On the Market: A Historic Bed and Breakfast in Nantucket

Nantucket’s oldest continuously running inn is lovely, and in search of new owners.


Photo via William Raveis Real Estate

10B Cliff Road, Nantucket
Price: $5,950,000
Size: 4,744 square feet
Bedrooms: 17
Baths: 19

You wake up naturally, to no alarm in an impossibly pillowy bed. Looking around, you take in the floral wallpaper, the built-in bookshelf, the fireplace, and then the aroma of herbed eggs and maple syrup-saturated pancakes begins to waft into the bedroom. No, it’s not a dream—it’s a bed and breakfast. Sure, hotels and Airbnbs flaunt the convenience of booking via apps, but where else besides a good old B&B can you enjoy a home-cooked breakfast, vintage-chic furnishings, and so many knick knacks? There’s no place like it.

And now, for just shy of $6 million, you can own a B&B of your own. As the oldest continuously operating inn on Nantucket, Century House is packed with history. In 1833, the captain of a whaling ship purchased the hilltop parcel, deeming it the perfect spot to build his mansion. In between expeditions, he constructed the white shingled Federal style residence, which today serves as a three-story, 17-bedroom guesthouse.

Inside the house, which can be sold mostly furnished, you’ll find the kinds of furnishings you might expect from a bed and breakfast on Nantucket: blues and whites, lace-canopied beds, framed watercolor paintings, and black-and-white photos. But even if the next owners redecorate, some lovely features will remain, such as a cozy window seat all the way at the end of a second-floor hallway, a kitchen that can easily accommodate 14 diners, and a veranda that wraps around the entire first floor.

And most notably, whether the home’s buyers continue to run it as a B&B or live in it as a private residence, the property will retain the quality for which its ship captain creator first chose it: Sea breezes and ocean views envelop the home from winter to summer.

If the siren call of the sea isn’t convincing enough for you, Century House has also taken a turn or two in the limelight. Rumor has it that after reading an article about the B&B, no less than Martha Stewart herself asked one of her producers to call the owners and find out what made their beds so special (answer: triple the sheets and lots of pillows). And fans of the ’90s sitcom Wings might recognize the guesthouse from its multiple television appearances.

For information, contact Kenny Hilbig, William Raveis Real Estate, raveis.com.

Photo via William Raveis Real Estate

Photo via William Raveis Real Estate

Photo via William Raveis Real Estate

Photo via William Raveis Real Estate

Photo via William Raveis Real Estate

Photo via William Raveis Real Estate

Photo via William Raveis Real Estate

Photo via William Raveis Real Estate

Photo via William Raveis Real Estate

Photo via William Raveis Real Estate

Photo via William Raveis Real Estate

Photo via William Raveis Real Estate

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