Melville’s Massachusetts by land and sea

If the sea fever strikes you, celebrate with a road trip over the various land and seascapes of the state, weaving in and out of Herman Melville’s life and the pages of his greatest novel, “Moby-Dick; or, The Whale.’’

Arrowhead, Melville’s farmhouse in Pittsfield, is where the author wrote the entirety of his 1851 novel. Melville, having fallen in love with his uncle’s estate in the Berkshires, bought the former inn, wanting to create a life for himself as a gentleman farmer.

At Arrowhead, the holy of holies is Melville’s study. You can look north out over the top of the desk at the view Melville saw every day when he sat down to write from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m., catching the best light of the day for his imperfect eyesight.

The New Bedford Whaling Museum is remarkable for the balance it strikes between celebrating the harpoon-wielding ingenuity and bravery and a remorseful concern and awareness for whales. Admission is $14 for adults, $9 for students, and $6 for children.
www.whalingmuseum.org

The unofficial symbol of Nantucket: a harpoon twisted by a sperm whale during a hunt. Melville never saw Nantucket until the year after “Moby-Dick’’ was published; he created the world from its reputation. Nantucket is the home of Ahab, its docks frequented by the ranting prophet Elijah.

Nantucket was also the harbor home of the whaleship Essex. The demise of which was an infamous incident upon which Melville based the climactic scene of his novel. Melville made a pilgrimage to Nantucket, where by chance he met the Essex’s Captain Pollard at the intersection of Center and Ocean streets. Nantucket historian Nathaniel Philbrick calls the site “a holy epicenter.’’

Nantucket can be expensive, but an overnight in one of the many whaling captains’ houses that have been converted to inns and bed-and-breakfasts might be worth the investment.

The programs at the Nantucket Whaling Museum are well worth attending: first-class narratives told animatedly by docents, accompanied by slides from the museum’s research library. Admission is $17 for adults, $15 for children. www.nha.org

As much as Melville’s novel details the hunt, also present is his immense awe of the living creature, so finish with a whale watch.

Melville mentions Providence by name in “Moby-Dick.’’ There are several local outfits for whale watching.

Dolphin Fleet Whale Watch offers whale watching excursions for $44 for adults and $29 for children.
www.whalewatch.com

On this new kind of whaleboat, the joy of the watchers is nearly as sublime as the activities of the whales: Almost uniformly, people lose their language and are reduced to gasps and cheers.