Seacoast History Blog #19
December 10, 2008

All bridges are not created equal. Some are, well, cooler than others. I’ve always had a thing for the 1923 Memorial Bridge, the only span that allows us to walk or bike above the swirling dark Piscataqua that rushes between Portsmouth, NH and Kittery, ME. Walking the bridge is a thrilling – and in this season – a chilling experience. You really FEEL the powerful tidal river like nowhere else, and it reminds us of our deep connection to the sea. It is also a beautiful bridge to behold, a technical marvel that, amazingly, still lifts an enormous and heavy chunk of the road high into the air to allow large ships to pass underneath. But lately there is talk of scuttling our beloved lift bridge. (Continued below) 

Seacoast History Blog #18
December 6, 2008

A Native American born in the 1600s has thrown my workweek into chaos. Since the appearance of my recent column on St. Aspinquid, and a follow-up editorial in the Portsmouth Herald, I’ve had some doubts. I thought I’d put the story to rest, but a researcher in Nova Scotia says otherwise. He tells me that St. Aspinquid, whom I call the "Imaginary Saint", may have been real after all. This Canadian historian has written a so-far-unpublished essay that is richly documented. I have a copy. I’ve run it by a couple of local scholars who are impressed, but still dubious. I just spent over an hour on the phone with the author, and he makes a lot of sense. (Continued below)

Two funny things about satire. First, it breeds more satire. When I write a history piece in a humorous vein, the responses tend to be humorous too. Like a sneeze or a yawn in public, one usually leads to another. Second, not everybody gets the joke. So we want to clarify, that the recent letter in the Portsmouth Herald by New Castle resident Bill Greeley was a gag, or at least, we think it was. (Continued below)

Seacoast History Blog #16
November 29, 2008

A new book is like a new baby. Author’s have been saying that forever, but many get the metaphor wrong. Books are conceived, most of the time, in the mind of the author. The seminal idea flitters among its myriad brothers and sisters, sometimes for years, desperate to germinate. Some think a book is born when the printed work appears, pressed between stiff covers and dressed in colorful jacket. Far from it. Books are born when the author and the publisher shake hands. (Continued)

Seacoast History Blog #14
November 24, 2008

The last seven loyal members of the Dover Historical Society met for the last time last week. It was an inauspicious occasion. Following a lecture and refreshments, the group accepted its own recommendation to disband forever – and then did so. That makes Dover one of the only towns in the Seacoast with no historical society. Was this the beginning of a trend or just the end of an era? (Continued)

Seacoast History Blog #13
November 22, 2008

In 10 years I’ve posted a few thousand images on the Internet through this site. It has been a ton of work. Now in one fell swoop Google announces it is adding ten million images from the archive of the defunct LIFE magazine, 97% of which have never been published. The first thing I did, of course, was to see if there are any from New Hampshire. Sure enough, about 200 black and white photos popped up in my first search – just the tip of the iceberg. (Continued) 

Seacoast History Blog #12
November 21, 2008

Bestselling author Anita Shreve was signing books like a house afire. Seated behind a folding table in the rough hewn “green room” behind the stage at the Music Hall in Portsmouth, she talked as she signed box after box of her new novel “Testimony”. Half an hour later she spoke candidly with 800 loyal fans. There was barely a drop of testosterone in the crowd. (Continued)

Seacoast History Blog #11
November 18, 2008

It is poetic that Dr. John K. Lattimer, a urologist, came to own Napoleon’s penis. It was reportedly removed during an autopsy and Lattimer bought it in a Paris auction. Lattimer died last year with 3,000 historic artifacts scattered around his 30-room mansion in New Jersey. This week a few hundred of these items related to the Civil War are up for grabs, giving the rest of us a rare look inside the mind of a super-collector. (Continued) 

Seacoast History Blog #10
November 16, 2008

Movies rarely tell us the true facts of history, but they do indicate trends. The "spy thriller" is a good example and has a close local connection to Seacoast, NH in maverick producer Louis de Rochemont. His films 13 Rue Madeleine (1946) starring James Cagney, The House on 92^nd Street (1945) and Walk East on Beacon Street (1952) are considered part of the stylish crime drama style (called "film noire") that evolved after WW2. But where did de Rochemont get his ideas? (Continued)