Out There: Things To Do Near Portsmouth NH

Portsmouth, New Hampshire draws tourists from around the country for its many historical attractions. First established by English settlers as the town Strawberry Banke, Portsmouth enjoyed a great deal of success as a port city. To showcase the lives of these early settlers, the Strawberry Banke Museum was founded on a 10-acre piece of land in historic downtown Portsmouth. The museum also is the center of archaeological research and has collections with hundreds of thousands of artifacts found on the site. The Strawberry Banke museum has the unique distinction of being the only outdoor museum to be located in a neighborhood that has been occupied for the last 375 years. The museum has an ever-changing line of exhibits displaying traditional crafts and lifestyles from the past as well as role playing storytellers to bring the past to life.

History buffs of the American Revolution will be interested to learn about the city's pivotal role in the first battle of the revolution. It started when Paul Revere rode from Boston to Portsmouth one day in December of 1774 to warn the colonists of British forces' intention to reinforce Fort William and Mary and gain complete control over the city's port. Revere's warning inspired roughly 400 colonists to storm the fort and take away valuable ammunition and supplies which would assist the revolutionaries in later battles, such as the Battle of Bunker Hill. Lexington and Concord would not occur for another four months; on April 19, 1775.

John Langdon, a Portsmouth merchant and shipbuilder, was one of the leaders of the raid against the British. Langdon would later become a three-term governor of the state as well as a signer of the United States Constitution and an early senator. Tourists are able to visit the Georgian mansion that he had built in Portsmouth, operated today as a museum.

Georgian architecture, in addition to Colonial and Federal styles, is another attraction for tourists. Most mansions in the area are of the Georgian style, built by wealthy citizens that had earned a sizable income from the bustling port industries of the time. Downtown Portsmouth, on the other hand, is composed of largely brick stores and townhouses in the Federalist style, built to better withstand destruction from fire in the nineteenth century.

Other examples of Georgian mansions are the Wentworth-Gardner House (1760), the Moffatt-Ladd House (1763) and the Tobias Lear House (1740). The latter was the home of Tobias Lear IV, a shipbuilder who oversaw the construction of John Paul Jones' ship The Ranger, and his son, secretary to George Washington, whom visited the house in 1789.

There is actually a John Paul Jones House located in Portsmouth. Constructed in 1758 for sea captain Gregory Purcell, the house was constructed by the African American housewright Wentworth Cheswell. The house was given Jones' name in 1781, when the naval hero came to stay in Portsmouth, specifically at Purcell's home. The “Father of the American Navy" lived at the mansion for a year while supervising the construction of his ship, The Ranger, being built on nearby Badger's Island in Kittery, Maine. The John Paul Jones House has been designated a National Historic Landmark and now serves as the Portsmouth Historical Society Museum with an extensive portrait collection.

Captain Isaac Hull, another noteworthy naval commander, was assigned to Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in 1813. Hull had been the commander of the USS Constitution in 1812, when it landed a serious blow against the British navy and earned the nickname "Old Ironsides." Hull had been assigned to Portsmouth to provide protection from the British while America built its largest warship in the shipyard. The ship in question, the USS Washington, was not launched until 1814, but was an impressive feat. The only similar project undertaken by the navy was likely the 1782 sloop built for John Paul Jones, named America. The ship was started on Badger's Island in 1777 but was not launched until 1782—only to be scrapped four years later because of dry rot. Visitors may also want to check out the decommissioned navy submarine, the USS Albacore, found docked in the USS Albacore Museum and Park.

Portsmouth also has options for art and theater enthusiasts. The oldest operating theater in New England and the fourteenth oldest in the U.S. is Portsmouth's Music Hall, a 900-seat theater built in 1878. The theater has been restored and runs under the supervision of a non-profit organization to host numerous musical acts, dance exhibitions and theater. All varieties of theater can be found in production from the New Hampshire Theatre Project, a non--profit group founded in 1986. Two smaller black box theaters, The Pontine Theatre and The Player's Ring Theater, specialize in presenting original productions based on the works and lives of regional artists. For a touch of Hollywood in an old New England town, there are several theaters near Portsmouth, too.

Both old and new, Portsmouth offers a great destination for summer tourists.

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