HISTORY

SEACOAST HISTORY
			As I Please Historical Societies Jesse James Films
MARITIME HISTORY
The Shipyard Old Ironsides John Paul Jones
FAMOUS PEOPLE
		Link Free or Die John Paul Jones Celia Thaxter John Smith
Thomas Bailey Aldrich Tobias Lear Framers of Freedom
BLACK HISTORY
			NH Black History Black Heritage Trail Black History Links
PLACES & EVENTS
Smuttynose Murders Brewster's Rambles Historic Tours
				The Grave Site Isles of Shoals Wentworth by the Sea
		NH History Old Portsmouth
TIMELINE
Portsmouth Timeline The Industrial Era	Prehistoric Era	The Contact Era	The Colonial Era	The Revolutionary Era

The Day the Piscataqua River Exploded

50 tons of dynamite in one big blast HISTORY MATTERS

The explosion took only seconds. At 4:10 p.m. on the sunny Saturday afternoon of July 22, 1905, a spout of water, rocks, and wooden timbers shot 150 feet into the sky over the Piscataqua River. An estimated 30,000 spectators saw in a moment what 50 tons of carefully placed dynamite could do. A chunk of an island off the Kittery shore was shattered by the hand of man. Henderson's Point was gone and a treacherous obstruction to navigation in Portsmouth Harbor was conquered. The public cheered and then packed up their picnic baskets for the train ride home. (Continued below)

Gettysburg Concordance App Brings Battle to Life

Gettysburg Concordance app HISTORY MATTERS

I know Emerson "Tad" Baker as an archaeologist and professor of history at Salem State University. As an expert in the 17th century, he wrote one of my favorite books, The Devil of Great Island, about the mysterious flying rocks that plagued New Castle in 1682. Tad lives in York, Maine and is now writing the definitive book on the Salem Witch Trials. So imagine my surprise when he announced his latest project. (Read full story below)

The Flags of John Paul Jones

John Paul Jones raises flag HISTORY MATTERS

Patriotic tales of American flags often come wrapped in myth and controversy. Did Philadelphia's Betsy Ross really sew the first 13-star flag? Not likely, historians generally agree. Did 95-year old Barbara Fritchie of Maryland really challenge Stonewall Jackson by waving a Union flag from her window in 1862? The facts suggest it never happened. (Read the story below)

Rower Retraces Smuttynose Murder Route

Dan rowing00
HISTORY MATTERS

"What drives me nuts," I told David Kaselauskas," are all the crazy people who think Louis Wagner could not row a boat to the Shoals, kill those women, and row back in one night." (Read full article below)

Reflecting on a Painted Wall

Painted Lady on Portsmouth Mural 1982 HISTORY MATTERS

There really are wormholes in time and space. I saw one 30 years ago In Portsmouth. Ask people who were downtown during the last few pendulum swings of 1982. They'll back me up. We all saw it -- a full blown in-your-face breach in the space-time continuum. (Continued below)

More Articles...

News about Portsmouth from Fosters.com