It was Portsmouth's finest hour. In August 1905 two warring nations sent envoys half way around the globe to talk about peace. Half a million men had already died in a gruesome territorial conflict over a harsh Asian landscape. Now the future of those nations, perhaps the world, hung on the success of failure of these emissaries. (Full article below) 

Whoever said the Blue Angels spectacular air show is not about war has never attended one. "Welcome the men that strike fear in the hearts and minds of our enemies," the announcer shouts as the pilots take the field. "Our enemies tremble at the very sound of our mighty warriors who have brought us victory in Kosovo, Grenada, Iraq and Afghanistan." I’m paraphrasing here, but that is the true gist of the message as the heavy-metal music blasts through the loudspeakers and the daredevil pilots thunder past tens of thousands of screaming onlookers gathered on the sweltering airport tarmac. Oops, sorry. These are not stunt tricks, but "professional maneuvers" learned by every pilot, the announcer reminds us. Because we all know that flying jets upside down in formation 18-inches apart at over 400-miles per hour is a highly effective method of dropping bombs on enemy targets. (Continued below)

Seacoast History Blog # 93
August 26, 2010

I had forgotten about the dead baby seal that I found at the Isles of Shoals earlier this summer until I saw the headline in yesterday’s Portsmouth Herald. Apparently I am not alone and the recently weaned seals are showing up on local beaches. Even when the experts tell you that there is nothing amiss, it’s hard not to blame someone, even Mother Nature, when the body of a little pup washes up on shore. The strange thing about a week on Smuttynose Island is that almost every day is strange. This summer was no exception. So I dug back into my photo files to remember what happened in June, and those photos are posted below. (Continued below) 

Even with so much Portsmouth history preserved it is often difficult to get a handle on the enormous changes this city has seen. The mansion of shipbuilder George Raynes (seen here) on the south shore of the North Mill Pond, for example, was removed in 1938. (Details and photos below) 

On September 17 and 18, the Eighth Chakra Angel Cottage in Dover we will present a concert and healing ceremony by world-renowned, master crystal bowl artist, Ashana　at Unity of the Seacoast in Rollinsford.

The Nathan Parker House at the dead end of Livermore Street in Portsmouth is on the market for $3,750,000. Nathan who? The name no longer rings a bell, but in the 1820s Parker was the talk of the town. (Continued below)

When I was a kid growing up in Massachusetts our family frequently went to an incredible rock formation called Purgatory Chasm. I remember the towering granite walls with trees growing out of them high in the air. You didn’t really hike the trail, but clambered over huge jagged rocks while following strips of paint suggesting the path of least resistance. I remember thinking that Purgatory was great because it was clearly dangerous – very dangerous. There were deep caves and treacherous precipices and, as far as I could see, no safety railings, no park rangers and no emergency doctors or nurses on site. I went back to Purgatory last weekend just to see if I had made the whole thing up. (Continued below)

THE DUNLAP BROADSIDE

You never know what treasures are lurking in the attic of an old house. The Society of the Cincinnati in New Hampshire found out in 1985 when local electrician Dick Brewster and his assistant made a big discovery. However, this story really begins in Philadelphia in July of 1776.
(Full story below)