Posted on April 8, 2026
By and
Coastal Restoration/ Preservation Fight
“In January, someone apparently slashed a 947-foot-long structure of sand-filled geotubes, designed to slow erosion of scenic Sconset Bluff. The damage to the project—on which homeowners spent about $18 million, and could cost another $2 million to repair—has inflamed a battle between people trying to save expensive summer homes teetering on the bluff’s edge and year-rounders who say nature should take its course.” WSJ
This month, residents of the island of Nantucket, a storybook New England coastal retreat located 30 miles off the coast of Cape Cod, gathered for their annual town meeting and quietly acknowledged a mounting eco-crisis.
Erosion, which is typical for most islands, is now increasing in severity, threatening to reshape Nantucket’s downtown and wash away the homes sitting on its edge. Permanent residents formally approved the designation of the entire island as an “Islands Coastal Resilience District,” with hopes that state-backed help could follow.
A lot of real estate value is at stake. Over the past two centuries, Nantucket has gone from a whaling town to a hippie refuge to a holiday hot spot for billionaires. Its year-round population hovers at about 14,000, but over the summer, it balloons to 80,000 as the likes of Blackstone’s Steve Schwarzman and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, who own picturesque grey-shingled mansions lined with blooming hydrangea, descend on the island in their private jets, sporting Nantucket red and boat shoes.
