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READ: Thousands of letters to SeacoastNH.com

May 26
BEST FRIED CLAMS 
Another great story ("Best Fried Clams"). Years ago I worked for an electronics firm in Southern California and had to travel to East Coast shipyards. Two New Englanders asked me to bring them some fried clams. I picked up a pint and carried them home on the airplane. The next morning I gave them the clams. You would have thought I had brought them treasure. What I miss in California are real crab cakes...Mr. Robinson needs to add to his experiences walking along the pier at Monterey, CA eating a calamari (we still call them the less sophisticated squid) cocktail. Part of the tradition is to walk along on a crowded tourist day with tentacles poking out of your mouth....By the way, I am heading that way in July. I will be sure to try out some of the places for fried clams...
Doug Noble, Food Columnist, Placerville, CA

May 25
COMING TO SEE CELIA
We are traveling to H.H. (Happy Hampton?)  in July. Is there anywhere in the Portsmouth area to see Thaxter’s work and to buy prints of her work Also Childe Hassam"s work.
Diane Parker, Joplin, MO

EDITOR’S REPLY: That’s a long way to come for Celia. We’re not aware of a permanent Celia exhibit other than the one on Star Island in the Vaughan Cottage on the island. You get there via the Uncle Oscar boat out of Rye Harbor. It’s really the best place to see Celia’s work other than the book ONE WOMAN’S WORK. The best Childe Hassam exhibit is here on the web. 

May 24
SPELLCHECKER ALREADY IN PLAY
My husband and I enjoy your stories on local history. May I suggest you use spell check. Just from a quick skimming of your Humphrey Bogart story, I noticed that honorably and continually were spelled inaccurately.
A Concerned Reader

EDITOR’S REPLY: Here's the story on that. Most of my regular readers know that I am partially blind (the pc phrase is "low vision disabled" which means I can’s see the beans). I use Spellcheck and an "audio reader" called Zoomtext. Even with giant-sized fonts, I cannot see the errors easily and have to hear them, and as you can tell, it doesn't always work. Rather than inform me that there are errors, what helps, is if readers tell me what the errors are and where to find them. Since the site has thousands of web pages, the best process is to send the page URL via email and a note on where the error occurs (eg. "their" should be "they're" in the first paragraph). A number of regular readers send along typo memos whenever they see things needing corrections, which are easy to make in my new databsed software. Also, since this is not what I do for a living (the site is largely a free service provided by yours truly to about 5,000 readers a day), it doesn't get the time it might if the web site was a profit-making project. That, of course, is the eventual intent. Remember, it's all free to the reader, but it's hundreds and hundreds of hours to the writer, so the more readers can help, the longer this service will stay online. Cheers -- JDR

 TYPO ALERT -- Here is a perfect example of a typo. The reader created a graphic showing us exactly where the typo is. We had it fixed in about 60 seconds after getting the email. Now THAT is helpful. Thanks

May 23
BUYING THE WENTWORTH BOOK
Hello, Dennis. It's been impossible to find or order a copy of Wentworth-By-The-Sea: The Life and Times of a Grand Hotel here in Salt Lake City where my wife and I reside. I've loved the hotel ever since I discovered it while traveling the Seacoast as a Zone Sales Manager for an outboard motor manufacturer back in the early "70's. My wife and I were newly weds living in West Newbury at that time. She was secretary to the president at the Institution for Savings in Newburyport. The bank's summer parties were often held at the Wentworth during those early years. I'm approaching retirement, and New Castle is our chosen destination. Do you have one for sale? Best regards,
Ben Rowell. Salt Lake City, UT

EDITOR’S REPLY: Thanks to the Internet, the book is available around the globe. You can purchase it via PayPal on SeacoastNH.com (click on the BUY OUR BOOK) or got to Amazon.com, search on the title, and order it under "New & Used" from the seller "seacoastnh". It all comes here and we have signed copies ready to ship via media mail at any time.

