03269cam a22003613u 4500 77366 UtSlPG 20260610134807.0 m cr n 260607r20251873utu|||||o|||||||||||||| d UtSlPG en iso639-1 F001 Thaxter, Celia, 1835-1894 Among the Isles of Shoals Salt Lake City, UT : Project Gutenberg, 2025 1 online resource : multiple file formats text txt rdacontent computer c rdamedia online resource cr rdacarrier Release date is 2025-11-29 Steve Mattern and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) "Among the Isles of Shoals" by Celia Thaxter is a collection of descriptive sketches and local history written in the late 19th century. It portrays the stark yet beguiling beauty of the small granite islands off New Hampshire and Maine, blending nature writing with folklore, maritime history, and portraits of a hardy fishing community. The focus ranges from geology, flora, and sea-sound to shipwrecks, ministers, and village life. The result is an evocative portrait of place that mixes close observation with memory and regional lore. The opening of the book sets the mood by contrasting the Shoals’ bleak first impression with their “enchanted” atmosphere, then orients the reader with a clear tour of the islands, reefs, tides, and trap dikes, along with the sounds, coves, shells, and surprisingly vivid wildflowers and gardens. It moves from sensuous description to human traces: old cellars, a traditional cairn, and the dramatic tale of the ship Sagunto’s wreck and the graves Mr. Haley cut for its crew. A concise historical arc follows—early settlement and prosperous fisheries, pastors like John Brock and Joseph Tucke, wartime evacuation, subsequent moral and economic decline, and later reformers who reestablished schooling and order—while the village modernizes. Interwoven are lively glimpses of daily life: hard winter trawling, storms that hold schooners on perilous anchors, women’s anxieties, and the sea’s free driftwood. The narrative also delights in the islanders’ dialect, nicknames, and comic mishaps with law and politics, and offers vivid character sketches—from worn old women and centenarian Peter to a boastful ballad-singer—capturing both the community’s rough edges and its enduring charm. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Originally published: Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1873 Thaxter, Celia, 1835-1894 -- Homes and haunts -- Isles of Shoals (Me. and N.H.) Poets, American -- Homes and haunts -- Isles of Shoals (Me. and N.H.) Isles of Shoals (Me. and N.H.) -- Description and travel Isles of Shoals (Me. and N.H.) -- History Isles of Shoals (Me. and N.H.) -- Intellectual life -- 19th century https://archive.org/details/amongislesofshoa1915thax/page/n7/mode/2up https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/77366 118086 118086