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37-522: Star Island is one of the Isles of Shoals that straddle the border between New Hampshire and Maine , approximately 7 miles (11 km) from the mainland. It is the largest of the four islands that are located in New Hampshire at 38 acres (15 ha) and the second largest overall, after Appledore Island . It was named by sailors who imagined the shape of the island as points of a star. The island

74-407: A charitable organization . A mutual-benefit corporation can be non-profit or not-for-profit, but it still must pay regular corporate tax rates. A mutual benefit corporation will pay the same taxes as a regular for-profit corporation, with C corporation tax rates. Mutual benefit corporations must still file tax returns and pay income tax because they are not formed for a purpose from which anyone in

111-482: A flat rock on the island. White Island and Seavey Island are located at the southern end of the Isles of Shoals, within the borders of the town of Rye, New Hampshire . During low tide, the two islands are connected by a land bridge. White Island is dominated by Isles of Shoals Light , now automated, and the keeper's house. The lighthouse , one of two on the New Hampshire coast, and associated buildings are now owned by

148-508: A group consisting of volunteer individuals and families, participate in the care and upkeep of the two historic dwellings and grounds of the island. Malaga Island is a diminutive island just to the west of Smuttynose, connected to it by a breakwater . The original breakwater was built around 1820 by Captain Samuel Haley, who is reputed to have paid for its construction with proceeds from four bars of pirate silver that he found under

185-461: A ribbon cutting and historical reenactments. Star Island Corporation is a not-for-profit United States Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c)(3) membership organization and incorporated in the state of Massachusetts . Star Island hosts various conferences, which typically last from two days to a full week and may overlap with other conferences. A number of them tend to have a Unitarian Universalist orientation, while others are affiliated with

222-775: Is a religious and educational conference center, owned by the Star Island Corporation, which is affiliated with the Unitarian Universalist Association and the United Church of Christ . During the summer, the island hosts a number of week-long and shorter conferences which make use of the Oceanic Hotel, Gosport House, the over 200-year-old chapel , and several buildings dating back to the original village. Short-term day visitors are also welcomed, although that may depend on

259-445: Is a type of nonprofit corporation chartered by a state government , and organized primarily or exclusively for social , educational , recreational or charitable purposes by like-minded citizens. Public-benefit nonprofit corporations are distinct in the law from mutual-benefit nonprofit corporations in that they are organized for the general public benefit , rather than for the interest of its members. They are also distinct in

296-405: Is approximately 0.5 miles (0.8 km) from east to west, and 0.6 miles (1.0 km) from north to south. It was home to a large hotel, The Appledore House, during the 19th century. Built in 1847 and opened the following year, the hotel was lost to a fire in 1914. According to Celia Thaxter, as late as 1873, "Philip Babb, or some evil-minded descendant of his, haunted Appledore." Today, the island

333-491: Is privately owned. Not-for-profit corporation A nonprofit corporation is any legal entity which has been incorporated under the law of its jurisdiction for purposes other than making profits for its owners or shareholders. Depending on the laws of the jurisdiction, a nonprofit corporation may seek official recognition as such, and may be taxed differently from for-profit corporations , and treated differently in other ways. A public-benefit nonprofit corporation

370-610: Is the operating station of the Shoals Marine Laboratory , run cooperatively by Cornell University and the University of New Hampshire . The island is mostly owned by the Star Island Corporation . Second in size at 46 acres (19 ha), Star Island is located in New Hampshire within the borders of the town of Rye and is the only island served by a commercial boat from the mainland . It

407-481: The Revolutionary War . Though a small population remained, the islands were largely abandoned until the middle of the 19th century, when Thomas Laighton and Levi Thaxter opened a popular summer hotel on Appledore Island . Laighton's daughter, Celia, married Levi at the age of fifteen and as Celia Thaxter became the most popular American female poet of the 19th century. She hosted an arts community on

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444-465: The Unitarian Universalist Association and the United Church of Christ . Conferences vary from a week to a few days, with some focused on religious themes and others on secular subjects (photography, arts, yoga, writing, science, etc.). In 2008, "personal retreats" were created to allow members of the public to stay on the island for up to one week. In 2015, Star Island Corporation held a year-long centennial celebration with both island and mainland events,

481-399: The United Church of Christ . Other conferences may or may not have a particular religious orientation. Several ferry companies have provided transportation to Star Island. The Isles of Shoals Steamship Company, Island Cruises, and We Like Whales bring visitors for day trips and overnights or run tours around the island and the rest of the Isles of Shoals. Gosport Harbor, which is created by

