Star Island

Star Island is one of the four Isles of Shoals that are located in New Hampshire, seven miles from the mainland in the Atlantic Ocean. In 1876, the island was annexed to the Town of Rye from the former town of Gosport. [ [http://www.nh.gov/nhes/elmi/htmlprofiles/rye.html NH Employment Security - Rye, NH] ]

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. [http://www.starisland.org/retreats/Star Island Corporation - Personal Retreats on Star Island.]

History

Star Island was first settled, as were all the Isles of Shoals, in the early 1600s by fishermen working the rich waters of the North Atlantic coast. Many were English, 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.

tar Island today

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, cistern 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. 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 with the steamship "Thomas Laighton" out of Portsmouth from 1985 through 2004, but starting in 2005 it began to use "The Captain's Lady" from Rye, causing conference day change-overs to be made in two trips. 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.

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 Christ. Other conferences may or may not have a particular religious orientation.

June conferences

* [http://bigyacattack.com Young Adults Conference] (3-7 days)
* [http://www.stararts.org Conference on the Arts] (7 days)
*Isles of Shoals Historical and Research Association (ISHRA) (4 days)
*Natural History Conference (7 days)
* [http://www.yruustar.org Young Religious Unitarian Universalists] (YRUU) (7 days)

July conferences

* [http://www.allstarone.org/ All Star I Family Conference] (7 days)
* [http://allstar2.gurus.com/ All Star II Family Conference] (7 days)
* [http://www.starreweek.com/ Religious Education Conference] (7 days)
* [http://www.internationalaffairsconference.org/ International Affairs Conference] (7 days)

=August conferences=
*Institute on Religion in an Age of Science (IRAS) (7 days)
* [http://starisucc.com/ Star Gathering I] (UCC) Family Conference (6 days)
* [http://starisucc.com/ Star Gathering I] (UCC) Youth Conference (6 days)
* [http://starisucc.com/ Star Gathering II] (UCC) Family Conference (6 days)
* [http://starisucc.com/ Star Gathering II] (UCC) Youth Conference (6 days)
*Weekend Conference of the Laity (UCC) (2 days)
*Life On A Star (LOAS) I (6 days)
*Life On A Star (LOAS) II (7 days)

=September conferences and gatherings=
*Pelican Reunion (2 days)
*Elderhostel I (5 days)
*Midweek Retreat I (4 days)
*Elderhostel II (5 days)
*Midweek Retreat II-Retreat to a Star (4 days)
*Granite State College (3 days)
*ISHRA September Weekend (2 days)
* [http://www.writelines.net 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)

References

External links

* [http://www.starisland.org/StarIsland/Home/Home.htm Star Island website]
* [http://shoals.org/ Isles of Shoals Association (Unitarian-Universalist)]
* [http://pelicansarepelicans.com/ Pelican website]