PEPPERRELL AT LOUISBOURG

We won. But can you name the first major military victory in American history? It made England rejoice, France despair and set the wheels in motion for an American Revolution three decades later. And it all started here.

PORTSMOUTH GUIDE

We get a lot of mail from readers looking for genealogical information about this region. We just cannot supply detailed research on their ancestors, but we can lead them to professional who do. Send us email if you want to hire a historian, or check out the following resources. The Web, of course, is the ideal place to learn about your past. Here are the key archives we use locally.

UNKNOWN NH HISTORY

New Hampshire's best known orator cut his teeth as a lawyer here in Portsmouth, NH. He lived in four houses, got married, kep an office and began his family. But times were tough and fame called him to Massachusetts. Here is the story of how Daniel Webster lived a decade in the state's only seaport, but has been all but forgotten inthe town he once loved.

BEHIND THE LEGEND

Like Paul Revere, historian Dorothy Vaughan woke Portsmouth citizens to an invasion. Progress, she said, was destroying the colonial character. The city responded and preserved over 30 buildings in Strawbery Banke Museum. It all started in June 1957 – or did it? The simple truth is – there is no simple truth.