SEE: Even More Star Island Discoveries
It may have been junk in 1881, but the artifacts discovered this week in the
walls of the Oceanic Hotel are treasures today. Workers building a new stairway
in the Victorian hotel on the Isles of Shoals found a candle holder, a chamber pot lid, a shoe, a number of bottles, lots of
newspapers, a broken clay pipe, even a very old can of peaches with the label
intact.
The rare burst of construction at the historic Star Island hotel will allow visitors
a second, safer exit from the old wooden hotel. This is a major improvement over
the former backup fire exit that would lead guests across the flat rooftops.
Most impressive among the items was a 1870s era pitcher imprinted with the word
Oceanic. The chipped pitcher was filled with new square nails and had apparently
been closed up in the wall.
A cluster of newspapers from across the USA are dated from summer 1881 to summer
1883, during the "golden era" of the Shoals. As many as 500 guests a night were
staying at the Appledore Hotel on an island just across Gosport Harbor. Poet Celia Thaxter’s literary salon was in full swing. Her two brothers, Oscar and Cedric, were also
running the Oceanic which they had purchased from former competitor John Poore
who build it in 1874.
The original Oceanic burned, and the current hotel is made up of a cluster of
buildings gathered along a wooden walkway. The hotel, owned by the Star Island
Corp. of Portsmouth, has been offering week-long summer conferences for more than
a century here. The new renovation is part of the group’'s ongoing effort to improve
the facilities and widen its clientele to new summer guests.
Linda Anderle, who photographed the finds, says, "All of the items will be cleaned,
catalogued and placed into the Vaughn Cottage Museum here on Star Island. This is the museum that houses many items of Celia Thaxter
and the Laighton family, as well as the fishing and hotel and conference eras
of this island. I feel certain a special display will be put together with many
of these items for this season's conferees and our day visitors from the mainland."
All photographs by Linda Anderle.
Contact the Star Island Coporation
All photos by Linda Anderle. Courtesy Star Island Corporation.
SEE: A tour inside the Oceanic Hotel
