As set-jetting — choosing vacation spots based on favorite films and television — continues to launch travelers, Nantucket is primed to be one of the next beneficiaries of the burgeoning trend.
Although the Massachusetts island off the coast of Cape Cod is not exactly a tough sell in the summer months, Peacock’s upcoming release of “Five-Star Weekend,” a celebrity-starring show that is set on Nantucket and based on the page-turner by Elin Hilderbrand may encourage more travelers to map their way there. Having written 27 Nantucket-centered books and sold more than 20 million copies, the author’s fans are well-informed about her hometown’s rose-covered cottages, lobster rolls, Cisco Brewers, Steamship Authority ferries and other essentials. Headlined by Jennifer Garner, who plays a food influencer dealing with the unexpected death of her husband, the drama’s Nantucket backdrop may inevitably reel in more first-time visitors and day-trippers.
As for why some can’t get enough of Nantucket, Hilderbrand said, “It defines American summertime. Nantucket has 50 miles of undeveloped, pristine beaches that are open to the public except for one very short stretch. Then you have this absolutely iconic downtown with cobblestone streets, brick sidewalks, antique whaling captains’ homes that are so beautifully maintained with window boxes and arches covered with roses. Just walking in the noncommercial part of downtown is so aesthetically pleasing,” she said. “And there are [nearly] no chain stores, no neon signs and no stoplights on the island. It defines New England charm.”
