Star Island
Encyclopedia
Star Island is one of the Isles of Shoals
that straddle the border between New Hampshire
and Maine
, seven miles from the mainland in the Atlantic Ocean
. Star Island is the largest of the four islands in the group that are located in New Hampshire. In 1876, the island was annexed to the town of Rye
from the former town of Gosport.
Star Island is owned and operated by The Star Island Corporation, as a religious and educational conference center with close ties to the Unitarian Universalist Association
and the United Church of Christ
. The conferences include week-long conferences with yearly-changing themes, family conferences, and youth conferences. In 2008, "personal retreats" were created, thus allowing members of the public to stay on the island for up to one week. Sarah Orne Jewett wrote an occasional poem, published in Harper's Magazine (63:550-551), September 1881, about her visit to Star Island and the Gosport church.
, coming up from the colonies of the Virginia
companies. Although there may have been shelters built on the island, none were permanent or year-round.
The first permanent settlement of Star Island began in 1677 when the Province of Maine
, under Massachusetts
rule, undertook to increase taxes on nearby Hog Island (now Appledore Island
). That and the recent availability of housing on Star Island, which was in New Hampshire, caused a mass migration and in 1715, the township of Gosport, New Hampshire
, was established on Star Island.
The town and the island flourished until the American Revolutionary War
when the colonials ordered the Shoals evacuated, believing that having a group of questionable loyalty just off the coast posed a threat. Many shoalers abandoned their island homes shortly thereafter.
After the war, some moved back to Gosport, but it never achieved its former population. Thomas Laighton established a hotel on Smuttynose Island
and eventually a much larger one, the Appledore Hotel, on Hog, which he renamed Appledore Island. They were so successful that in 1873 another entrepreneur, John Poor, built the Oceanic Hotel on Star Island, by joining a cluster of Caswell family buildings with a long wooden veranda. When the first Oceanic burned in 1875 soon after it was built, owner John Poore reconfigured the surviving buildings into a second Oceanic Hotel. The largest, the former Atlantic House, had been run by Lemuel Caswell. Another, the Gosport House, was once run by Lemuel's brother Origen Caswell.
It was a golden era for island hotels. Air conditioning had yet to be invented and the cool sea breezes were a perfect escape from the hot summers of Boston and New York. But the resorts in the mountains of New Hampshire and New York were growing and did not involve a potentially unpleasant sea voyage. By the 1890s the hotels were nearly empty.
Then, in 1896, Thomas Elliott and his wife Lilla arrived on Star Island. They immediately saw in the lightly occupied hotel a place where summer conferences could be held, to be sponsored by the Unitarian
Church, of which he was a member. He made a deal with the manager to "fill the place to the ridge-poles" the following year, and then went back to the mainland to make good on his promise. He met with the Unitarians in Boston
and then, just to make sure, he went across the street and made a deal with the Congregationalists. The following summer, he had so many at the conference that the staff was sleeping in the bathrooms.
The conferences continued and, in 1915, the Isles of Shoals Summer Meeting Association which Elliott had organized bought the hotel and the island, forming the Star Island Corporation.
water for washing, and sea water for sanitary use. The island has its own septic treatment plant, one of the few capable of handling salt water, and a reverse osmosis
water purification system for converting sea water to drinking water. The island is staffed by a crew of 90 young adults, mostly college students, termed "Pelicans," who live on Star Island for the summer and do everything from transporting luggage to washing dishes, painting buildings, weeding, and making beds.
On Star Island there are multiple hotel buildings, the largest of which is the Oceanic Hotel. Others are named for YPRU (Young People's Religious Union), James Caswell, Leland Baker, and Capt. John Smith. There is a marine lab, a floating dock often used by swimmers, two tennis courts, two playgrounds, the "Kiddie Barn" where childcare services are given, an old stone chapel, a scenic gazebo
termed the Summerhouse, Vaughn Cottage where the historical records are kept, and beautiful scenery all around. The sunsets are breathtaking; those viewed from the Summerhouse and from the Oceanic's front porch are famous.
