Celia Thaxter (1836 - 1894) in her garden at Appledore Island, Isles of Shoals.

Unknown artist

Married Levi Lincoln Thaxter of Watertown, MA. Celia Laighton Thaxter was an American writer of poetry and stories. She was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Thaxter grew up in the Isles of Shoals, first on White Island, where her father, Thomas Laighton, was a lighthouse keeper, and then on Smuttynose and Appledore Islands.When she was sixteen, she married Levi Thaxter and moved to the mainland, residing first in Watertown, Massachusetts at a property his father owned. Her life with Levi was not harmonious and she missed her islands, and so after 10 years away, she moved back to Appledore Island. Celia became the hostess of her father's hotel, the Appledore House. Her poems first appeared in The Atlantic Monthly and she became one of America's favorite authors in the late 19th century. Among her best-known poems are The Burgomaster Gull, Landlocked, Milking, The Great White Owl, The Kingfisher, and especially The Sandpiper.