Neshobe Island is an island

Island

An island or isle is any piece of sub-continental land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, cays or keys. An island in a river or lake may be called an eyot , or holm...

 in Lake Bomoseen in the town of Castleton

Castleton, Vermont

Castleton is a town in Rutland County, Vermont, United States. Castleton is about to the west of Rutland, and about east of the New York/Vermont state border. The town had a population of 4,717 at the 2010 census. Castleton State College is located there, with roots dating to 1787...

, U.S. state

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

 of Vermont

Vermont

Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...

. It is particularly known for its association during the 1920s and 1930s with the Algonquin Round Table

Algonquin Round Table

The Algonquin Round Table was a celebrated group of New York City writers, critics, actors and wits. Gathering initially as part of a practical joke, members of "The Vicious Circle", as they dubbed themselves, met for lunch each day at the Algonquin Hotel from 1919 until roughly 1929...

, a group of literary figures.

The island was given its present name at an event on July 4, 1881, at which several names were proposed; among the other names were Taghkannuc and Kellowanda. The Rutland County Historical Society published an account of the event including a number of speeches and poems, and shortly thereafter a series of "colored books of Neshobe" were published, containing a variety of poems in honor of the island.

It became well known in the 1920s and 1930s for its association with the Algonquin Round Table. In 1924, Alexander Woollcott

Alexander Woollcott

Alexander Humphreys Woollcott was an American critic and commentator for The New Yorker magazine and a member of the Algonquin Round Table....

 bought part of the island with six friends, and by the early 1930s he had purchased most of the island. He built himself a large stone house, where he hosted a number of other members of the circle during the 1930s; Woollcott himself lived permanently on the island from 1938. A fictionalized account of life on the island during this time forms the basis for Charles Brackett

Charles Brackett

Charles William Brackett was an American novelist, screenwriter, and film producer.-Biography:Born on November 26, 1892 in Saratoga Springs, New York, Charles William Brackett was the son of New York State Senator, lawyer, and banker Edgar Truman Brackett...

's 1934 novel Entirely Surrounded.