The isles of Shoals

THE ISLES OF SHOALS
An Historical Sketch
By John Scribner Jenness
Hurd & Houghton, NY, 1873
182 pages, two foldout maps

This small, still readable volume offers the perfect, well-researched balance to Celia Thaxter’s folksy AMONG THE ISLES OF SHOALS, published the same year. Neither author knew, as their book was on the press, that this would also be the year of the Smuttynose Island murders and the opening of the Oceanic Hotel on Star Island.

John Scribner Jenness was a New York lawyer with Portsmouth, NH roots. His family lived in a brick mansion on Pleasant Street. It was directly outside my bedroom window for 10 years when I lived, on the cheap old days, smack downtown. Jenness has been one of my key sources from the beginning, While Celia focused on oral history and folk tales, JSJ was an accomplished researcher. He is quoted often in my two books about Smuttynose Island.

I prize my early paper edition, but you can read a perfect copy of the 1875 edition on Google Books.