They finally did it! After years of fits and starts, Portsmouth’s biggest history
museum is building a visitor’s center. We were there for the ground breaking,
and we’re going to stick around for a while and get to know our Puddledock neighbor
better. Why not join us?
READ: Official SBM Press Release
The time has finally come. For the next year this web site is going to get to
know Strawbery Banke Museum from the inside out. We’ve been peeking over the fence
for at least three decades now. We’ve been attending special events and sometimes
cutting through the grounds on our way across town. We’ve been sending tourists
over and giving directions to people on the street. But we’ve never really honestly
gotten to know the place.
Can’t say exactly why. We offer no excuses. Maybe it was the fence. Maybe it
was the fee. Maybe it seemed that taking on the whole history of Strawbery Banke
at once was a bit like eating a bowling ball.
But all that is changing. This week the museum broke ground on their new visitor
center. It is a surprising looking building, not what we expected, but distinctly
appropriate. It looks like an old maritime warehouse, simple and utilitarian.
It looks like a building that has a purpose.
One purpose is to make the place more welcoming. It is the building where new
people will start their journey into this unique campus of old houses, gardens
and exhibits. It is the place that will make Strawbery Banke make sense.
This is not, by the way, the visitor center that we are advocating for Portsmouth. That is still desperately needed. That center will orient visitors
to the whole of Portsmouth and Seacoast history, to all the other historic sites
and independent museums that make this seaport so fascinating. The building at
Strawbery Banke is a doorway into just one portion of that extraordinary story.
It is a good start.
If you’re feeling déjà vu, this whole thing did happen a few years ago. The original
Tyco-funded visitor center turned out to be located on top of an archeologically
significant spot of land at the other end of the campus.
Nobody wants to remember that fiasco. But whatever does not kill us, makes us
strong.
Now as it approaches its 50th year, Strawbery banke seems stronger than ever. It was, after all, an organization
born amid the crisis of urban renewal. It has taken a good slow time to mature,
but that can be said for many of us Baby-Boomers. And Portsmouth too, has grown
wiser and kinder over the years.
So in the spirit of the times, we are going to step through those historic doors.
Rather than swallow the whole bowling ball, we will consume the place in bite-sized
bits. You may, if you wish, come along and enjoy the meal. – JDR
SEE: Our Puddledock 400 year Timeline
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