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Star Island Corporation

Star Island SITE OF THE WEEK

We’re packing the waterproof gunny sacks for the annual trip to the Isles of Shoals. By the time you read this we’ll be unpacking on Smuttynose Island, just us and 8,000 seagulls for a week on a little rock six miles out to sea. No electricity. No well or running water. No flush toilets. It’s heaven.

VISIT the Star Island Corporation web site

The summer action, as always, is at Star Island, just a 15-minute rowboat ride across Gossport Harbor. Star is the one with the hotel. The Oceanic was built originally in 1873, the same year as the newly re-opened Wentworth Hotel in New Castle. My wife Maryellen and I often write and lecture about the Isles, but it seems that, for every person who learns the island history, there are a dozen who are wholly confused.

And it is confusing. The Shoals, that once were home to as many as 600 year-round citizens, now has a year-round population of almost zero. There used to be a big hotel on Appledore Island next door too, but that one burned in 1914. Star Island used to be covered in little shacks where fishermen and their families lived in utter poverty. But the last 100 years The Oceanic Hotel on Star has been home to summer conferences run now by the Star Island Corporation. I get zillions of emails from people wanting to stay overnight at the hotel (not), eat in the restaurant there (none) or camp out under the stars (nope).

But keep this in mind – the Isles of Shoals are privately owned. The fact that we, the public, can visit them at all is thanks to the generosity of the owners. The most generous owner is the Star Island Corporation that runs the summer conferences. In recent years that organization has become increasingly accessible. The nonprofit group has moved its offices from Boston to downtown Portsmouth and they have a web site that tells the whole story. It’s not hard to learn the facts, you just have to know where to look.

THE WEB SITE MAKERS

StarIsland.org is the key information site for the Shoals. If you really want to know how the island works or you plan to attend a summer conference, this is the place to look. Tourist sites just don’t tell the whole story, and may even add confusing detail.

Paul Jennings is director of what locals are calling the "friendlier" Star Island. In recent years island policy has become more welcoming to non-conferees. The Prince of Whales, a tour boat out of Newburyport, now stops at the dock weekly. Private and commercial fishing boats are welcomed to pick up ice and stop briefly when they were formally shooed away. Jennings also oversees the information-friendly web site.

I spoke to Paul via his cell phone as he stood in a light summer rain on the lawn of the island hotel. He says the improved site has three audiences – regular summer conferees, the general public and the roughly 400 people directly involved in the Star Island corporation. Those looking for openings in summer conferences can now check for vacancies online – a handy resource. Meanwhile policy makers and dedicated "Shoalers" can get the latest news on island politics and operating procedures.

"People who come to the island almost invariably come to the same week, year after year, sometimes for generations,"Jennings says. "They identify with their week and their conference. Even a lot of those people don’t really know what the Star Island Corporation is or does."

Many of the week-long conference groups now have their own detailed web sites and often stay in touch throughout the year. The arts and photography groups, the natural science groups, family, religious and youth groups each see the island from their perspective. The "pelicans" who are the work force of the island have their own site too.

The updated Star Island site is now maintained by Joe Watt. Watt has another job that is even more technical and essential for Star. He is the head engineer for the complex and delicate water and sewage treatment plant on the island.

Keeping the sanitation flowing is among the many critical factors to supporting life in an island colony. The ancient wooden buildings have to be constantly maintained. Safety, fire prevention, health, maintenance, housekeeping, utilities, food prep and garbage disposal – everything is harder on an island. Jennings says the web site now allows those who support and run the corporation to keep pace online. Being hospitable, building partnerships, preserving history, building their endowment – all these internal issues are now discussed online. Watt has even placed the entire "Blue Book", the bible of the island, online for readers to download.

THE UP SHOT

The boat is nearly at the dock and we’re packing for a full week, so I’ll close with a short FAQ section. Here are some of the basic questions that I’m asked daily.

What is the Star Island Corporation?
The island is owned by a nonprofit group affiliated with the United Church of Christ and the Unitarian Universalists. Since 1917 they have been providing a place of inspiration for religious and educational conferences in the historic Oceanic Hotel during a 12-week summer season.

How can I visit Star Island?
Take the MV Thomas Laighton from Portsmouth. That’s the best way. The Isles of Shoals Steamship Company (www.islesofshoals.com) has a contract with Star Island. They bring the water and ferry the hotel guests. Each day they offer a Star Island "stopoever" trip. You can get out and wander the island for a few hours but you have to go back on the afternoon boat.

Can I stay overnight?
There are no over night accommodations. Only people registering for a summer conference and hotel staff stay on the island. Most are week long conferences, but there are weekend events. Prices are highly affordable.

Aren’t they all religious conferences?
No, there are a wide range of educational conferences, many of which have been running for decades.

What are the accommodations like at the Oceanic?
"Spartan" is the word that comes to mind, at least compared to commercial hotels. Rooms are small, mostly double occupancy with twin beds, and electricity comes from an island generator. Food is served cafeteria style and it’s first come, first served. There are no private bathrooms. Toilets flush with seawater. Guests get as many showers a week as the cistern water supply allows, usually 2, maybe three a week. Hot water is delivered in plastic pitchers. There are strict fire laws and anyone caught breaking them is shipped off the island.

What does it cost to stay there?
Conferees pay roughly $500 for week including room and board. The rate schedule Is posted on the Star Island web site.

Can I visit the other islands?
Appledore offers summer courses and programs in marine biology through the Shoals Marine Lab. That program is run by the University of New Hampshire and Cornell. White and Seavey Islands, site of the endangered lighthouse, are owned by the state of New Hampshire. Access there is very limited. Malaga and Smuttynose are privately owned and can be visited in daylight hours if you have your own small boat, but there is no camping, no dogs and no fires allowed. Cedar and Lunging are privately owned and not open to the public. Duck Island is not accessible and is currently an environmental preserve for birds and seals.

Are the Isles in Maine or New Hampshire?
Both. The Isles were so valuable in the early 1600s for their shoals of fish, that when owners Mason and Gorges divided their real estate holdings in the New World, they split them in half. Mason got the New Hampshire Islands (Star, White, Cedar, Seavey) and Gorges got the Maine ones (Appledore, Smuttynose, Malaga, Duck).

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