Star Island Pelicans

www.seacoastonline.com…

112-year-old Star Island makes 21st century upgrades
By Karen Dandurant
kdandurant@seacoastonline.com…

November 23, 2008 6:00 AM

PORTSMOUTH — People have been visiting Star Island since 1987, 112 years.

At that time, the rates at the island retreat were $10 a week and covered the room and three meals a day for a week.

Times have changed, but the island hasn’t changed much. It still has that unique 19th-century feel that is guaranteed to put anyone’s mind at ease.

Today, the island is changing in subtle ways designed to maintain the character that makes people want to visit, but add amenities important today.

While a lot of people are involved in Star Island’s operation, its evolution is the work of the new head of the corporation, Victoria Hardy.

“Someone said to me that there’s a new sheriff in town,” Hardy said in her easygoing manner. “I think it’s important to send a signal to the people that we understand what we’re doing now.

“My goal is for Star Island to be here for another hundred years. There are so many options for ways families can spend time together. The changes are marketing tools, but Star Island is unique. Our niche is who we are. We have a 19th-century ambiance that’s different from the Balsams. So, we’re adding gentle additions to the basic Star Island.”

Hardy said $435,000 was put into the facility last spring and summer as officials continue to upgrade the life-safety elements of the Oceanic Hotel and the other buildings scattered across the island.

Hardy said this year, Star Island sent three signals to the community to get its attention.

“First, we restored the flagpole,” she said. “It had been down for many years. “When the season opened, the flag was there and that’s a symbol. It is also a memorial for a man who died at war. It needed to be done.”

For those who have visited the island, it’s no secret that the back, or west wall, was in deplorable condition.

“It faces the Atlantic, with the harshest weather,” Hardy said. “We renovated it. We scraped and painted. The signal that (it) sends is that we understand the basics have to be done.”

Hardy said she never realized how many boats passed between Star Island and White Island until people started letting her know they had seen the new and improved wall.

“The other day I was at the Seacoast Science Center looking out toward the island,” Hardy said. “The sun hit the wall and it was like a big white light.”

The third change concerns a part of Star Island that is one of the most well-known and visited places.

“We improved the path to the chapel,” Hardy said. “If there is one, the chapel is the iconic symbol of Star Island. It’s been there since 1800 and is in pristine condition. It was the linchpin in getting Star its Natural Historic designation.”

The path was in poor condition, making it hard for seniors and people with disabilities, and impossible for a person in a wheelchair.

“My goal became to be able to bring a wheelchair to the base of the path,” Hardy said. “We put a lot of stone dust down on that path. Now we can use our golf cart to bring the chair to the base and go to the chapel.”

Making Star Island more accessible to the general public is another goal of Hardy’s.

Read more at www.seacoastonline.com…

Seacoast area is a spooky magnet for ‘Ghost Hunters’
Back to film 2nd episode at Isles of Shoals
By GEOFF CUNNINGHAM Jr.
gcunningham@fosters.com…
Article Date: Saturday, November 22, 2008

PORTSMOUTH — The investigators behind the Sci-Fi Channel’s “Ghost Hunters” program can’t get enough of the Seacoast’s spooky history, so they returned this past week to film a second episode seeking out paranormal activity on the Isles of Shoals.

Producers, a film crew and the stars behind the hit cable reality show spent two days in October looking for scientific proof of ghostly activity at the Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse and Fort Constitution. Results from that visit are slated to air on Wednesday, Dec. 10.

On Friday, a black van with yellow letters spelling TAPS (The Atlantic Paranormal Society) pulled up in front of the Athenaeum historical museum in Market Square with other vehicles, and crews began unloading equipment for an afternoon shoot.

Jim Dugan, a supervising producer with “Ghost Hunters,” said his crew spent the week working on a second Seacoast-based episode where they studied the paranormal history of Star Island on the Isles of Shoals, which is a cluster of islands six miles off Portsmouth.

Read more at:

www.fosters.com…

Hello Pelicans present and past.  We had a great Pelican Reunion Conference Steering Committee meeting last weekend.  The Committee now has Chairpeople and a new membership structure ( more to follow on this).  We are planning for the 2009 Conference.

We will be sending out periodic newsletters through this web site over the next 9 months to keep you all posted on what the conference will look like, opportunities for scholarships, etc.  We are very much looking for your input so please contact us anytime with your thoughts, questions and ideas.

Idea number one for you all to work on:

We want to build an Island Trivial Pursuit game, Pelican Edition.  We want to have a very large possibly ongoing trivial pursuit game going during Reuniion  but to do so we need all your help.  We need from all of you questions and answers of trivial facts and events that have happened during your time on the island or stories you have heard.  We need to know the year of your event.  Things like what year did B.J. and Tom set the Chapel on fire, those kinds of things.  The more questions/answers we get the better the game will be.  Start those memories going but remember we do not want to make anyone too uncomfortable or ruin any relationships or political careers.  We will establish teams of competitors with a mixture from all the decades.  This will help us all get to know what has happened over theyears and get to know some new people.

Look for a Pelican Reunion page on Facebook coming soon.

We are gladly sharing the weekend with Laity once again this year.

There is one week this year between LOAS II and Pel Reunion.  We are working to see if we could create a work conference during that time to be able to give back to the Island, stay tuned for more information on this.  We are also going to look into an earlier arrival option for those traveling further or wanting an extra day on the Island.

Here is the really big challenge, we need you all to talk to everyone you possibly can about how great Pel Reunion is, dig through those old pel papers as well as your Christmas card list, connect with others through facebook.  This is our 29th year as a conference.

Talk with you all soon,

Bruce and Carole