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Gosport Chapel
Photo courtesy of
SeacoastNH.com Early Images.
The highest point on Star Island, the stone chapel is still used daily for services if summer conference visitors. The first Meetinghouse was built, legend says, in 1685 and the second from the timbers of a Spanish shipwreck in 1720. That church was operated by the beloved Rev. Tucke, whose granite monument stands near the chapel today, but burned in 1790. This third and surviving chapel was erected in 1800 by the Society for Propagating the Gospel among the Indians and Others. The original wooden tower blew down in 1892 and was replaced in stone by Oscar Laighton, brother to poet Celia Thaxter. Today conferees continue to hold ecumenical meetings in the chapel. Each event is followed by a nightly candlelight processional, in silence, to and from the chapel. Visitors carry lights in and out, traveling up the rocky path from the Oceanic Hotel. The island harbor at the shoals was once known as Gosport, NH.
HOURS: Open for viewing in season
WEBSITE: http://www.starisland.org/
ADMISSION: Ferry fee required to reach the island
ADDRESS: Star Island Isles of Shoals, NH 03802
DIRECTIONS: Take island stopover tour on the ferry from Market Street in Portsmouth.
LINKS:
Isles of Sholas History,
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