Muskeget Island is a low sandy island to the west of Tuckernuck Island and

Nantucket Nantucket () is an island about south from Cape Cod. Together with the small islands of Tuckernuck and Muskeget, it constitutes the Town and County of Nantucket, a combined county/town government that is part of the U.S. state of Massachuse ...

, in the town of Nantucket, Massachusetts, United States.

Geography

Muskeget Island is part of the terminal moraine marking the maximum extent of the last glacial ice sheet to reach the northeastern coast. It has an area of . The Muskeget Island group contains Dry Shoal, Skiff Island, Tombolo Point, and Adams Island. Two-thirds of the island is owned by former reporter Crocker Snow Jr., with the rest owned by the town of Nantucket. There are currently two unoccupied shacks on the island, both of which are remnants of old structures, and a small landing strip. Muskeget has a high elevation of fourteen feet. Its northern shore is mostly

sand dune A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, fl ...

s, while its southern shore is mainly marshes. A sandy point protects the lagoon.

History

The island was part of Dukes County until 1887, when it was annexed by Nantucket County. Shortly after, land on the island was purchased to form the Muskeget Island Club for waterfowl hunting, and several buildings were constructed. Around 1950, half of the island, along with the 8 buildings standing at that time, were purchased by a partnership led by aviator Crocker Snow Sr. (as erosion has changed the shape of that island, that land currently encompasses 2/3 of the island). Snow, who built the Muskeget Island Airport there with his son Crocker Snow Jr., became full owner of the property after the other two partners died. Snow Jr. wrote several books on the island and its ecology, and pushed to have it designated as a National Natural Landmark by the National Park Service in April 1980, and in having a conservation restriction placed on the island in 2009.

Ecology

Southern Muskeget island is made up mostly of marshes and grassland. Muskeget is the southernmost breeding place of grey seals, the most common mammal on the island, and Muskeget and Monomoy islands are the primary seal colonies off the New England coast. In 2008, more than 2,000 pups were born on Muskeget. With this large seal population, the waters surrounding Muskeget are an important feeding area for great white sharks. The island is also home to an endemic species of rodent known as the Muskeget vole or beach vole, one of two terrestrial mammal species on the island. This vole feeds on beach grass stalks, leaves and seeds, and insect adults and larvae. Their predators include domestic cats (which were extirpated from the island some time in the late 1800s), short-eared owls, and northern harriers. The IUCN has classified the beach vole as

vulnerable Vulnerable may refer to: General * Vulnerability * Vulnerability (computing) * Vulnerable adult * Vulnerable species Music Albums * ''Vulnerable'' (Marvin Gaye album), 1997 * ''Vulnerable'' (Tricky album), 2003 * ''Vulnerable'' (The Used album) ...

. Endangered species of

pirate spider Pirate spiders, members of the family Mimetidae, are araneomorph spiders which typically feed on other spiders. The family Mimetidae contains roughly 200 species divided among 12 genera, of which '' Mimetus'' and ''Ero'' are the most common. M ...

piping plover The piping plover (''Charadrius melodus'') is a small sand-colored, sparrow-sized shorebird that nests and feeds along coastal sand and gravel beaches in North America. The adult has yellow-orange-red legs, a black band across the forehead from e ...

roseate tern The roseate tern (''Sterna dougallii'') is a species of tern in the family Laridae. The genus name ''Sterna'' is derived from Old English "stearn", "tern", and the specific ''dougallii'' refers to Scottish physician and collector Dr Peter McDoug ...

s and

arctic tern The Arctic tern (''Sterna paradisaea'') is a tern in the family Laridae. This bird has a circumpolar breeding distribution covering the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions of Europe (as far south as Brittany), Asia, and North America (as far south a ...

s can also be found on the island.

Access

Muskeget is inaccessible to most boats because of

shoal In oceanography, geomorphology, and geoscience, a shoal is a natural submerged ridge, bank, or bar that consists of, or is covered by, sand or other unconsolidated material and rises from the bed of a body of water to near the surface. It ...

s and sandbars.

Kayaking Kayaking is the use of a kayak for moving over water. It is distinguished from canoeing by the sitting position of the paddler and the number of blades on the paddle. A kayak is a low-to-the-water, canoe-like boat in which the paddler sits fac ...

there can be very dangerous because of rip currents, swells, and whirlpools. Specialized boats designed to navigate the difficult waters around the Island depart from Nantucket Harbor. Muskeget Island Airport, a small privately owned turf landing strip on the island, is accessible to

STOL A short takeoff and landing (STOL) aircraft is a conventional fixed-wing aircraft that has short runway requirements for takeoff and landing. Many STOL-designed aircraft also feature various arrangements for use on airstrips with harsh conditio ...

aircraft, but has been designated by the FAA as being for emergency use only.

References

{{authority control Coastal islands of Massachusetts Islands of Nantucket, Massachusetts National Natural Landmarks in Massachusetts