1822 Stampless DL Gosport Isles of Shoals (NH & Main (06/19/2011)...

Home > Worthopedia – Price Guide > Stamps >

1822 Stampless DL Gosport Isles of Shoals (NH & Maine)

Terms and Conditions for using our site

1822 Stampless DL Gosport Isles of Shoals (NH & Maine)

Sold For:

or Sign In to see what it's worth.

Sold Date: 06/19/2011
Channel: Online Auction
Source: eBay
Category: Stamps

1822 stampless cover with no post office noted but rated "single" and "18 1/2" and sent to William Eastman, Granby Mass. with manuscript notation "to be left at the post office in South Hadley Mass."

The letter is from Reuben Moody and is a very long 3-page missive datelined Gosport Isles of Shoals April 23rd 1822 . According to postal records, there was no post office at this location in 1822. Clearly, however, this cover was carried in the mails.

The Isles of Shoals are located in both New Hampshire and Maine . They have a long and fascinating history as briefly noted below. This letter is extremely long and appears to be a philospohical discourse from one friend to another. The cover has several folding separations but is certainly of interest to collectors of Maine and New Hampshire postal history!

The Isles of Shoals are a group of small islands and tidal ledges situated approximately 6 miles (10 km) off the east coast of the United States , straddling the border of the states of New Hampshire and Maine .

Some of the islands were used for seasonal fishing camps by Native Americans and first settled by Europeans in the early 17th century. They became an important fishing area for the young British and French colonies. The Isles of Shoals were named by English explorer Capt. John Smith after sighting them in 1614. The first recorded landfall of an Englishman was that of explorer Capt. Christopher Levett , whose 300 fishermen in six ships discovered that the Isles of Shoals were largely abandoned in 1623

The first township, Appledore, included all of the Isles of Shoals, and was incorporated by the General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1661. At that time, the province of New Hampshire and the province of Maine were both a part of Massachusetts Bay Colony. Starting in 1680 and continuing for several years, there was a general migration of the population to Star Island in New Hampshire, departing from the Maine (Massachusetts) Hog Island (now known as Appledore). In 1715 the township of Gosport was established by New Hampshire on Star Island.

The Gosport community was fairly prosperous up until about 1778, when the islanders were evacuated to Rye, New Hampshire due to the Revolutionary War . Though a small population remained, the islands were largely abandoned until the middle of the 19th century, when Thomas Laighton and Levi Thaxter opened a popular summer hotel on Appledore Island . Laighton's daughter, Celia, married Levi at the age of sixteen and as Celia Thaxter became the most popular American female poet of the 19th century. She hosted an arts community on the island frequented by such luminaries as author Nathaniel Hawthorne and the Impressionist painter , Childe Hassam . Having executed his last drawing three days previous, the Boston painter William Morris Hunt drowned here in 1879, reportedly a suicide. Hunt's body was discovered by Celia Thaxter. The popularity of Laighton's Appledore House soon led to establishment of the Mid-Ocean House on Smuttynose Island, and the Oceanic Hotel, which is still in use today on Star Island.

The Isles may not be named, as many assume, for shallow water shoals. In fact, the little islands are the result of a great glacier that scraped out an especially deep pocket of water. The alternate dictionary meaning, shoals or "schools" of fish may apply instead. The first European owners of the region were very aware of both fish schools and the nearby fishing shoals. Historians still disagree on the derivation.

Rich land speculators Ferdinando Gorges and John Mason were granted royal title to all the key colonies from Virginia to Maine. When the Piscataqua area failed to yield gold, copper, or precious spices, they had to settle for fish -- lots of fish. In fact, the potential profits were so great that the investors surgically divided their property down the center. Half the Isles of Shoals ended up in the royal province of New Hampshire, the other half in Maine.

The hardy new breed of "S...