There are four distinctive elements that define a Nantucket lightship basket. The basket is woven on a mold; the staves are made of rattan; the weavers are of cane; and the basket has a solid wood base. Baskets with these characteristics developed on Nantucket during the course of the nineteenth century. When well made, they were robust and practical as storage and carrying baskets and were in wide use in the island’s stores, workshops, and homes. As the island transitioned from a whaling economy to a tourist economy in the 1860s and after, the island’s work baskets became popular keepsakes of an island visit.  Learn More
Nantucket Lightship Basket Museum
The Nantucket Lightship Basket Museum (NLBM) was founded in 1997 with the purpose of preserving Nantucket’s rich history of lightship-basket making through public education and creating a permanent home for the display of lightship baskets, both historic and contemporary. In 2021, the Nantucket Lightship Basket Museum affiliated with the Nantucket Historical Association, acknowledging that education and scholarship are key tenets of both institutions. As a result of this affiliation, basket making has been integrated into the NHA’s year-round offerings of craft classes for children, youth and adults; and it has been manifested in NHA’s scholarship, publications, oral histories and in-person and virtual programming.  Learn More