SeacoastNH.com Presents
Historic Portsmouth #343  

The one advantage to being an aging historian is that I increasingly find myself writing about ancient events where I was actually an eye witness. The downside is that, although I was a reporter on the scene, I don’t actually remember what happened. (Continued below)

While working on a story about the early 1980s this week I pulled a huge box of yellowing newspapers from the attic. For much of two years I wrote two stories for a long defunct, hand-delivered, free weekly called the Rockingham Gazette. I wrote the news feature that dominated the front page and a thinly disguised, anonymous, gossip column by “The Insider” buried deep in the bowels of the paper. Reggie Logan, one of the most talented illustrators the Seacoast has ever known, usually added an illustration. Reggie quickly read my article each week and then I watched in awe as she created a full-blown piece of art. The days of the staff illustrator are sadly gone, but I saved half a dozen sketches and a stack of old Gazettes. This one shows my alter ego the Insider trucking through downtown Portsmouth looking for a bite to eat in 1982. Thankfully, many of the restaurants pictured in this story are still active, making the almost-elderly historian feel younger than his years. (Courtesy SeacoastNH.com)  

ACTUAL ANCIENT NEWSPAPER