Isles of Shoals
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Nine small islands about 10 miles offshore, the Isles of Shoals straddle the border of New Hampshire and Maine. First settled by Europeans in the early 1600s, they were an important fishing area for the young British and French colonies. The Town of Gosport was incorporated on the New Hampshire side of the border, centered on Star Island in 1724. The community was fairly prosperous up until about 1778, when the Islanders were evacuated to Rye, New Hampshire due to the Revolutionary War. Though a small population remained, the Isles were largely abandoned until the middle of the 19th century, when Thomas and Oscar Leighton opened a popular summer hotels on Appledore Island, and their sister, the poet Celia Thaxter hosted an arts community frequented by such luminaries as author Nathaniel Hawthorne and the impressionist painter, Appledore Island, in Maine, is the largest of the isles of shoals. Formerly known as Hog Islands, and prior that, Farm Island, it is approximatly a mile from east to west, and five eights mile from north to south. Appledore House having burned long ago, today the Island is the operating station of the Shoals Marine Laboratory, which is run through the cooperation of Cornell University and the University of New Hampshire.
Smuttynose Island is the second largest of the Isles. It is known as the site of Blackbeard's honeymoon, for the shipwreck of the Spanish ship Sagunto in 1813, and for the notorius 1873 axe murders of two young women, remembered in the recent novel "The Weight of Water." Though there are two small houses on the island, Smuttynose is not populated today. Malaga Island is a small island just to the east of Smuttynose, and is connected to it by breakwater. Cedar Island is also connected to Smuttynose by breakwater; it is privatly owned. Duck Island lies about 1.5 miles to the north; it was used at one time as a bombing range for the US Navy. It is host to a seal colony, though it has never supported a human population.
The New Hampshire Islands are White Island, Lunging Island, and Star Island. White Island hosts one of the two lighthouses on the New Hampshire coast. Lunging Island, formerly Londoner's Island, was the sight of an early trading post for cod fish. Today, it is privatly owned.
The third largest island, Star Island is the only island which is today served by a ferry from the mainland. It is host to a conference center run by The Star Island Corporation, which also owns Appledore and Smuttynose. Week-long conferences of the Unitarian Universalist Association and the United Church of Christ make use of the Oceanic Hotel throughout the summer. Day-trippers are also welcome; the ferry runs two or three times a day throughout the summer from Portsmouth, NH.
