On the western edge of the island, where a pavilion now exists, is the site of a former fort built by the settlers in an effort to protect themselves from a feared invasion by Native Americans. Photo by Jack Farrell
June 2024
By Jack Farrell
Some years ago, a group of high school seniors from an organization called Upward Bound stopped at Star Island for a few days. As the island manager at the time, I was given the task of showing them around and doing a little teaching on history and the environment. New England islands in general, and particularly those at the Isles of Shoals, have histories of settlement that pre-date most shoreside locations. Thought of as safe zones on the edge of an unknown and sometimes frightening continent, European colonizers set up trading and fishing outposts on some of these islands as early as the fifteenth century. The politics and economics of global trade, conflict with the natives, expanding settlement ashore, piracy, revolution and subsequent conflicts through the Second World War can be seen through the stories of individual islands. Nowhere are these stories better told than at the Isles of Shoals.
A huge part of the legacy of settlement of the New World by Europeans is the impact it had on the natural world. The first settlers sailed into these waters in search of fish, which they found in unparalleled abundance from the Grand Banks to Georges Bank to the inshore waters of the Gulf of Maine. A robust fishery developed from Monhegan to Damariscove to the Isles of Shoals, where the codfish were said to be as large as a man and easily caught by the thousands from small boats fishing close to shore. The Shoalers at the village of Gosport on Star Island developed a method of salting and drying these huge fish on wooden racks built over the rocks along the shore. So dried and cured with salt, the dun fish, as they were then called, could be safely shipped to Europe without spoilage to satisfy the growing demand in the Catholic cities, where fish replaced meat for the devout on Fridays. But as with many fisheries throughout history, the cod fish were harvested almost to extinction, and are now protected by conservation rules that prohibit most takings.
At the time of the Upward Bound visit, Star Island was in the midst of an infrastructure make-over known at the Green Gosport Initiative. Fixtures and machinery were upgraded for energy efficiency, and waste products like glass and cardboard were converted to usable resources for the island. Water and waste-water systems were improved to reduce energy consumption and increase efficiency. Composting of wastewater sludge and food waste was established to build island soils. A staff-led gardening program was launched. The crowning jewel of the initiative was the replacement of belching steam boilers and inefficient diesel generators with a solar power array that was the largest off-grid system in New England, producing roughly half of the island’s power and initially saving over 15,000 gallons of diesel fuel per year. What better place than a small, primarily self-sufficient island to demonstrate how similar initiatives might be implemented in the larger world?
I lead the Upward Bound students to a bluff on the western edge of the island, a spot with a commanding view of America, some six to eight miles away. The site, from which one can see three states at once, was once the place where islanders built a fort to protect themselves from a feared invasion by Native Americans (that never came). The view included a nearby island that was to become a transfer station for oil tankers in a failed 1973 plan to build an oil refinery nearby.
I painted a picture of the historical context first; how the English sovereign had given the territory from three miles north of the Merrimack River to the north woods of Maine as far as the French were settled to John Mason and Fernando Gorges with the expectation that the two would develop settlements in the region, thereby enriching the crown and themselves.
After some years, and without ever visiting the area that encompassed all of what is now New Hampshire and Maine, the two decided to dissolve their partnership. The value of the fishery at the Isles of Shoals was so great, and the two were so unaware of the potential of the rest of their holdings, that they divided their land into two parts with a line through the middle of the Piscataqua River extending seaward through the center of Gosport Harbor and splitting the Isles of Shoals right up the middle. Neither partner wanted to lose the income from the Shoals fishery. The southwestern portion of the land (now New Hampshire) went to Mason, and the rest (now the State of Maine) went to Gorges. An accident of geography and commerce defined the politics of the region for centuries to come.
The students and I talked about the destructive human tendencies to exploit resources beyond levels that are sustainable in light of the history of the codfish. The conversation moved naturally to climate change, energy and waste management.
It was a perfect segue, I thought, to introduce the ways in which systems on islands are microcosms that mirror those of the world at large, and how island infrastructure can be used to experiment and educate in areas of energy and sustainability. We talked about the island as operating under the same constraints as a ship at sea, where conservation of resources and self-sufficiency are paramount to the operation. To illustrate the point, I started with a question: “What is the difference between the island and a ship alone out on the ocean?”
The answer I sought was that the island can’t sink. One student raised a hand to answer: “The island isn’t going anywhere.” Ok, there are two differences.
This morning, on the way out to Star Island, the unofficial capital of the Isles of Shoals, we passed the first whale of the season, a big humpback feeding on small fish that seem to be everywhere this season. The island is humming with preparations for the season, and repairs to infrastructure and roads from the battering of last winter’s storms. We have already been visited by the first cruising boats in spite of the cold and wind of early May. Planning is underway for a renewal of the Green Gosport Initiative, including an expansion of the solar power system with the goal of collecting 95% of the island’s power from the sun. I like to think this island is going somewhere after all.
Jack was the manager at Star Island for many years. He currently manages major construction and utility projects there and provides all-season boat service to the island (average 250 trips per year) for luggage, food, employees, supplies and guests. He also runs Seacoast Maritime Charters, LLC providing year-round private charter boat service and marine logistics to the general public, now in the Shining Star. He still enjoys cruising in his classic Ted Hood sloop, Aloft, and teaching skiing at Sugarloaf Mountain in Maine.
