Through this window the young John Paul Jones first saw the world. Even though he returned in a Portsmouth-built ship to raid his own home territory, John Paul Jones is remembered kindly in his hometown on Solway Bay in Scotland. JPJ’s father was a gardener and the preserved 1747 cottage remains on the estate grounds.
Many Americans, and even many Europeans, still believe that John Paul Jones was an American citizen. He was, instead, a Scottish citizen who fought much as a soldier of fortune for the fledgling Continental Navy in a series of ships including the Providence out of Rhode Island and the Ranger built at Portsmouth, NH in 1777.
John Paul (his real name) was the fourth of seven children born on July 5, 1747 on an Arbingland estate in south western Scotland. His father was the estate gardener and the two-room Paul family cottage has been preserved where it stood. At 13 John Paul left by ship from nearby Carsethorn to go to the port of Whitehaven across the Solway Bay where he signed on for a seven-year apprenticeship at sea. He traveled as ships boy to Barbados and to even visited his brother William Paul in Fredericksburg in Virginia. As John Paul Jones in the American Revolution he later raided Whitehaven aboard the frigate Ranger and was known as a pirate and traitor by the British. He died in Paris, then his body was exhumed in 1905 and taken with great pomp to America where he was crowned "Father of the American Navy" by President Teddy Roosevelt.
The first American tourist to search out the Scottish birthplace of John Paul Jones found the old cottage in ruins. That was 1832, just 30 years after Jones’ death in France. Lieutenant Pinckham of the US Navy was reportedly moved to tears and paid for a new roof and the restoration of the house. In 1953 Admiral Jerauld Wright, also of the US Navy, teamed up with retired British Admiral Sir Nigel Henderson to restore the cottage to its 1747 appearance. It opened in the 1990s. The only other John Paul Jones museum is in Portsmouth, New Hampshire where Jones stayed a total of 18 months on two visits while awaiting his warships.
Visitors can tour the exhibits in the house and listen to the Paul Jones story on audio headsets. The museum also has a gift shop on the estate now owned by the National Trust. The museum is open from April to September for six days a week and for seven days a week in July and August. There is a nominal admission. The museum is near the famous English lakes District. -- JDR
Official cottage web site Photos courtesy John and Emily Lusher
Calendar
Sea Dogs: Celebrating 15 Years May 13, 2008 PORTLAND -- Charlie Eshbach, President/General Manager, Portland Sea Dogs, will celebrate the 15th anniversary of the Sea Dogs with the publication of a new history of the team, “The Portland Sea Dogs: Images of Baseball.” FREE
LIVESTRONG Day May 13, 2008 EXETER -- Wear yellow. Honor and support people affected by cancer in our community. Enjoy a new exhibition of art by cancer survivors. Learn about the Lance Armstrong Foundation's programs to unite people to fight cancer, and meet a member of the LAF s...
Be a Herbal Apprentice Course May 14, 2008 CANTERBURY -- Fee: $175, members $160
Drive away the winter blues by delving into herbology. This course provides hands on experiences, making tinctures, soaps and herbal salts, for example, to connect you with the early spring. We will also concentrat...
American Independence Museum's Opening Day May 14, 2008 The American Independence Museum opens for the season in Historic Exeter, New Hampshire. Museum hours are 10am to 4pm, with the last tours at 3:30pm.
Veggie Teens and Raw Food May 14, 2008 EXETER -- Raise Your Vibe Wednesdays at Blue Moon. Blue Moon Natural Foods, 8 Clifford Street, Exeter, sees this spring as an opportunity to explore what each of us can do to make healthful choices for people and the planet. Some of these solutions com...
Writer Louise Erdrich May 14, 2008 PORTSMOUTH -- One of the most gifted, prolific and challenging of contemporary Native American novelists, Award-winning novelist Louise Erdrich will be a part of our Writers on a New England Stage series on May 14. Her new original novel The Plague of D...
Lighthouse Buffet Dinner May 16, 2008 The main event this evening will be the American Lighthouse Foundation's first “Lighthouse Trivia Challenge.” This will be a Jeopardy-style competition, complete with buzzers and sound effects. The winners of the early games will compete in a final roun...
Meteors, Meteorites and Comets May 16, 2008 CONCORD -- Planetarium Educator Bob Veilleux will explain why you can collect meteorites - but not meteors or comets. Learn about these fascinating solar system interlopers, where they come from, how you can see them, and how they are related. See and...
Mother Courage May 16 - 17, 2008 Our mainstage season wraps up in May with the Senior Youth Repertory Company production of Bertolt Brecht’s epic masterpiece Mother Courage and Her Children. Through Brecht’s stark vision, the play relentlessly questions the distinctions between war, bu...
Books & Blooms Sale May 17, 2008 BRENTWOOD -- Our Annual Books & Blooms Sale is scheduled for Saturday, May 17th from 9 - 11:30 am! Come to the Mary Bartlett Library, 22 Dalton Road in Brentwood, to purchase lots of books for little money - and purchase great plants at great prices. Pl...