518-597: The "Smith Iles" by English explorer Capt. John Smith after sighting them in 1614. This name did not last once colonization of New England by the British began. The first recorded landfall of an Englishman was that of explorer Captain Christopher Levett , whose 300 fishermen in six ships discovered that the Isles of Shoals were largely abandoned in 1623. "The first place I set my foot upon in New England

555-664: The Gosport church, which was published in Harper's Magazine in September 1881. Thomas Elliott and his wife Lilla established the Shoals Summer Meeting Association in 1896 as a summer conference center. The Meeting Association bought the hotel and the island in 1945, forming the Star Island Corporation. Today conference goers still sleep in the Oceanic Hotel and utilize other historic buildings, such as

592-416: The Isles of Shoals in 1873. His experiences were recalled in a letter to brother Henry James dated July 14-16 [1873]. At one point he reminisces, "I just lay around drinking the air and the light and the sounds. I succeeded in reading no word for three days, and then took Goethe 's Gedichte out on my walks, and with them in my memory, the smell of the laurels and pines in my nose, and the rhythmic pounding of

629-588: The North Atlantic coast. Many were settlers from the colonies of the Virginia companies. The first permanent settlement of Star Island began in 1677 when the Province of Maine was under the authority of the Province of Massachusetts Bay . Maine increased taxes on nearby Hog Island (now Appledore Island); Star Island, on the other hand, was in New Hampshire. This tax increase caused a mass migration, and

666-456: The boat schedule. This is also a popular destination for sailboats wishing to tie up overnight in Gosport harbor. Smuttynose Island , at 25 acres (10 ha), is the third-largest island. It is allegedly the site of Blackbeard 's honeymoon, later for the shipwreck of the Spanish ship Sagunto in 1813, and then for the notorious 1873 murders of two young women. The latter is recalled in

703-468: The few capable of handling salt water, and a reverse osmosis water purification system for converting sea water to drinking water. There are three separate water systems on the island for drinking water, cistern water for washing, and sea water for sanitary use. Star Island has been owned and operated by the Star Island Corporation since 1915 as a place for family, youth, and individual conferences and retreats. The Star Island Corporation has close ties to

740-640: The inspections or regulations governing non-religious groups performing the same services. Religious corporations are permitted to designate a person to act in the capacity of corporation sole . A mutual-benefit nonprofit corporation or membership corporation, in the United States, is a type of nonprofit corporation chartered by a state government that exists to serve its members in ways other than obtaining and distributing profits to them. Therefore, it cannot obtain IRS 501(c)(3) non-profit status as

777-667: The island due to his libertine activities with the Indians at Merrymount . The first town, "Apledoore", included all of the Isles of Shoals, and was incorporated by the General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony on May 22, 1661. At that time, the province of New Hampshire and the province of Maine were both part of Massachusetts Bay Colony. By 1665, the name of the town had changed to "Iles of Shoales". Starting in 1680 and continuing for several years, there

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814-521: The island frequented by authors including Nathaniel Hawthorne , John Greenleaf Whittier , Oliver Wendell Holmes and Sarah Orne Jewett , and the Impressionist painter Childe Hassam . Having executed his last drawing three days previous, the Boston painter William Morris Hunt drowned there in 1879, reportedly a suicide. Hunt's body was discovered by Celia Thaxter. William James visited

851-471: The islands and connecting breakwaters, is deep and fairly protected, and moorings are available for visiting boats. Isles of Shoals The Isles of Shoals are a group of small islands and tidal ledges situated approximately 6 miles (10 km) off the east coast of the United States, straddling the border of the states of Maine and New Hampshire . They have been occupied for more than 400 years, first by fishing communities and more recently as

888-541: The law from religious corporations. A religious corporation is a nonprofit corporation organized to promote religious purposes. Often these types of corporations are recognized under the law on a subnational level, for instance by a state or province government. The government agency responsible for regulating such corporations is usually the official holder of records, for instance a state Secretary of State . Religious corporations are formed like all other nonprofit corporations by filing articles of incorporation with

925-635: The middle of the 19th century when Thomas Laighton established a hotel on Smuttynose Island . He eventually opened the Appledore Hotel on Hog with Levi Thaxter, which he renamed Appledore Island. Laighton's daughter Celia married Thaxter, and she became a popular poet. She hosted an arts community on the island frequented by Nathaniel Hawthorne , John Greenleaf Whittier , Harriet Beecher Stowe , Oliver Wendell Holmes , Sarah Orne Jewett , and Impressionist painter Childe Hassam . Sarah Orne Jewett wrote "On Star Island" about her visit to Star Island and

