HISTORY MATTERS

Not many low-rent neighborhoods are designed by high-minded architects. And few get to be the topic of an entire book. But back in 1985 Prof. Richard Candee of Boston University saw something special about “The Heights” of Portsmouth. So did many others and the book was soon out of print. Last week the only two used copies of Candee’s book on Amazon.com were being offered to collectors for $305.52 and $450.70 respectively. (Continued below)

HISTORY MATTERS

In my taxonomy of Halloween monsters there are three categories. First are the imaginary monsters like vampires, trolls, devils, dragons, ghosts, and zombies. I like these monsters a lot. They are not real; although I’m afraid we’ll get a letter from someone who believes otherwise. If that person shows up with one of the above in a box, I’ll happily eat this article. (Continued below)

HISTORY MATTERS

When Ben Frisbee gazed into his crystal ball in 1895 he saw his rural hometown of Kittery, Maine radically altered by progress. By 1955, Frisbee predicted, the wetlands would be dredged into lakes and steel wharves would accommodate massive cruise ships. Gerrish Island would be ringed with wide tarred roads lit by bright electric bulbs. (Continue below)

HISTORY MATTERS

Barack Obama’s historic visit to Portsmouth in September 2012 adds one more president to the city’s scorecard. But how many does that make? Let’s tally them up. The local newspaper reported that Obama is the first president to visit the “Banke” since George Washington stopped by in 1789. That's sort of true. But the headline neglects to mention 20 other presidents who visited in-between. (continued below)