An 1845 brick mansion built by a Nantucket whaling shipowner, now an operating inn where guests and staff trade stories of a man by the fireplace.
29 Broad Street, Nantucket, MA 02554
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$$
Operating inn; room rates vary by season. Public spaces such as the lobby and tavern may be accessible to non-guests during business hours.
Access
Limited Access
Historic multi-story brick inn on a downtown Nantucket street; cobblestone and brick sidewalks nearby.
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1845 · Built 1845 by whaling shipowner Jared Coffin; often called Nantucket's first brick mansion · Survived the Great Fire of 1846 that destroyed much of downtown Nantucket · Located within Nantucket's National Historic Landmark district
Jared Coffin was one of Nantucket's most successful shipowners during the height of the island's whaling trade. In 1845 he had a substantial three-story brick mansion built at 29 Broad Street, a house often described as the first brick mansion on Nantucket, with brick walls and a slate roof that set it apart from the island's wood-frame buildings.
The choice of brick proved consequential. In 1846 the Great Fire swept through downtown Nantucket and destroyed roughly a third of the community, but the Coffin house withstood the flames, its masonry helping to check the fire's spread. The building survived as one of the substantial structures of the post-fire town.
Coffin's family did not remain in the house for long, and over the following decades it passed through various uses, including as a public house and inn serving the island's visitors. The author Herman Melville is said in island tradition to have stayed at the house during a visit to Nantucket, the town he wrote about in 'Moby-Dick.'
Today the Jared Coffin House operates as an inn in the heart of Nantucket's historic district, within the National Historic Landmark district that covers much of the old town. Its long history and prominent downtown location have made it one of the better-known historic lodgings on the island.
Sources
The best-known story attached to the Jared Coffin House is that its builder never really left. Local ghost lore describes Jared Coffin as so attached to the mansion that he is said to return as an older man seen sitting or standing near one of the fireplaces. The claim is a piece of island tradition rather than a documented account, and no record establishes that Coffin died in the house.
Other stories collected by Nantucket ghost-tour operators and guests include the apparition of a young girl reported in an upper guest room and assorted accounts of footsteps, figures glimpsed in hallways, and the ordinary creaks of a building approaching two centuries old. These reports come from guests and tour narratives, not from any formal investigation.
As with most haunted-inn lore, the stories have grown alongside the building's fame and its place on Nantucket ghost walks. The Jared Coffin House is a genuine 1845 landmark with a vivid documented history; the hauntings are the kind of tradition that gathers around an old, much-loved building. Guests curious about the lore can ask staff, who are used to the questions.
Notable Entities
Book a room at the operating Jared Coffin House, an 1845 brick mansion in downtown Nantucket. Guests interested in the inn's lore can ask staff about the long-told stories tied to the building.
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