Scenes From A Nantucket House Move

It's the tail end of house-moving season on Nantucket, and on Wednesday, this home was moved across the island from Van Fleet Circle in Tom Nevers to the Beverly Court property of a local family located off Old South Road.

Warren Ard orchestrated the move.

But it did cause some traffic headaches and prompted the Nantucket New School and Small Friends to close early due to the expected power outage.

Nantucket is believed to have the most house moves of any town in Massachusetts, and they have become almost ubiquitous on the island during the fall, winter, and spring for years now. The trend is driven in part by economics and the extremely high cost of building on Nantucket: it can be less expensive to move an existing structure or float a modular over on a barge than it is to build a new home. There’s also the local bylaw that applies to any structure scheduled for demolition that requires property owners to advertise the house as available - typically free - to anyone able to take it away at their cost.

House moves - whether it’s a structure being recycled or a modular unit - have been critical to the island’s affordable housing efforts, and have allowed some year-round islanders to buy a home that would have otherwise been unattainable. The practice also keeps a significant amount of demolition debris from ending up in the municipal landfill before being shipped off-island.

While there is a moratorium on house moves during the summer months - from June 15 through September 15 - there is an exemption that allows structures to be moved during the summer if they’re completed by 10 a.m.

Some in the town administration believe the amount of time required to coordinate a single house move, which often includes the police, fire, building, and public works departments, as well as the utility companies like National Grid and Verizon, does not correspond to the cost of the permit, which is a mere $50.