First Congregational Church Nantucket Live Cam

The view comes from the tower of the First Congregational Church, the highest point in Nantucket town, in Massachusetts. Grey shingle roofs run away below toward the harbour and the boats moored in it.

Ninety-four steps lead up to the platform, which is open to visitors in season. The church itself dates from 1834; the Old North Vestry standing behind it was built in 1725 and is the oldest place of worship on the island.

Nantucket was the centre of American whaling until the deep-draught ships outgrew the sandbar across its harbour and the trade moved to New Bedford in the 1840s. The town that money built stopped there, which is why the streets below the camera look the way they do.