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Pest Island
Geography
Location	New Castle, New Hampshire
Coordinates	43°04′02″N 70°43′50″W / 43.06722°N 70.73056°W
Administration
	United States
Demographics
Population	Unpopulated

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History

According to Nathaniel Adams’ 1825 book, Annals of Portsmouth, in 1749, Portsmouth “purchased a small island in the river, just below the town, on which they built a house, with suitable accommodations for a hospital. A family resides in the house to attend upon the sick that are brought there. It is called the pest-house.”

In 1764, an epidemic of smallpox in Boston threatened to spread to Portsmouth, which had constant contact with its sister city by sea and by land. To prevent this from happening, every person and ship traveling from Boston, as well as their baggage and cargo, were ‘smoked’, a method believed to reduce the chances of spreading the disease to others. A native of Portsmouth, Dr. Hall Jackson, lived in Boston at that time and gained a reputation for successfully treating smallpox victims through inoculations.

In 1778, the town used Dr. Hall's methods to organize a program for inoculating all smallpox patients. A committee identified three islands that were suitable for a quarantine hospital: Pest, Henzell’s, and Salter’s. A system was put in place whereby a person needed permission to visit the island and was required to pay for their care in advance, including eight dollars for the attending physician. Once inoculated, the patient had to remain on the island for at least twenty-one days and could not leave until a doctor certified a clean bill of health. One out of every ten patients who received treatment was to be a pauper whose care was provided for free. The program inoculated four hundred and twelve patients at a total cost of about sixty-five hundred dollars.

Riverside Cemetary in New Castle got its start when Pest Island patients died and had to be buried.

Geography

Pest Island is southwest of the northwestern corner of New Castle, NH, east of downtown Portsmouth, New Hampshire. It is part of the archipelago of New Castle, New Hampshire and is surrounded by the Piscataqua River.

References

External links

Town of New Castle official website
New Hampshire Economic and Labor Market Information Bureau Profile
Seacoast Forts of Portsmouth Harbor from American Forts Network
New Castle, NH Historical Society website