May 20
LIBERTY POLE LESSONS
I read with great interest your article regarding the history of the liberty pole! I too had no knowledge of its origin nor it's history within the community! After reading your article all I can say is...May she stand for centuries more! Although I do believe it should be publically promoted more for historical purposes. Thanks so much for the great article. As always, I learn something new when I ready my monthly Seacoastnh.com newsletter!
Respectfully submitted,
Dawn Thornton-Luty 

May 20
YOUR GILLEY STORIES
Growing up in Portsmouth I spent a lot of time at Gilley's. Hot dogs with the works --relish, mustard and onions -- were four for a buck. Gilley was a hard worker, taking care of the customers inside, the autos at the window on Pleasant St. and the patrons on the other side standing on the sidewalk when it was at the North Church. I'd walk from the Navy Yard (at age 16 – 18) at night, wait for my bus to Foyes corner inside Gilliy’s, and have four hot dogs with the works. One Saturday night I was sitting having beans and franks when a drunk slid off his seat next to me and fell on the floor. I remember years later saying to the wife while living in Rochester – “Let’s go to Portsmouth for an evening supper.” I took her to Gilliey’s on Fleet Street, and we sat on the steps outside eating hot dogs. I have many fond memories of Gilliey’s. I still go there every couple weeks and get two with the works. My appetite isn't what it used to be.  

BRAD HARRINGTON  

May 5
DRIVE CAREFULLY, TURTLES CROSSING
Dear Editor:  Just a friendly reminder – very soon we’ll have our first warm, wet nights of spring. And this will mean salamanders and frogs will be moving to and from their ponds to mate.  Please, if at all possible, try to run those errands before dark. Pick up your bread and milk on the way home from work to avoid having to venture out on these critical nights of migration.

Also, during the day, please drive carefully on roads where turtles may be crossing.  Hitting and killing one turtle has a devastating impact on the populations of some species, such as the spotted, Blandings, and wood turtles.  These turtles sometimes are 12 years old before they reach adulthood and breeding age.  It’s not the quick turn around time of such animals as squirrels, deer, or raccoons.  Each dead turtle is an incredible loss for theses threatened or endangered species. (If you help a turtle across the road, please help her in the direction she was heading!.)  Thanks for your attention and care to these creatures!
Judith Lindsey of Candia, NH   

May 3
PUDDLE DOCK MYSTERY BOYS NO MYSTERY
Re: your picture of the puddle dockersr, I am quite certain of the identity of five guys in the front row. L to R, Bob Watson, Les Locke, Howie Locke, Gene Watson and Mel Pendergast. The other faces are familiar but can't put a name to them. We all hung out in puddle dock in the early fifties.
-- From Marilyn Markey Ecker

LIVED IN PUDDLE DOCK

I spent my childhood years living in the Puddle Dock neighborhood (1940 - 1956). I can positively identify most of the kids in the photograph: First kid on the left is Bobby Watson, who lived on Jefferson Street; The kid with the hat is Norman Noseworthy, who lived across the street from the Watsons; the kid standing in front of Noseworthy is one of the Locke kids who lived in the house on the right on Liberty Street (big family, lots of Locke kids); standing next to him, wearing the sweater, is his cousin, Howie Locke; the kid in the rear, standing next to Noseworthy is, I'm almost sure, a kid from the White family who lived on Washington Street; Gene Watson is in the center front; to his left is Melvin Pendergast, who lived in the house behind the group photograph; then comes John Thurber,whose family lived -- facing Mrs. Abbot's store -- to the left and rear; last kid on the right is Harold Mace, who also lived in the Watson -- Small house, and whose parents were tragically killed in an auto accident in the early to mid 40's.I hope this helps. Keep up the good work. There are still some misconceptions about our dear old neighborhood.
-- Sincerely, Tom Barron

