But even the cost of holding on to our old buildings can be daunting. Few visitors, perhaps few residents ever wonder how all these old structures stay in top shape. The secret is volunteers, hundreds of them, providing thousands of hours to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars to keep up dozens of historic houses. With the exception of Strawbery Banke, which supports a campus of 30 restored buildings, and Historic New England (formerly SPNEA), which supports five in the region, most houses operate independently on shoe-string budgets.

The Warner, Tobias Lear, Moffatt-Ladd and John Paul Jones houses in Portsmouth, for example, each pays its own way. The Wentworth-Coolidge mansion, owned by the state of New Hampshire, was voted a paltry $6,000 budget for the year. The Woodman Institute in Dover, the Tuck Museum in Hampton, the American Independence Museum in Exeter and so many others -- all function and raise funds separately. Repainting, reroofing and landscaping fees are enormous. Each has rare collections to maintain, security systems and insurance policies, paid staff and consultants, maintenance and marketing expenses to bear annually. Many offer free days to the public or cost as little as $5 to visit. A total of 3,000 annual visitors is typical at some historic houses – a figure that has stayed much the same since the first museum house opened here in 1908. Clearly our grand historic homes are not living off profits, but limping along on the kindness of strangers.

Not changing these houses – so the public can enjoy their free nostalgic link to the past -- costs big bucks. A few years ago the Portsmouth Historical Society expended $38,000 to rebuild its rotting wooden fence with an identical hand-hewn cedar reproduction. The Society raised about $10,000 in sponsors by holding a running race. The rest of the cost came out of the organization’s tiny bank account. When trustees were searching for ways to bring in more cash, one member suggested closing the doors for a year. That’s because it costs more to pay the tour guides than the tours bring in. But the museum did not close. It raised its rates for guides and it built the fence anyway. This kind of community service is happening around town every day of every year.

Preserving the good old days is a costly battle that never ends. The winners – tourists, locals who enjoy a superb "quality of life" and high real estate values, plus businesses that benefit from the cultural heritage boom – are all getting a free ride. No one has yet to suggest a "history tax" payable to the groups that keep the cities charm going. Some even complain that the nonprofit historic sites are exempt from most taxes. But anyone with a pencil and a calculator could quickly see that these historic sites pay back the value lost in taxes many times over. Those who believe otherwise should try to imagine "historic" Portsmouth without its historic houses. Replace each one with a Dunkin’ Donuts or Osco Drugstore and run that calculation again.