962-473: The north and once was used as a bombing range for the US Navy . It was sold by the Star Island Corporation to Maine Coast Heritage Trust in 2002, and was transferred to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2003. It is kept as a wildlife sanctuary . It is home to a seal colony and has never supported a human population. Cedar Island is connected by breakwaters to both Smuttynose Island and Star Island and

999-555: The site of a tern restoration project conducted by the Audubon Society of New Hampshire in recent years. Lunging, Duck, and Cedar islands are also part of the Isles of Shoals. Lunging, on the New Hampshire side of the border, formerly Londoner's Island, was the site of an early trading post for codfish . Today it is privately owned. Duck and Cedar are islands on the Maine side. Duck Island lies about 1 mile (1.6 km) to

1036-449: The site of private homes, a large seasonal hotel and a marine research facility. Some of the islands were used for seasonal fishing camps by Indigenous peoples and first settled by Europeans in the early 17th century. They became one of the many fishing areas for the young British and French colonies. This was one of the most northern fishing ports, the closest one to the south being Rockport, Massachusetts . The Isles of Shoals were named

1073-716: The state of New Hampshire. The island hosts a coastal weather station which frequently records sustained hurricane-force winds from Nor'easter coastal storms in the winter, due to the exposed nature of the island. The lighthouse tower was restored in 2005 as the result of the efforts of a group of seventh graders in nearby North Hampton , known as the Lighthouse Kids (a chapter of the American Lighthouse Foundation). Poet Celia Thaxter grew up on this island before moving to Smuttynose Island and eventually Appledore Island . Seavey Island has been

1110-483: The state. Religious corporation articles need to have the standard tax exempt language the IRS requires. Religious corporations are subject to less rigorous state and federal filing and reporting requirements than many other tax-exempt organizations, such as mutual benefit nonprofit corporations , or public benefit nonprofit corporations . Depending on the state in which they are located, they may also be exempt from some of

1147-437: The stone Gosport Chapel built in 1800. Star Island has become increasingly self-sufficient. As of 2015, it contained the largest off-grid solar farm in New England. This solar grid provides all of the power necessary for the island during the off season and 60-percent during full conference season. The island produces its own water and electricity through solar and diesel generators. It has its own septic treatment plant, one of

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1184-488: The story, "A Memorable Murder" , by Celia Thaxter , in the 1997 novel, The Weight of Water , by Anita Shreve (and in the 2000 film ), and in the song, "The Ballad of Louis Wagner" by John Perrault . There are two small houses on the island. One of them, the Samuel Haley house, was once believed to be the oldest structure in the state of Maine. Smuttynose is not populated today, but the Stewards of Smuttynose Island,

1221-464: The surf upon my ear, I was free and happy again. The popularity of Laighton's Appledore House soon led to establishment of the Mid-Ocean House on Smuttynose Island, and the Oceanic Hotel, which is still in use today on Star Island. Appledore Island , in Maine, is the largest of the Isles of Shoals, at 95 acres (38 ha). Formerly known as Hog Island, and prior to that as Farm Island, it

1258-651: The township of Gosport was established on Star Island in 1715. The town and the island flourished until the American Revolutionary War , when the Americans ordered the Shoals evacuated, believing that it posed a threat to have a group of questionable loyalty just off the coast, and many shoalers abandoned their island homes. After the war, some moved back to Gosport, but it never regained its former population. The islands were sparsely inhabited until

1295-419: Was a general migration of the population to Star Island in what is now New Hampshire, departing from Hog Island (now known as Appledore) in what is now Maine. In 1696, the town was annexed by Kittery . In 1715 the township of Gosport was established by New Hampshire on Star Island. The Gosport community was fairly prosperous up until about 1778, when the islanders were evacuated to Rye, New Hampshire , due to

1332-485: Was annexed to the town of Rye, New Hampshire , in 1876. It has been owned and operated by the Star Island Corporation since 1915. Captain John Smith mapped the Isles of Shoals in 1614 and named them "Smyth's Isles". There is a monument remaining today on Star Island, built in 1864 to commemorate the 250th anniversary of John Smith's trip. The islands were settled in the early 17th century by seasonal fishermen working

1369-557: Was the Isle of Shoals, being islands in the sea about two leagues from the main," Levett wrote later. "Upon these islands I neither could see one good timber-tree nor so much good ground as to make a garden. The place is found to be a good fishing-place for six ships, but more can not be well there, for want of convenient stage room, as this year's experience hath proved." In 1628 the Plymouth Pilgrims exiled Thomas Morton on

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