Muskeget Island

Muskeget Island ( ) is a low, sandy island to the west of Tuckernuck Island and Nantucket, in the town of Nantucket, Massachusetts, United States.

Geography

Muskeget Island is part of the terminal moraine marking the maximum extent of the last glacial ice sheet to reach the northeastern coast. It has an area of ; a saltwater lagoon covers of this area. The Muskeget Island group contains Dry Shoal, Skiff Island, Tombolo Point, and Adams Island. Two-thirds of the island is owned by former reporter Crocker Snow Jr., with the rest owned by the town of Nantucket. There are currently two unoccupied shacks on the island, both of which are remnants of old structures, and a small landing strip. Shortly after, land on the island was purchased to form the Muskeget Island Club for waterfowl hunting, and several buildings were constructed. Snow Jr. wrote several books on the island and its ecology and pushed to have it designated as a National Natural Landmark by the National Park Service in April 1980, and having a conservation restriction placed on the island in 2009.

The island is also home to an endemic species of rodent known as the Muskeget vole or beach vole, one of two terrestrial mammal species on the island.

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