After interviewing many potential ferry services, Star Island has signed on with Captain’s Fishing Charters of Newburyport, Massachusetts to bring conferees to Star Island. As part of our commitment to continue Star Island’s close relationship with the Seacoast Community, the Captain’s Lady will depart from Burge Dock on Market Street in Portsmouth.

Conferees will no longer come aboard the Isles of Shoals Steamship Company’s M/V Thomas Laighton due in part because of complications presented by Homeland Security. The Star Island Corporation, which owns both Star and Appledore Islands, was founded in 1916. The Isles of Shoals Steamship Company has been ferrying our passengers and freight for about 40 of those years and we are very sorry to see the historical relationship between us end. We respect Robin Whitaker’s commitment to continuing education about the Isles of Shoals and wish her all the best.

We welcome visitors to Star Island between mid-June and mid-September aboard their own vessels. Other opportunities for visiting Star Island are aboard the Prince of Whales which operates from Newburyport, or aboard the Uncle Oscar which departs from Rye.

Day visitors can visit the island’s snack bar, book store, lobby store, or gift shop or tour the Oceanic Hotel lobby, Rutledge Marine Lab, or Vaughn Cottage. You are also welcome to join us for a hearty and satisfying meal served home-style in the Oceanic Hotel dining room. Meals are served at 12:30 and 6:30, are all you can eat, and include beverages and dessert. Please note that the island's dock is very busy, and only dinghies are permitted to tie up.

In years past Star Island’s Grand Hotel Era Oceanic House, along with the hotel on neighboring Appledore Island, was frequented by Childe Hassam, Celia Thaxter, Nathaniel

Hawthorne, Ralph Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and other notables of the time. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s recently published diaries include a two-week visit to the Isles of Shoals and Star Island. Star Island remains a destination for writers, artists, philosophers, and musicians as well as people from all walks of life, including contemporary notables who enjoy the benefits of being just one of the "Shoalers".

One of Star Island’s most promi­nent features is the chapel, a simple stone meetinghouse built in 1800 on the highest point of land. Vaughn Cottage, another site of interest, is open from 1 to 3 p.m. and features artifacts and historic manuscripts including writings from the collection of Celia Thaxter. The Rutledge Marine Lab is open every day for hands–on learning about native marine life.

The first summer conferences were held on Star Island in 1897 under the auspices of the Isles of Shoals Association. In addition to several family conferences (Life on a Star 1 and 2 and All Star 1 and 2), Arts, and Natural History, we host the Isles of Shoals Historical and Research Association, International Affairs, the Institute on Religion in an Age of Science, Dover Yoga Studio and Gallery, New Hampshire Photographic Society, and Star Hampshire Traditional Music and Dance. Star Women and Midweek Retreat are two other early September conferences and this year, we have added a Writer’s Conference. For more detailed conference information as well as how to register, please call the office at (603) 430-6272 and we will send you our Blue Book.

As an island environment ten miles out to sea, Star Island must provide its own utilities including electricity, water, waste treatment, and garbage disposal. We are currently installing a reverse osmosis machine to allow us to convert salt water to drinking water. We handle the largest amount of compost in the State of New Hampshire. We grow our own flowers in a perennial garden and display them throughout the hotel and dining hall. Maintaining and preserving our historic buildings is at the forefront of our operation.

Star Island Corporation is a membership organization comprised of about 400 members and governed by a board of directors under the direction of Irene Bush, president. Paul Jennings is Executive Director of Star Island.

There are nine full-time staff members who work in the Portsmouth office and on Star Island and four seasonal staff members who work on island. In addition, every job on the island including docking boats and handling freight; cooking and serving food; maintaining the grounds, buildings, power plant, and waste water treatment facility; and providing all hospitality services is staffed by a Pelican, the affectionate term for the nearly 100 young people who work here and often return year after year to what Yankee Magazine once called "one of the top ten summer jobs in New England".

For more information, please contact:
Deborah Lielasus Tombleson
Director of Development & Community Relations
Star Island Corporation