Portsmouth, New Hampshire

Saturday we headed south to Portsmouth. We even saw more pumpkin people there!

The neighborhood was full of beautiful old New England homes.


Most of the day we spent at Strawberry Banke Museum, a great display of 40 buildings, 32 of which are on their original sites. Those moved to the site had been saved from demolition. It offered a great view of life back in the 1700’s.


The site included Daniel Webster’s house

and the Pit Tavern with the third floor Mason’s Hall.


Several homes had these fire buckets, which were filled with sand to help put out any fire.


Some of the homes were set up to demonstrate the way they looked prior to being remodeled.



A gundalow is being constructed in what was formerly known as Puddle Dock, a tidal inlet

The bay was just across the street,


where there was a park with beautiful garden

and a small cemetery, with burials dating back to the 1690's.


A couple of miles away, we stopped to look at Fort Constitution. This fort was first erected in 1632 and was named Fort William and Mary On Dec. 13, 1774, Paul Revere rode from Boston with a message that the fort at Rhode island had been dismantled and troops were coming to take over Fort WIlliam and Mary. The following day, "Sons of Liberty", 400 men from Portsmouth, Rye and new Castle, raided the fort and removed 98 barrels of gunpowder. By 1775 the Governor took refuge in the fort, hoping conflict would be avoided. After the fort was dismantled, the governor left, issuing a proclamaiton disconitnuing the assembly. This was the last act of royal authority in New Hampshire. In 1791, the state gave the land to the United States, which returned it in 1961.


About a mile further, Fort Stark The fortification was built in 1842, and stonework fort was built in 1873.


Both had fabulous views of the ocean!!


On the way back, we were stunned by a beautiful rainbow, the end of a beautiful day.