Transportation to Star Island was by the steamship-replica Thomas Laighton out of Portsmouth
from 1985 through 2004. In 2005 this changed to The Captain's Lady fleet from Rye
, causing conference day change-overs to be made in two trips. Service via Isles of Shoals Steamship Company and the Thomas Laighton resumed in 2010. Day trips are possible and information about boat schedules can be found on the island's website. http://www.starisland.org
The Star Island conference center is owned and operated by the Star Island Corporation, a not-for-profit United States
Internal Revenue Code
Section 501(c)(3) membership organization incorporated in the state of Massachusetts
. The corporation also is charged with preserving the Isles of Shoals
for future generations. It is affiliated with the Unitarian Universalist Association
and the United Church of Christ
.
The town of Rye
prevented the conference center on Star Island from opening on its usual schedule in early June, 2007, due to fire safety concerns. In late July, the Fire Marshal said there were no longer issues to prevent the conference center from opening, and the island opened for visitors in late July, with conferences resuming in early August.
. Other conferences may or may not have a particular religious orientation.
Gosport Harbor, which is created by the islands and connecting breakwaters, is deep and fairly protected, and moorings are available for visiting boats.
Isles of Shoals
The Isles of Shoals are a group of small islands and tidal ledges situated approximately off the east coast of the United States, straddling the border of the states of New Hampshire and Maine.- History :...
that straddle the border between New Hampshire
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...
and Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
, seven miles from the mainland in the Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
. Star Island is the largest of the four islands in the group that are located in New Hampshire. In 1876, the island was annexed to the town of Rye
Rye, New Hampshire
Rye is a town in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 5,298 at the 2010 census.-History:The first settlement in New Hampshire, originally named Pannaway, was established in 1623 at Odiorne's Point. The first settler in Rye was William Berry...
from the former town of Gosport.
Star Island is owned and operated by The Star Island Corporation, as a religious and educational conference center with close ties to the Unitarian Universalist Association
Unitarian Universalist Association
Unitarian Universalist Association , in full the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations in North America, is a liberal religious association of Unitarian Universalist congregations formed by the consolidation in 1961 of the American Unitarian Association and the Universalist Church of...
and the United Church of Christ
United Church of Christ
The United Church of Christ is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination primarily in the Reformed tradition but also historically influenced by Lutheranism. The Evangelical and Reformed Church and the Congregational Christian Churches united in 1957 to form the UCC...
. The conferences include week-long conferences with yearly-changing themes, family conferences, and youth conferences. In 2008, "personal retreats" were created, thus allowing members of the public to stay on the island for up to one week. Sarah Orne Jewett wrote an occasional poem, published in Harper's Magazine (63:550-551), September 1881, about her visit to Star Island and the Gosport church.
History
Star Island was first settled, as were all the Isles of Shoals, in the early 17th century by fishermen working the rich waters of the North Atlantic coast. Many were EnglishEnglish people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
, coming up from the colonies of the Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
companies. Although there may have been shelters built on the island, none were permanent or year-round.
The first permanent settlement of Star Island began in 1677 when the Province of Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
, under Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
rule, undertook to increase taxes on nearby Hog Island (now Appledore Island
Appledore Island
Appledore Island, Maine, is the largest of the Isles of Shoals located about seven miles off the Maine/New Hampshire coast....
). That and the recent availability of housing on Star Island, which was in New Hampshire, caused a mass migration and in 1715, the township of Gosport, New Hampshire
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...
, was established on Star Island.
The town and the island flourished until the American Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
when the colonials ordered the Shoals evacuated, believing that having a group of questionable loyalty just off the coast posed a threat. Many shoalers abandoned their island homes shortly thereafter.
After the war, some moved back to Gosport, but it never achieved its former population. Thomas Laighton established a hotel on Smuttynose Island
Smuttynose Island
Smuttynose Island is one of the Isles of Shoals, located six miles off the coast of New Hampshire, but actually in the state of Maine. It was named by fishermen, seeing the island at sea level and noticing how the profuse seaweed at one end looked like the "smutty nose" of some vast sea...
and eventually a much larger one, the Appledore Hotel, on Hog, which he renamed Appledore Island. They were so successful that in 1873 another entrepreneur, John Poor, built the Oceanic Hotel on Star Island, by joining a cluster of Caswell family buildings with a long wooden veranda. When the first Oceanic burned in 1875 soon after it was built, owner John Poore reconfigured the surviving buildings into a second Oceanic Hotel. The largest, the former Atlantic House, had been run by Lemuel Caswell. Another, the Gosport House, was once run by Lemuel's brother Origen Caswell.
