Lovely Portsmouth

Our armchair travels in the U.S. have taken us to the New England state of New Hampshire. The state is home to the lovely White Mountains with Mt. Washington being the highest peak in the region. The White Mountains are home to moose and black bears and includes part of the Appalachian Trail.

Our first stop is Portsmouth a port city on the Piscataqua River.

Get to know Portsmouth by walking along the harbor and waterfront and in Market Square. The Portsmouth Harbor Trail connects over 70 of the city’s historical sites and scenic attractions. There are ten buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Buildings, ten National Historic Landmarks, and many historic homes open to the public.

Warner House was built in 1716 and has the oldest Colonial wall paintings and the first example of Queen Anne furniture in America.

The John Paul Jones House dating from 1758 has exhibits with collections of china, silver, glass, portraits, and clothing. It was the home of Captain John Paul Jones when he lived in Portsmouth.

The Rundlet-May House dating from 1807 has furniture which was made by local craftsmen.

The Moffatt-Ladd House is a historic mansion that has become a museum. It is located right across from the Old Harbor. The house was built in 1763 and is a National Historic Landmark which was opened to the public in 2011. The home has period era décor and architecture and lovely gardens. You can see original artifacts like letters, papers, and photographs once belonging to the original owners. Some of its former inhabitants include Revolutionary War figures, signers of the Declaration of Independence and members of the early East Coast society.

The Governor John Langdon House is also a historic house that has become a museum. It was once the home of shipbuilder, merchant, Revolutionary War hero, three-term governor of the state of New Hampshire and signer of the Constitution John Langdon. This is an impressive Georgian-style mansion which was once referred to as the first home of its stature by the 1^st President of the U.S. George Washington. The museum includes original pieces of the home, the property of the Langdon family, and historical artifacts.

Prescott Park is an urban green space right on the edge of the Piscataqua River. The park has manicured gardens, wide lawns, three boardwalk piers, and two public boat docks. There are paved walkways leading through the park and you can find picnic tables, grills, and shelters for your enjoyment.

The park is open all year round and is home to the Prescott Park Arts Festival. During the spring and summer, there are music performances, theater shows, big screen movies, and other special events.

The Strawberry Banke Museum is an outdoor history museum that is associated with the city’s oldest remaining European settlement neighborhood, the South End. The museum consists of 40 historical buildings that date back to the 17^th, 18^th, and 19^th centuries.

Ten of them are open to the public. You can see staff members dressed in period costumes offering visitors the history of each home. Exhibits demonstrate the details typical of buildings, grounds and early inhabitants of that time.

The Music Hall is considered to be the oldest theater in New Hampshire and the 14^th oldest theater in America. It has hosted performances by many notable celebrities among them Tony, Grammy and Pulitzer Prize winners. Performances include musical, dramatic, interpretive or author readers, dance recitals and cinema exhibits.

The Portsmouth Athenaeum is a locally run and independently managed non-profit library, gallery, and museum. Visitors can take a tour and see authentic Portsmouth artifacts.

USS Albacore is a submarine with a unique shape that pioneered the watercraft field. It was used for research and has been designed to move quickly and with great agility. It was operated during WW II. Today it is open to the public and visitors can tour the submarine and learn about its special features and contribution to the U.S. Navy.

The Book and Bar is housed in a late 1860s buildings. It offers a unique entertainment and dining combination. This eatery and pub have the setting of a bookshop with shelves of books.

You can enjoy great food and drinks sitting among tall bookshelves in cozy armchairs or sofas by solid wood tables.

The Isles of Shoals are six small islands six miles off the coast on the border between Maine and New Hampshire. Each of the islands has a different kind of character. One hosts a renowned religious conference center and another is supposedly the site of the honeymoon taken by the notorious pirate Blackbeard. Visitors can tour the islands and enjoy the ocean views, harbors, and surrounding coastline.

Hotels were built on the islands in 1843 by entrepreneur Thomas Laighton the first on Smuttynose Island and a larger one on Appledore Island. In 1873 another entrepreneur John Poor built the Oceanic Hotel on Star Island and it still remains today greeting visitors and is the only one of the Isles’ great hotels still standing.

Appledore Island was popular in the 19^th century with artists since author and poet Celia Laighton Thaxter had grown up on the Isles and was the daughter of Thomas Laighton. She became the unofficial hostess and artist-in-residence welcoming such fellow writers and artists as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and William Morris Hunt.  She died in 1894 and the hotel was destroyed in a fire some twenty years later.  Today this island is home to the summer Shoals Marine Lab.

After Appledore, Star Island is the second largest and the only one served by a commercial boat from the mainland. It is a religious and educational conference center. In the summertime there are week-long and shorter conferences held in the Oceanic Hotel.

Gosport House a 150-year old chapel and several buildings date back to the original village.

Smuttynose Island is under the dark cloud of being the site of a horrible double murder in 1873 and is uninhabited today. It is also the site of Blackbeard’s honeymoon. Author Celia Thaxter wrote the story of the murder in her 1997 novel, A Memorable Murder. The murder is also recalled in The Weight of the Water by Anita Shreve and in the movie by the same name and in the song The Ballad of Louis Wagner by John Perrault.

On the island, there are two small houses with one of them being the Samuel Haley House which is believed to be the oldest structure in the state of Maine.

Malaga Island to the west of Smuttynose is connected by a breakwater.

There is White Island with its signature lighthouse and Seavey Island. During low tide, these two islands are connected by a land bridge.

Seavey Island is the site of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. It is located in the Piscataqua River in Kittery, Maine opposite Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

https://vacationidea.com/destinations/best-things-to-do-in-portsmouth-nh.html

https://www.planetware.com/tourist-attractions/new-hampshire-usnh.htm

https://www.portsmouthnh.com/listing/isles-of-shoals-steamship-co/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isles_of_Shoals

https://newengland.com/today/…/new-hampshire/portsmouth/visit-the-isles-of-shoals

https://www.picdove.com/samuelhaley

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