Some thirty miles out to sea, on what Herman Melville dubbed “an elbow of sand,” the flat, windswept island of Nantucket has weathered a rich and legendary history. Originally home to Wampanoag Indian tribes, the island was settled in 1659 by the British and subsequently became the whaling capital of the world and a global trading post due to its advantageous position in the Atlantic. Today, Nantucket’s storied past is threaded throughout the sandy isle, but perhaps no hotel cherishes this herit...