Pacific Club of Nantucket

Like the sign says, this is site of the Pacific Club, originally a counting house established in 1772 by William Rotch on Main Street, Nantucket. Rotch owned four famed ships, the Darmouth, the Bedford, the Eleanor, and the Beaver, of Boston Tea Party fame.

The Pacific Club, so named by its founders in 1854, whaling captains of the Pacific fleet, was a place for them to play cribbage and tell their adventures. Many businesses have occupied the building over the decades. There are businesses located on the ground floor currently, including a bank ATM, though the upper two floors are vacant.

From a “counting house” to an ATM. Such is the progress of business that people are no longer necessary to the exchange of money.

Perhaps the ghosts, at least, are still playing cribbage.