It was a golden era for island hotels. Air conditioning had yet to be invented and the cool sea breezes were a perfect escape from the hot summers of Boston and New York. But the resorts in the mountains of New Hampshire and New York were growing and did not involve a potentially unpleasant sea voyage. By the 1890s the hotels were nearly empty.
Then, in 1896, Thomas Elliott and his wife Lilla arrived on Star Island. They immediately saw in the lightly occupied hotel a place where summer conferences could be held, to be sponsored by the Unitarian
Unitarianism
Unitarianism is a Christian theological movement, named for its understanding of God as one person, in direct contrast to Trinitarianism which defines God as three persons coexisting consubstantially as one in being....
Church, of which he was a member. He made a deal with the manager to "fill the place to the ridge-poles" the following year, and then went back to the mainland to make good on his promise. He met with the Unitarians in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
and then, just to make sure, he went across the street and made a deal with the Congregationalists. The following summer, he had so many at the conference that the staff was sleeping in the bathrooms.
The conferences continued and, in 1915, the Isles of Shoals Summer Meeting Association which Elliott had organized bought the hotel and the island, forming the Star Island Corporation.
Present-day
Thomas Elliott's original conference still meets today, as the Conference on International Affairs, as do a dozen or more other conferences. The island is like a self-sufficient town, producing all its own water and electricity. There are three separate water systems on the island — drinking water, cisternCistern
A cistern is a waterproof receptacle for holding liquids, usually water. Cisterns are often built to catch and store rainwater. Cisterns are distinguished from wells by their waterproof linings...
water for washing, and sea water for sanitary use. The island has its own septic treatment plant, one of the few capable of handling salt water, and a reverse osmosis
Reverse osmosis
Reverse osmosis is a membrane technical filtration method that removes many types of large molecules and ions from solutions by applying pressure to the solution when it is on one side of a selective membrane. The result is that the solute is retained on the pressurized side of the membrane and...
water purification system for converting sea water to drinking water. The island is staffed by a crew of 90 young adults, mostly college students, termed "Pelicans," who live on Star Island for the summer and do everything from transporting luggage to washing dishes, painting buildings, weeding, and making beds.
On Star Island there are multiple hotel buildings, the largest of which is the Oceanic Hotel. Others are named for YPRU (Young People's Religious Union), James Caswell, Leland Baker, and Capt. John Smith. There is a marine lab, a floating dock often used by swimmers, two tennis courts, two playgrounds, the "Kiddie Barn" where childcare services are given, an old stone chapel, a scenic gazebo
Gazebo
A gazebo is a pavilion structure, sometimes octagonal, that may be built, in parks, gardens, and spacious public areas. Gazebos are freestanding or attached to a garden wall, roofed, and open on all sides; they provide shade, shelter, ornamental features in a landscape, and a place to rest...
termed the Summerhouse, Vaughn Cottage where the historical records are kept, and beautiful scenery all around. The sunsets are breathtaking; those viewed from the Summerhouse and from the Oceanic's front porch are famous.
Transportation to Star Island was by the steamship-replica Thomas Laighton out of Portsmouth
Portsmouth, New Hampshire
Portsmouth is a city in Rockingham County, New Hampshire in the United States. It is the largest city but only the fourth-largest community in the county, with a population of 21,233 at the 2010 census...
from 1985 through 2004. In 2005 this changed to The Captain's Lady fleet from Rye
Rye, New Hampshire
Rye is a town in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 5,298 at the 2010 census.-History:The first settlement in New Hampshire, originally named Pannaway, was established in 1623 at Odiorne's Point. The first settler in Rye was William Berry...
, causing conference day change-overs to be made in two trips. Service via Isles of Shoals Steamship Company and the Thomas Laighton resumed in 2010. Day trips are possible and information about boat schedules can be found on the island's website. http://www.starisland.org
The Star Island conference center is owned and operated by the Star Island Corporation, a not-for-profit United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Internal Revenue Code
Internal Revenue Code
The Internal Revenue Code is the domestic portion of Federal statutory tax law in the United States, published in various volumes of the United States Statutes at Large, and separately as Title 26 of the United States Code...
