Trail’s End Experiences

Continuing your island natural world education
Nantucket Walkabout’s Trail’s End Experience is our way of extending your adventure beyond where we can take you on trails around the island. It’s your chance to strike out on your own after we help you discover the wilds of Nantucket.
If you have some more time after your hike with us and want to explore other aspects of Nantucket’s ecosystems, you can choose from one of our four Trail’s End Experience drop-off spots instead of the Handlebar Café where our hikes usually end. When you book your hike through our website, before you pay, you’ll have the option to pick a different Trail’s End Experience.
Below, you’ll find details on each post-hike experience. There is no extra charge. As with the Handlebar Café, your time with Nantucket Walkabout ends when we drop you off. You’re on your own for getting back to town. But don’t worry. We’ve provided you with maps and WAVE shuttle bus links for finding your way back both on this page and in your hike confirmation email.
Unfortunately, because of the safety protocols resulting from COVID-19, we have temporarily suspended the Brant Point Shellfish Hatchery, Maria Mitchell Association and Shipwreck & Lifesaving Museum Trail’s End Experiences until it’s safe to drop you off at these locations. We can, however, still drop you off at Cisco Brewers.

BRANT POINT SHELLFISH HATCHERY

Nantucket’s Brant Point Shellfish Hatchery, within the town’s Natural Resources Department and run by Town Shellfish Biologist Tara Riley, is our island’s shellfish grow-out and harbor/salt pond research facility. Located on Brant Point in a former U.S. Coast Guard boathouse, this hatchery spawns and grows out bay scallops, oysters and quahogs to release into our harbors to augment wild shellfish populations. Join Ms. Riley for a fascinating and informative tour of this newly renovated hatchery after our 8 a.m. hikes Monday-Friday through Oct. 31.
The hatchery, at the Brant Point end of Easton Street, is a 20-minute walk back to town. Find your way there using this Google Map.

MARIA MITCHELL ASSOCIATION

Founded in 1902 by the three cousins of Nantucket astronomer Maria Mitchell to honor this first female astronomer in the U.S. and the Nantucket Atheneum’s first librarian among many other accomplishments, the Maria Mitchell Association existed originally to further women in astronomy. Today, it’s an island natural world educational and research nonprofit organization dedicated to both celebrating Ms. Mitchell and her science achievements and sharing Nantucket’s natural world with everyone through summer camps for children and young adults, wildlife hikes, open telescope nights, lectures and tours of Ms. Mitchell’s birthplace.
The Maria Mitchell Association, at 2 Vestal St., is a 15-minute walk to downtown Nantucket. Find your way back to Main Street using this Google Map.

SHIPWRECK & LIFESAVING MUSEUM

More than 700 ships wrecked on the shoals, shoreline and in the waters of Nantucket before modern navigational technology existed earning our waters the infamous moniker of “the graveyard of the Atlantic”. The Massachusetts Humane Society maintained lifesaving stations at several locations on Nantucket, Tuckernuck and Muskeget islands with rescue crews ready to row rescue boats out to imperiled ships to save lives. All of this history including more than 5,000 artifacts is inside the Shipwreck & Lifesaving Museum overlooking Folger’s Marsh owned and operated by the Nantucket-based Egan Maritime Institute.
Get back to town on the WAVE shuttle bus on the Sconset Via Polpis Road Route, which runs June 25-Sept. 3 and stops at the museum’s driveway. The address for taxis, Uber and Lyft outside of the WAVE bus service period is 158 Polpis Road.

CISCO BREWERS-TRIPLE-EIGHT DISTILLERY-NANTUCKET VINEYARDS

Yes, we know, the Brewery, island parlance for all three entities, isn’t exactly part of the Nantucket’s natural history, although there’s crucial alcohol production processes happening out there. Still, after a hike in the summer sun, doesn’t an ice-cold glass of island-made beer, sangria or a cocktail sound refreshing to you? Cisco offers tours of its brewing, distilling and vintner facilities behind the scenes. There are food trucks, live music and oodles of excellent people-watching opportunities.
This Trail’s End Experience is only for after our 2 p.m. hikes because the brewery opens at 11 a.m. and closes at 7 p.m.
Getting back to town is simple with brewery’s free shuttle service to and from downtown Nantucket. Or, you can catch The WAVE, Nantucket’s seasonal bus service on the Miacomet Loop Route, at the intersection of Somerset Lane and Hummock Pond Road, an easy 20-minute walk along the Hummock Pond Road Bike Path.