern tip. There’s no road along this seven-mile stretch of dunes and beach—it’s protected preserve land—so the only way to get here is by driving a 4x4 right on the sand. Young’s Bicycle Shop on Straight Wharf in Nantucket Town rents open-top Jeep Wranglers. Pay a $25 entry fee and reduce your tire pressure, then four-wheel all the way to the Great Point Lighthouse at the end of the spit. Along the way, you’ll see some of the island’s most dramatic, and empty, stretches of beach. Bring lunch—the takeout counter at Water Street Bakery, right down the street from the jeep-rental shop, has terrific sandwiches—plus plenty of water and sunscreen, and spend the rest of the day with piping plovers, the occasional surfcaster, and harbor seals bobbing offshore.

Published on Jul 5, 2007 as a web exclusive.