Portsmouth Timeline

TICK, TOCK SEACOAST

Think of this page as a Portsmouth time machine. Scroll down through four centuries of events that shaped the Seacoast. We've pulled a few favorites from hundreds of articles in the HISTORY section. But hurry. Time is short.

OUR OWN ECCLECTIC MIX OF
EVENTS THAT SHAPED THE CITY

	10,000 BC Native Americans Occupy the Seacoast 1004 Vikings May Visit, But No Evidence
	1600s Colonial Era 1603 Martin Pring Records First European Contact 1614John Smith Visits the Piscataqua 1623 David & Amias Thompson Found NH 1630 Strawbery Banke Settled 1645 First African American Slave in Portsmouth 1660Townsmen Divide Up the Land 1678 List of All Portsmouth "Tythingmen" 1682 Rock Throwing Devil & Witchcraft 1690 HMS Falkland Kicks off Shipbuilding History 1696 Indian Attack on "The Plains"
	1700s Revolutionary Era 1739 Ruth Blay Executed in Portsmouth 1741 Benning Wentworth Becomes NH Colony Governor 1745 4,000 Yankees Attack Canada at Louisbourg 1756 NH Gazette First Published 1761 Flying Yankee Stage Coach to Boston 1765 Stamp Act Agent Run Out of Town 1774 Raid on Fort William & Mary 1775 NH Fights at Bunker Hill 1775 William Whipple Signs Declaration 1776 Portsmouth Men Sign Loyalty Oath 1777 John Paul Jones Depart for France in Ranger 1777 George Fishley Joins the Revolution 1782 Murder in Frenchman's Lane 1786 The Riot of 1786 1786 Tobias Lear Appointed Washington's Secretary 1789 George Washington Visits Portsmouth 1796 Ona Judge Staines Escapes to Freedom 1798 Yellow Fever Strikes the
	1800s Industrial Era 1800 America's First Private Federal Shipyard Opens 1801 John Langdon First NH President 1803 Daniel Webster Moves to Portsmouth 1808 Artist Thomas P. Moses Born 1809 Fort Consitution Explodes 1812 Isaac Hull Defeinds City from British 1813 Third Devastating Downtown Fire 1823 First Historical Celebration 1835 Celia Thaxter Born in Portsmouth 1836 Original NH State House Torn Down 1845 Shipyard Workers First Strike 1847 Unitarian Protests Mexican War 1848 Portsmouth Whaling Era Sinks 1855 First US Naval Photos Show "Old Ironsides" Here 1856 President Franklin Pierce Visits 1860 Celia Thaxter publishes "Land-locked" 1862 Frederick Douglas Gives Lecture 1864 USS Kearsage Defeats Alabama in Civil War 1869 Charles Brewster's "Rambles" Published 1869 "Story of a Bad Boy" Published 1873 Smuttynose Murderer Flees Portsmouth 1874 Wentworth-by-the-Sea Opens Big Hotel Era 1876 1st Portsmouth Tourist Guide by Sarah Haven Foster 1888 Civil War Monuments Dedicated 1895 'Old Town by the Sea' Published
	1900s Modern Era 1902 Ale Tycoon Frank Jones Dies 1905 "Treaty of Portsmouth" Signed Here 1905 Henderson's Point Blown Up 1907 Mark Twain Dedicates 1st Historic Museum 1912 Red Light District Closes 1920 Portsmouth Historical Society Opens 1923 Memorial Bridge Links Kittery & Portsmouth 1939 Squalus Submarine Disaster 1945 WW2 German U-Boats Surrender Here 1949 "Lost Boundaries" Filmed in Portsmouth 1961 Betty Hill First Alien Abductee 1969 Urban Renewal Takes "Little Italy" 1974 Aristotle Onassis Refinery Flops 1975 Emilio's Market Opens 1980 Market Square Renovation Rolling 1985 USS Albacore from Sea to Land 1997 SeacoastNH.com Comes Online 1998 375th Anniversary Celebration 1998 Esther Buffler First Poet Laureate 2000 200th Anniversary of Navy Yard 2000 Black History Trail Open 2001 Privateer Lynx Names Home Port 2002 Crack Discovered in White Island Lighthouse 2002 Portsmouth: Yesterday & Today -- 50 Pix 2003 "Negro Burying Ground" Discovered 2003 Wentworth Hotel Reopens

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