Smuttynose Island
photo by Denise Wheeler
Smuttynose is the third largest of the Shoals islands at about 25 acres.
It is linked to Malaga and Cedar by stone breakwaters that help form Gosport Harbor. The island got its name from fishermen who thought the seaweed surrounding the rocky profile at its southeastern point looked like the “smutty nose” of a giant creature.
In the early1800s, the Haley family owned the island and created a village that included the Mid-Ocean House, the first hotel on the Isles. Despite this, Smuttynose history is dominated by one era and one event – the ax murder of two innocent Norwegian women in 1873. The Smuttynose Murders have inspired several books and the movie “The Weight of Water,” based on Anita Shreve’s best-selling novel.
In 2008, Smuttynose began to host archaeology courses, providing field training in archaeological excavation. The ensuing digs unearthed buried clues about the island’s history, including that the region’s First Peoples were hunting there 6,000 years ago.
The U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently acquired a conservation easement on Smuttynose to protect certain species of birds and limit the amount of visitors to the island during seabird-nesting season from late spring to early summer.
To visit Smuttynose....
…you can rent a rowboat at Star Island and row across the harbor. The average visit takes about two hours. There are two historic cottages there and often a steward is in residence. There is a small graveyard and a well-marked path along the length of the island leading to a large cairn at the eastern end.
Photo by J. Dennis Robinson
Further resources:
J. Dennis Robinson’s books “Underneath the Isles of Shoals” and “Mystery on the Isles of Shoals, Closing the Case on the Smuttynose Ax Murders of 1873”