MORE ID FROM MASSACHUSETTS
Dennis,My name is Fred Locke. I called my father [ Howie Locke ] tonight and he told me his picture was in the herald .. under unknown puddle dockers . Know known as Strawberry Bank. After a chat I thought it would be a good idea to get in touch with you and let you know that to much of my dads surprise.. the photo was of all his good friends taken sometime around 1951 . He seems to believe Sept maybe the 1st day of school.. The spelling may be off a bit but the kids in the picture Front row left to right are as follows_ Bobby Watson, Les Locke , Howie Locke , Gene Watson, Melvin Pendegase , John Thurber and Clarence Mace 2nd row as follows- left to right Skida Noseworthy and Don White.My dad turns 70 years old on Sat. the 5th of May .Dennis thanks for your time hope this makes to the Herald.
-- From Fred Locke, Milford, MA

May 2
CHEESED OFF ABOUT CHEBEAGUE
I was greatly disappointed that the idea of going to an island community simply to poak (sic) fun at the locals was as unamerican as you can get. The island of Chebeague was not put there to baby persons like yoursrelves. My family, the Hamiltons were doing business off this island long before it became a tourist attraction. Persons from other parts of the northeast have made the economy of the island stagnant, and I personnally (sic) hope you and your group don't go back. Let the cockroaches of NewYork and Boston bite you.
P D HAMILTON

EDITOR’S REPLY: We love reader mail, even when it comes completely out of the blue. Clearly this reader has issues, and as soon as we figure out what they are and why we’re the target, we’ll respond. But to what? Inquiring minds want to know. 

May 1 
HALPRIN’S CLEANERS ON DANIEL STREET
Dear Mr. Robinson: My daughter brought me a recent picture from the HERALD which featured the place where Stoodley's Tavern had been on Daniels St. (the date had been cut out). My grandfather was Philip Halprin who owned Halprin's cleaners for many decades and my father, Herman Wilson, ran the establishment, also for almost a couple of decades until his untimely death in 1946; my whole family history is tied to that place and that area.

I wonder whether you have more pictures in which Halprin's might appear at different periods of time. My children and grandchildren are quite interested in all of the history between our family and Portsmouth. My mother graduated from Portsmouth High School in 1921; my husband, Gerald Singer (whose father owned Kittery market for many decades) and I graduated from Portsmouth High School in 1945 and all five of our children graduated from Portsmouth High School. We were part of a large extended family that included the Borwicks (Eli Borwick's store on Islington St., Philip Borwick's Produce truck with the signs front and back 'Here Comes Philip' and 'There Goes Philip'), the Freedmans and their store for many years on Marcy St. Earlier on, Barney Freedman had been milkman; also the Applebaums and their store on Islington St., and Harry and Bessie Abrams who had an oil business. A couple of my cousins (Zill Freedman and Gene Applebaum) were star basketball players in Portsmouth High School during the days when the Portsmouth High Basketball team dominated the state with Mr. Lizio as coach.
From Kingston, NH

EDITOR’S REPLY: That photo was a small, color, candid image taken by Carl Johnson, the first administrator of Strawbery Banke Inc. back in the early 1960s. The focus of the picture was the tavern. I’m not aware of any images focusing on Halprin’s. Tracking such an image would be a tricky task since it is unlikely pictures, if taken, will be filed with the name of the company. Since the tavern site was turned into a federal building block and post office, it is likely photos were taken of the area at the time, but we don’t have a clue where they would be. You could certainly check with the Portsmouth Athenaeum that has some images filed street by street, or with the Portsmouth Public Library. Finding any federal records will be a challenge. Perhaps the Portsmouth Housing Authority can help. There is no central photo record of the city and research is a spotty process that can require many hours of research. It’s fun, buy you’ll have to put lots of hours into the process. Your best bet is to start with a copy of Caleb Gurney’s photo street guide, Portsmouth Historic and Picturesque printed around 1902. Also check the City Directories at the public library and the street maps at the Athenaeum to track the building itself. All of the city research sites have a copy or you can usually buy one online at Bookfinder.com. This may show you the building, at least, in an earlier time. Many thanks for sharing your family history. MORE research archive locations  and Walking Guides to Portsmouth.