Seacoast Blog #34
February 23, 2009

Discover Portsmouth Center Update

The future is far from certain. Currently the DPC has just two-years left on its city lease. After that it could take a couple of million dollars to get the aged structures in shape. But those involved are nothing if not optimistic. We know, to paraphrase former businessman Stuart Shaines, that this is the best idea Portsmouth ever had.

We imagine that someday the Discover Portsmouth Center will be the hub of info about local history and culture. It will not be an archive, a library or an historic house museum. We have those in abundance. It will be a starting point for tourists coming to the city as well as a gallery of exhibits for locals. Portsmouth really needs a spacious visitor’s center, a cultural marketing hub, a public art gallery, public restrooms – and the DPC is all of the above. The plan is to PUSH visitors from the DPC to the incredible variety of cultural sites and events in Portsmouth.

The current grant focuses on future exhibits and walking trails. DPC planners hope to make this the central departure point for a variety of historical tours of the city. Step one is to take the existing Portsmouth Black Heritage Trail and bring it into the 21^st century. That means adding new stops along the trail, creating an introductory video, and expanding the tour into new modern media. That could mean GPS features, cell phone tours, wireless graphics, an expanded Web presence, audio and video clips, iPod and iPhone access. We don’t know exactly what will happen, but we’re digging into the possibilities.

Another trail tentatively called Footsteps of Washington is in the early stages of development. Washington toured Portsmouth in 1789 and there are a great many locations connected with the first presidential visit. Washington’s runaway slave Ona Judge Staines escaped bondage to New Hampshire. The house of Tobias Lear, Washington’s secretary is still open to the public, as is the Langdon House, Pitt Tavern and more. Portsmouth has a lot to say about our founding father.

Another goal of the grant is to create a permanent exhibit on the 400 year history of Portsmouth to orient first-time visitors and locals alike. We don’t yet have a clue what it will look like. At the public forum I discussed a few potential "themes" being developed. Once we have nailed down the concepts, we can apply for funding to create the actual exhibit at the DPC. The exhibit will have both GEO and ECO components. The "geo" part will show viewers where to go in town to learn more about each topic. The "eco" component ties each theme into the fragile ecosystem – 50% water and 50% land that we call the seacoast region.

Remember, nothing is set in stone. This is just a rough draft of the themes currently being developed. The DPC, an all volunteer group, is looking for input, and especially for people to serve on the various trail and exhibit committees. Right now you can do that by calling Kate Greenlease at the Portsmouth Historical Society at 603-436-8420. The project manager is Prof David Watters of UNH.

Here are the tentative working themes for the Portsmouth exhibit --

THE MIGHTY PISCATAQUA

Early European explorers were drawn to the deep fast-flowing Piscataqua River and its fertile tidal estuary. The original settlers came to the abundant fishing banks off the Isles of Shoals early in the 1600s and established an English plantation and a large communal "Great House" here in 1630. They farmed, searched for precious metals, and traded with Native Americans, who had occupied this region for at least 10,000 years. When British investors abandoned their unprofitable colony first named Strawbery Banke. Portsmouth’s founding families turned to the sea, salt marshes, pine forests and swift rivers for their survival.

BUILDING PORTSMOUTH

Portsmouth became a key British center for the export of tall pines valuable for ship’s masts. Sawmills dotting the region provided lumber from woodlands stretching all the way to New York.

Loyal to the king, the city’s aristocratic merchant elite built great mansions, but also enslaved African Americans, while establishing a thriving maritime trade. As the city grew, its center moved from the waterfront wharves to the "compact area" at what is now Market Square.

BECOMING AMERICANS

Initially reluctant to join the patriot cause, Portsmouth was among the first cities to rebel against British rule. Seacoast citizens stormed the king’s fort at New Castle in 1774 and sent its royal governor into exile. Piscataqua artisans built high-tech ships like The Ranger captained by John Paul Jones. George Washington visited the city in 1789 with his secretary Tobias Lear, a Portsmouth son. Patriot leaders like John Langdon became the new royalty as the city enjoyed a brief hey-day as a world trade center before the tide went out.

YANKEE INGENUITY

Following three devastating downtown fires and the War of 1812 -- Portsmouth lost its maritime edge. As the economy declined, younger residents moved westward and to the bustling industrial centers to make their fortunes. Forced to re-invent itself, with no manufacturing base, Portsmouth built sleek clipper ships, tried and failed at whaling, and flirted with a hosiery mill. It found success brewing beer under ale tycoon Frank Jones. The Piscatqua gundalow, unique to this region, still sails today. The Portsmouth Naval Shipyard (est. 1800), the city’s driving economic force, was itself maritime laboratory – from the steam-powered sailing ship KEARSAGe in the Civil War to Momsen’s rescue diving bell and the experimental ALBACORE sub. Portsmouth also developed a nationally recognized arts & literary reputation thanks to poet Celia Thaxter, author Thomas Bailey Aldrich and publisher James T. Fields and others.

OLD TOWN BY THE SEA

As early as 1823 Portsmouth had begun to think of itself in the past tense, its greatest days gone. Following the Civil War, the faded seaport began to draw its former sons and daughters back for visits by rail and trolley. Tourists flocked to new seaside resorts like the Wentworth and Oceanic hotels. Students of architecture studied the grand colonial mansions. Meanwhile a wave of European immigrants found low-rent housing along the old crumbling waterfront that had become a combat zone of bordellos and the scene of unsolved murders in a gritty naval seaport. By the turn of the 20th century, Portsmouth was in total conflict. Progressive forces wanted to modernize the city while preservations wanted to save its historic sites and buildings.

HERITAGE DESTINATION

By 1950 half a dozen historic houses had been saved by private benefactors. But hundreds of other historic structures were bulldozed under urban renewal well into the 1970s. A movement to preserve buildings and create a Colonial Village in 1957 led to Strawbery Banke Museum. City officials soon re-engineered Market Square as a "tourist friendly" centerpiece. A waterfront park, created by two elderly millionaires, evolved into an outdoor summer theater with lush gardens. The city’s reputation for historic sites, scenic trails, festivals, cruise ships, tall ships, walking tours, art galleries, fine dining, theatre, gardens, concerts and boutique shopping placed it on the "must see" list of unique American destinations. Today, while still a working seaport, this lively cultural city is a living core sample of four centuries of American history.