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Portsmouth, NH -- It looks like a peacful colonial New England village -- but look deeper. Strawbery Banke Museum is a core sample of an ever-changing America. The 10-acre campus was once a Biritish plantation founded in 1630. Abandoned by its founders, NH's oldest neighborhood and only seaport thrived, then fell into disrepair in the early 19th century. Considered a "blighted" location by the federal government, the Puddle Dock neighborhood was cleared by urban renewal in the 1960s. A band of preservationists saved over two dozen early houses that make up the museum campus today. This special section will take an in-depth look at the restored historic structures that tell the story of Portsmouth's dynamic waterfront.
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Written by SeacoastNH Archives
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 SeacoastNH.com Presents
Historic Portsmouth #389
By bouncing a laser beam off the sun we’re now able to photograph historic events from the past, although only in black and white. This image captures that Boston rebel Paul Revere riding into town on December 13, 1774. Okay, according to the caption in the Portsmouth Athenaeum archive it is actually Hugh Underhill of UNH pretending to be Revere in the 1974 re-enactment of the raid on Fort William and Mary. (Continued below)
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Written by SeacoastNH Archive
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SeacoastNH.com Presents
Historic Portsmouth #388
Here is the third in our trio of Republican candidates for president stumping in Portsmouth. I counted at least 18 historic photos in the Portsmouth Athenaeum archive that show VP Richard Nixon campaigning here. (Continued below)
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Written by Seacoast Archives
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 SeacoastNH.com Presents
Historic Portsmouth #335
Do you have Portsmouth High School yearbooks from 1947 or earlier? The History Room at the Portsmouth Public Library is looking to complete its collection. Currently the library has the entire series of yearbooks from 1948 to the present and it was assumed these were the earliest bound volumes. (Continued below)
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Written by SeacoastNH Archives
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 SeacoastNH.com Presents
Historic Portsmouth #333
There is much more to the Pilgrim story than the peaceful Thanksgiving holiday implies. The Separatists hired the hot-tempered Myles Standish, an English soldier, as protector of the first Massachusetts colony. Standish, who was apparently not a member of the Separatist church, was the muscle of the group. (Continued below)
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Written by Seacoast NH Archive
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 SeacoastNH.com Presents
Historic Portsmouth #295
Amesbury / Haverhill poet John Greenleaf Whittier roamed from the Seacoast to the White Mountains in search of local legends that he transformed into romantic poetry. Among my favorites is "Maud Muller" about a simple farm girl whom Whittier reportedly met in 1885 on what is now Route 91 in York, Maine. (Cintued below)
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Written by J. Dennis Robinson
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 DECORATIVE ARTS
Thanks to eBay it is possible to collect just about anything these days, not matter how crazy. While writing the history of Strawbery Banke Musuem, the author assembled coin banks with a strawbery theme. included here are many of those items from around the world and now on display. (see pix below)
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Written by SeacoastNH Archive
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 SeacoastNH.com Presents
Historic Portsmouth #277
FAMILY ALBUM
Readers who looked carefully at our last aerial photograph of Puddle Dock could see this duplex in the center of the iamge. It faced Prescott Park on Marcy Stteet just opposite the historic Liberty Pole. (Click headline for EXCLUSIVE family photo album)
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Written by SeacoastNH Archives
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 SeacoastNH.com Presents
Historic Portsmouth #276
This aerial image offers a crisp document of Portsmouth’s changing waterfront in the early 1960s. The two completed portions of modern Prescott Park, as you can see, are separated by the last industrial chunk of the South End. Originally an English plantation with one house in 1631, this area became a world trade center in the 1700s crowded with tall ships. (Continued inside)
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Written by History News
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HISTORY FEEDBACK
Strawbery Banke Museum is reviving a piece of Portsmouth's past to help lead the way into a more sustainable future - and the public can help by sharing their family photos and memories. Now is the time to bring back the savings, green culture and community action of these practical practices.
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Written by Strawbery Banke Museum
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HISTORY NEWS
From Wall Street to Main Street and now to Puddle Dock, the effects of the faltering economy are taking their toll. This press release comes to us from the offices of Strawbery Banke Museum. Stats show 1/3 drop in income from endowments and donations. (Continued below)
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