Marketplace

A print of the Iconic GARDINER’S CORNER SIGN in NANTUCKET, Massachusetts. The compass rose on the side of the building (Ralph Lauren) has attracted attention to Nantucket’s place in the world for about 75 years. It was created and put on the side of his store by H. Marshall Gardiner in the early 1930s, at a time when attention was needed to bring business not only into his own store, but to the Island itself. Indeed, Nantucket has long been linked to the larger outside world. In the days of whaling, Nantucket vessels were putting into ports such as Tahiti, Samoa and New Zealand. The whale oil brought back to Nantucket would travel on to light the lamps of London and the big cities of Europe. Nantucket vessels traveled to Hong Kong and Canton in the time of the China trade.