HISTORY

SEACOAST HISTORY
			As I Please Historical Societies Jesse James Films
MARITIME HISTORY
The Shipyard Old Ironsides John Paul Jones
FAMOUS PEOPLE
		Link Free or Die John Paul Jones Celia Thaxter John Smith
Thomas Bailey Aldrich Tobias Lear Framers of Freedom
BLACK HISTORY
			NH Black History Black Heritage Trail Black History Links
PLACES & EVENTS
Smuttynose Murders Brewster's Rambles Historic Tours
				The Grave Site Isles of Shoals Wentworth by the Sea
		NH History Old Portsmouth
TIMELINE
Portsmouth Timeline The Industrial Era	Prehistoric Era	The Contact Era	The Colonial Era	The Revolutionary Era

Inside the Comic Carpet-Bag

HISTORY OF AMERICAN HUMOR

Few people know that America's first humor magazine was created by a New Hampshire man. Portsmouth's BP Shillaber has been called the "torch-bearer" of the American humor movement in the mid-1800s. He was also, scholars tell us, the first editor to publish a comic sketch by a young Samuel Clemens who would become the amazing Mark Twain -- for the first time on the Internet.

The Shot Not Heard Round the World

230 YEARS AGO THIS MONTH

Did the American Revolution really start at Fort William and Mary in New Hampshire? Local historians like to think so. Historian J. Dennis Robinson takes one more shot at the story that just misses the major history texts, but looms large in the life of the Seacoast.

How Santa Stole Christmas

Santa
SOMEWHERE IN HERE
THERE USED TO BE A HOLIDAY

It wasn't always this bad. Our Puritan ancestors thought Christmas was a pagan holiday. Based on the nonstop shopping ads, they may have been right. A quick look at some old Portsmouth newspapers tells the tale of a nation trapped by the rising fever of consumption.

The Three Fires of Christmas

Fire

DOWNTOWN BURNS IN THE 1800s

Again and again Portsmouth burned, making hell of the holidays. The three devastating fires of Portsmouth each arrived near Christmas – 1802, 1806, 1813. Out of the ashes came a new city – one built of brick instead of wood – and a memory that still lives in the winter scent of smoke.

The Imaginary Saint

Indian

The "praying Indian" of Maine is not buried on a York mountaintop

Saint Aspinquid of Maine was the perfect Indian for 19^th century whites -- pious and peace-loving. He was also imaginary. The legend, so often connected with Passaconaway, tells us more about New Eng;and historians than it does about Native Americans.

More Articles...

News about Portsmouth from Fosters.com