It's five a.m. in July and a riot of barking seagulls announced the arrival of the sun in Gosport Harbor at the Isles of Shoals. Here the sun appears over Cedar and Smuttynose.

Light has yet to reach the far side of the old Gosport Chapel, the most photographed spot on Star Island, still used for services. Celia Thaxter's brother Oscar reportedly built the steeple.

The yellow-orange glow illuminates the front of the Oceanic Hotel built in the late 1800s to compete with the successful hotel owned by the Thaxters on Appledore. Today it is owned by the Star Island Corporation in association with the Universalist Unitarian Church. For much better photos, see the Isles Gallery by Peter Randall.

Just below the hotel, looking out onto White Island lighthouse is a small family cemetery with gravestones of the Caswell family and other early Shoalers. The night before this picture was taken, the inscriptions could easily be read in the full moon. The air was still and silent and the mainland of Seacoast NH shimmered distantly.

CONTINUE TOUR TO 2 OF 3

Isles of Shoals Homepage
Penny Postcards of Star
SeacoastNH.com Home

Disposable photos by J. Dennis Robinson
© 1998 SeacocastNH.com

To see pix by real professionals
go to our Photo Gallery Archives