View of corner of Broad and South Water Streets, showing the building that later became the Whaling Museum and a livery. Numerous people are out walking on the sidewalk. (Courtesy of the Nantucket Historical Association)

1880s View looking southwest shows the back of the Hadwen and Barney warehouse, previously the Hadwen candle factory and later the NHA Whaling Museum. Across the street is the Covil & Pease Island Stable. (Courtesy of the Nantucket Historical Association)

2000s Whaling Museum renovations showing the new steel framework that will connect the Peter Foulger Museum, left, with the old Whaling Museum. (Courtesy of the Nantucket Historical Association)

The candle factory on Broad Street was built after the Great Fire in 1846 by the Mitchell family. Soon thereafter it was purchased by William Hadwen and Nathaniel Barney, and continued as a candleworks through the 1860s. After being used as a warehouse, steamship office, and antiques store, it was purchased in 1929 by Edward F. Sanderson, who enabled the Nantucket Historical Association to acquire the property. It opened its doors as the Whaling Museum in 1930. Courtesy of the Nantucket Historical Association

High tide on South Beach Street, showing the street under water between the Museum Shop and the Yacht Club. Studio: Photographed developed and printed on Nantucket Island by H. Flint Ranney. (Courtesy of the Nantucket Historical Association)

The latest renovation to the museum took place in the early 2000s and was concluded in 2005. The brick annex was removed and replaced with an entirely new steel-frame connecting portion, complete with a lobby, rooftop viewing deck, and more new exhibition space. Particularly of note is the spacious Gosnell Hall , the ceiling of which displays the breathtaking skeleton of a sperm whale recovered in 1997 and key whale hunting artifacts. (Photo by Theo Kinsella)

The use of sandbags is a simple, but effective way to prevent or reduce flood water damage. Properly filled and placed sandbags can act as a barrier to divert moving water around, instead of through, buildings. Green infrastructure such as rain gardens, bioswales, and other retention approaches and other permeable surfaces, as well as additional pumping capacity and tide gates at outfalls can also help drain excess stormwater. (Photo by Theo Kinsella)

2019. Using LIDAR 3D scanners and NOAA flood projections, the University of Florida's Preservation Institute: Nantucket has been able to provide visualizations of sea level rise projections against precise building elevation measurements. (Image Courtesy of University of Florida Preservation Institute Nantucket)

A WPI student project map of confirmed and possible vulnerabilities within the broader museum complex, listed (roughly) in order of decreasing priority. High-priority vulnerabilities are those which are already experiencing flooding or otherwise require imminent action; lower-priority hazards are those which are likely to pose a problem sometime in the future and warrant attention before they grow into significant problems. (Courtesy of the Nantucket Historical Association)

Cleaning up water damage using wet vacs in the Museum gift shop. Featured in the WPI Student Project "The History and Future of the Nantucket Whaling Museum: How heritage contends with a rising sea". Courtesy of the Nantucket Historical Association.

2019 NOAA Intermediate-High scenarios predicted 4.54' sea level rise projections (above NAVD88) for the year 2060. Using LIDAR 3D scanners and NOAA flood projections, the University of Florida's Preservation Institute: Nantucket has been able to provide visualizations of sea level rise projections against precise building elevation measurements. (Image Courtesy of University of Florida Preservation Institute Nantucket)

2019 NOAA Intermediate-High scenarios predicted 6.14' sea level rise projections (above NAVD88) for the year 2080. Using LIDAR 3D scanners and NOAA flood projections, the University of Florida's Preservation Institute: Nantucket has been able to provide visualizations of sea level rise projections against precise building elevation measurements. (Image Courtesy of University of Florida Preservation Institute Nantucket)

2019 NOAA Intermediate-High scenarios predicted 8.04' sea level rise projections (above NAVD88) for the year 2100. Using LIDAR 3D scanners and NOAA flood projections, the University of Florida's Preservation Institute: Nantucket has been able to provide visualizations of sea level rise projections against precise building elevation measurements. (Image Courtesy of University of Florida Preservation Institute Nantucket)

The Nantucket Historical Association (NHA) has partnered with several heritage conservation organizations: International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM), Integrated Conservation Resources Inc. and Integrated Conservation Contracting, Inc. (ICR-ICC), and the Weitzman School of Design at the University of Pennsylvania to assist in developing a disaster and climate risk management plan for its historical assets. This new initiative brings private and public partners together to apply an integrated framework for the assessment of Nantucket’s most important historic properties and by extension, all such assets on the island.

The NHA cosponsored Disaster and Climate Risk Assessment for Built Heritage Conservation & Management program involves public and private partners and graduate student interns who will design and implement a risk and vulnerability analysis for Nantucket’s most iconic cultural properties in the face of the climate crisis and disasters. This multi-year program involves public and private partners and graduate student interns who will design and implement a risk and vulnerability analysis for Nantucket’s most iconic cultural properties in the face of the climate crisis and disasters. (Photo by Will Kinsella)

On-site condition mapping offers a holistic view of each building’s vulnerability areas, forming a basis for risk assessment. By understanding the structures’ current state, we can implement proactive preservation measures and address any potential threats posed by climate change. As the program expands, it will allow the NHA to move forward quickly in a manner that not only protects its historical assets but also satisfies its mission to promote and to educate in heritage conservation and transform those activities into narratives worth sharing with the local community, and other communities both national and international. (Courtesy of Nantucket Historical Association/Nantucket Heritage Resilience)