SeacoastNH.com Presents 
Historic Portsmouth #421

Photographs and illustrations from the Victorian era frequently show fashionably -dressed young women rowing around the Piscataqua region in summer. It’s not a task many of us would risk today, especially in a small wooden boat off the Portsmouth shore with no life preservers in sight. (Continued below)

These ladies seem to have found a calm moment on the swirling Piscataqua River to tour along the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. If this was taken prior to 1897, then “Old Ironsides” was among the tall ships docked on the Kittery side of the river. I couldn’t resist enlarging a detail of the spectacular hat worn by the woman on the right. The photograph, printed from a glass negative, is attributed to Alexander Dennett. THis hat looks like a wooden ship "half model" like those on the wall at the Portsmouth Athenaeum For the ultimate in ship-shaped hats, see Marie Antoinette below.  (Courtesy Portsmouth Athenaeum)

Portsmouth Athenaeum photo
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