Section 501(c)(3) membership organization incorporated in the state of Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
. The corporation also is charged with preserving the Isles of Shoals
Isles of Shoals
The Isles of Shoals are a group of small islands and tidal ledges situated approximately off the east coast of the United States, straddling the border of the states of New Hampshire and Maine.- History :...
for future generations. It is affiliated with the Unitarian Universalist Association
Unitarian Universalist Association
Unitarian Universalist Association , in full the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations in North America, is a liberal religious association of Unitarian Universalist congregations formed by the consolidation in 1961 of the American Unitarian Association and the Universalist Church of...
and the United Church of Christ
United Church of Christ
The United Church of Christ is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination primarily in the Reformed tradition but also historically influenced by Lutheranism. The Evangelical and Reformed Church and the Congregational Christian Churches united in 1957 to form the UCC...
.
The town of Rye
Rye, New Hampshire
Rye is a town in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 5,298 at the 2010 census.-History:The first settlement in New Hampshire, originally named Pannaway, was established in 1623 at Odiorne's Point. The first settler in Rye was William Berry...
prevented the conference center on Star Island from opening on its usual schedule in early June, 2007, due to fire safety concerns. In late July, the Fire Marshal said there were no longer issues to prevent the conference center from opening, and the island opened for visitors in late July, with conferences resuming in early August.
Conferences
Conferences at Star Island last from two days to a full week and may overlap other conferences. Those in June and July, plus LOAS in August, tend to have a Unitarian Universalist orientation, while those marked "UCC" are affiliated with the United Church of ChristUnited Church of Christ
The United Church of Christ is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination primarily in the Reformed tradition but also historically influenced by Lutheranism. The Evangelical and Reformed Church and the Congregational Christian Churches united in 1957 to form the UCC...
. Other conferences may or may not have a particular religious orientation.
June conferences
- Young Adults Conference (3–7 days)
- Conference on the Arts (7 days)
- Isles of Shoals Historical and Research Association (ISHRA) (4 days)
- Natural History Conference (NHC) (7 days)
- Youth Empowerment Spirituality and Health (YES) (7 days)
July conferences
- All Star I Family Conference (7 days)
- All Star II Family Conference (7 days)
- Religious Education Conference (7 days)
- International Affairs Conference (7 days)
August conferences
- Institute on Religion in an Age of ScienceInstitute on Religion in an Age of ScienceThe Institute on Religion in an Age of Science is a non-denominational society that promotes and facilitates the ongoing dialectic between religion and science. Both members of IRAS and non-members congregate at the IRAS conference held annually at Star Island in New Hampshire.-History:IRAS...
(IRAS) (7 days) - Star Gathering I (UCC) Family Conference (6 days)
- Star Gathering I (UCC) Youth Conference (6 days)
- Star Gathering II (UCC) Family Conference (6 days)
- Star Gathering II (UCC) Youth Conference (6 days)
- Weekend Conference of the Laity (UCC) (2 days)
- LOAS Site Life On A Star (LOAS) I (6 days)
- LOAS Site Life On A Star (LOAS) II (7 days)
September conferences and gatherings
- Pelican Reunion (2 days)
- ElderhostelElderhostelElderhostel is a not-for-profit organization established in 1975 that allows senior citizens to travel and take educational programs in the United States and around the world...
I (5 days) - Midweek Retreat I (4 days)
- Elderhostel II (5 days)
- Midweek Retreat II-Retreat to a Star (4 days)
- Granite State CollegeGranite State College-History and mission:Founded in 1972, and headquartered in Concord, Granite State College is one of the four institutions of the University System of New Hampshire with a primary mission of being the system's statewide college for adults and college-age students to have access to advanced,...
(3 days) - ISHRA September Weekend (2 days)
- Writelines (2 days)
- Star Women (formerly A Women's Gathering of Renewal) (2–4 days)
- Dover Yoga (2 days)
- Star Guilford: Rethinking the Small Church Choir (2 days)
- Star Hampshire Traditional Music & Dance (2 days)
Getting to the island
Several ferry companies have provided transportation to Star Island. The Isles of Shoals Steamship Company, Island Cruises, and We Like Whales bring visitors for day trips and overnights or run tours around the island and the rest of the Isles of Shoals.Gosport Harbor, which is created by the islands and connecting breakwaters, is deep and fairly protected, and moorings are available for visiting boats.