The town of Nantucket is actually a group of three small islands off the coast of Massachusetts – Muskeget, Tuckernuck and Nantucket. The second Life version of Nantucket is a darn good re-creation of this beautiful old town, with its marina, shops and homes. 
If you compare the above picture from a picture of the real Nantucket:
You can see how good of a job they have done. All that’s missing are the trees (more trees!) and the cars (fewer cars in real life!). There is also a concert area, featuring music by many artists – folk, classical, and I understand that it has become a popular place to play. Not surprising, considering the high quality sim here.
Most of the shops – well, all of the shops – are dedicated to painting and design. The shops are comfortable, warm and inviting, something that is often missing in the Wal-Mart sized shops that you often find around Second Life, and, in fact, in our real world. I think we have lost that in our loud, intrusive world today – quiet streets, small walkable towns. We seem not to mind living in cities that look like the backside of a strip mall.
There are beaches, lighthouses and a marina. There are also houses for rent for the eternal summer season.
Nantucket Marina:: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Nantucket/91/65/21/
The Ars Virtua Project is directed by James Morgan, is a project concerned about the distinction between the real world and the virtual world, and how we interpret it (or them). One thing they take advantage of is that one can literally (or should I say “virtually”?) build anything in any direction, or create non-human avatars. Which brings up questions that I am wondering myself – since we can build pretty much anything we want, why do so many people spend a lot of time rebuilding the real world in Second Life? How can we create native art in a synthetic universe?
museum – presenting paintings and photography, the pictures are real life photos of the players dressed in the style of their virtual trappings! A conflict of the intersection of the real and non-real, using the virtual museum to present the other side – another section is filled with glassy reflecting whirls, scribbles and colors, not giving the patron to chance to know which way is “up” or “down”, if this indeed exists in a virtual environment.
I really enjoyed my visit there, I watched the movies, I got lost in the mirror-like rooms. But be warned, it can be graphics intensive.
learn a bit more about the person behind the artwork, and this was, however, no where to be found (or if it was, I didn’t see it in evidence).