Appledore Island (formerly known as Hog Island) is the largest of the

Isles of Shoals The Isles of Shoals are a group of small islands and tidal ledges situated approximately 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, fi ...

located about seven miles off the

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...

coast. It is part of the Town of

Kittery Kittery is a town in York County, Maine, United States. Home to the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard on Seavey's Island, Kittery includes Badger's Island, the seaside district of Kittery Point, and part of the Isles of Shoals. The southernmost town in t ...

, in York County.

History

Appledore Island was originally settled by Europeans in the colonial era, when the ease of transport by water made farming on island economically efficient. A church was established in 1640. Near 1700, the entire settlement on this island moved to Star Island in

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

to escape taxes imposed by Massachusetts (of which Maine was then a province). The heyday of the island was the artists salon that thrived there in the late 19th century, before the advent of artists' colonies as we know them today.

Celia Thaxter Celia Thaxter (née Laighton; June 29, 1835 – August 25, 1894) was an American writer of poetry and stories. For most of her life, she lived with her father on the Isles of Shoals at his Appledore Hotel. How she grew up to become a writer is d ...

reigned over an impressive group of friends who were also the leading artists, musicians, and writers of the day. These included

Edward MacDowell Edward Alexander MacDowell (December 18, 1860January 23, 1908) was an American composer and pianist of the late Romantic period. He was best known for his second piano concerto and his piano suites ''Woodland Sketches'', ''Sea Pieces'' and ''Ne ...

and his wife; American pianist

William Mason William, Willie, or Willy Mason may refer to: Arts and entertainment *William Mason (poet) (1724–1797), English poet, editor and gardener *William Mason (architect) (1810–1897), New Zealand architect *William Mason (composer) (1829–1908), Ame ...

, son of

Lowell Mason Lowell Mason (January 8, 1792 – August 11, 1872) was an American music director and banker who was a leading figure in 19th-century American church music. Lowell composed over 1600 hymn tunes, many of which are often sung today. His best-known ...

, who played the grand piano in her salon daily; and

John Knowles Paine John Knowles Paine (January 9, 1839 – April 25, 1906) was the first American-born composer to achieve fame for large-scale orchestral music. The senior member of a group of composers collectively known as the Boston Six, Paine was one of those ...

, America's first serious composer of note.

Childe Hassam Frederick Childe Hassam (; October 17, 1859 – August 27, 1935) was an American Impressionist painter, noted for his urban and coastal scenes. Along with Mary Cassatt and John Henry Twachtman, Hassam was instrumental in promulgating Impressioni ...

painted Celia's magnificent garden in a style similar to

Monet Oscar-Claude Monet (, , ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of impressionist painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During ...

's Giverny paintings. This rarefied atmosphere ended with Thaxter's death in 1894. The hotel burned in 1914, bringing down the final curtain on this heyday in American arts. A charming small original daybook from this time period was re-published in part, in 1992, titled ''The Isles of Shoals Remembered'', by Caleb Mason, author page here: http://www.dontrowden.com/ Today, the island is home to

Shoals Marine Laboratory Shoals Marine Laboratory (SML) is a seasonal marine field station located on Appledore Island, Maine, in the United States. Appledore Island is the largest of the Isles of Shoals archipelago, a group of rocky islands just offshore of the coastlin ...

, run cooperatively by

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

and the

University of New Hampshire The University of New Hampshire (UNH) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Durham, New Hampshire. It was founded and incorporated in 1866 as a land grant college in Hanover in connection with Dartmouth College, mo ...

since the early 1970s. Appledore Island is owned predominantly by the Star Island Corporation. The most prominent feature on the island is a

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

concrete

observation tower An observation tower is a structure used to view events from a long distance and to create a full 360 degree range of vision to conduct long distance observations. Observation towers are usually at least tall and are made from stone, iron, an ...

built to hold a

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...

installation. The dome intended to hold the radar no longer exists, and the radar unit was never installed.

Geology

The maximum elevation of Appledore is about 80 feet above sea level. The majority of the island has a metamorphic makeup, with

gneiss Gneiss ( ) is a common and widely distributed type of metamorphic rock. It is formed by high-temperature and high-pressure metamorphic processes acting on formations composed of igneous or sedimentary rocks. Gneiss forms at higher temperatures an ...

being the most prevalent. The formation of the island is thought to be characterized by 5 major geological events, namely formation of the Rye Complex of Maine and New Hampshire, intrusion of diorites, Acadian orogeny, diabase dikes, and glaciation. Evidence of these events can be seen in glacial scarps, evidence of abrasion, presence of dikes, glacial plucking, and more. For example, glacial plucking contributed to the whaleback shape of the island which is resultant of rock drumlin cliff faces.

References

External links

Shoals Marine Laboratory
{{authority control Islands of York County, Maine Kittery, Maine Islands of Maine Coastal islands of Maine

History

Geology

See also

References

External links