Isles of Shoals
Small Rocky Archipelago About Six Miles Off The Coast, Split Between New Hampshire And Maine And Reached By Seasonal Boats From Portsmouth; Star Island (NH) Has A Historic Hotel Run As A Retreat And Conference Center, Appledore Island (ME) Was The Home Of Poet Celia Thaxter And A Summer Haunt Of Painter Childe Hassam, And White Island Has A Lighthouse (Confirm Landing Rules). · Portsmouth, New Hampshire
A small archipelago of bare granite islands about six miles off the coast, split between New Hampshire and Maine, reached in summer by boats from Portsmouth. There are about nine islands, treeless and ringed with ledges, and they were among the first places in New England worked by Europeans, as fishing stations in the 1600s. Star Island, on the New Hampshire side, holds a large wooden hotel from the 1870s and a small stone chapel; it is run as a retreat and conference center, and day visitors from the boats can usually walk its paths for a limited stay (confirm). Appledore Island, on the Maine side, was the home of the poet Celia Thaxter, whose island garden and parlor drew writers and painters, among them Childe Hassam, who painted the island for years; today it hosts a marine laboratory. White Island carries a lighthouse where Thaxter spent part of her childhood. There are no shops, beaches or towns, and services beyond Star Island are almost nil. The crossing, often in open-ocean swell, takes about an hour each way (confirm).
Market Street (ferry departures), Portsmouth, New Hampshire, 03801, United States
The islands can be reached only by boat, and public trips are seasonal. Sightseeing cruises from Portsmouth that circle the islands without landing run roughly late spring to early autumn, and day trips that land on Star Island run mainly from about mid-June to Labor Day, often once a day on set days of the week (confirm the schedule each year). Trips are cancelled in high wind, fog or heavy seas. Day visitors on Star Island usually get a stay of a few hours before the boat returns. There is no public service from autumn to spring, and the Star Island hotel closes for the winter. The other islands are private or research land and are not open for landing.