Portsmouth, New Hampshire

July 23, 2022

We decided to stop in Bath, because I don’t remember having been there before, and found the historic downtown to be small but quaint, and enjoyed walking the Main Street and visiting the shops. Luckily a nice breeze was coming off the water, because the heat was building already in the late morning. We opted for Bath Brewery for a nice lunch in the air conditioning, then on to Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

We passed this cluttered doorway, and sure enough....book store!

One of the many signs we saw in businesses and on homes, reminding all to be Kind!

Portsmouth’s historic downtown is huge, with converging main streets full of shops and restaurants, and lots of people in the height of vacation season. We walked up and down the uneven brick sidewalks, surprisingly going in few places. Clouds were gathering as we decided where to eat, and we were glad we opted for a simple waterfront taco stand, which turned out to be very good, as it darkened, and the thunder began to rumble. We were dashing back to the car when I spotted a sign that said Cannoli, so we grabbed a couple to take back to our room. Unfortunately, they did not live up to our tacos, and could not hold a candle to the ones we had in Baltimore! Really not worth the calories.

. The 1763 Georgian house was the home of William Whipple (1730–85), a signer of the Declaration of Independence and Revolutionary War general, is now a house museum.

Our room in Augusta was tired and dark, and the hotel was somewhat neglected, but the one in Portsmouth made it look good! I’m not sure what people see, giving these places four stars, but I was once again missing the Motorhome!

Strawberry Bank:

The next morning we went to Strawberry Bank Museum, an outdoor history museum in the old Puddleduck neighborhood, the oldest settlement in New Hampshire settled by Europeans. The origins of the name is the flooding that occurred in the entire neighborhood, from underground water, when the high tides came in, and the ducks would come and swim. Later, fill was added, much like the back bay in Boston, but a few of the homes still experience the flooding under the house from ground water at very high tide. The whole museum was so interesting, and so well done, that we enjoyed several hours walking around and inspecting the old original homes and special exhibits set up in several of them. Costumed docents were totally in character and we were advised to ask only questions that pertained to their time, and reserve others for guides in museum shirts.

Some of the docents were very good and offered information without question, like one young gal who explained many details about her family and the tavern she was sitting in, including the fact that the young man who ushered us in was her annoying little brother who sometimes gathered the family eggs and threw them at the neighbors house! I think if we had stayed there all day, she could have continued to entertain us with many tales!

Sign on the Tavern where we were entertained by the young lady and her friends above.

And her little brother outside, who greeted us.

Loved the store and all the old packaging from the 40s, as we entered a different era. The docents spoke of rations, and the growth of the town as workers came in to work on ships. These biscuits were especially interesting.

House attached to the grocers, reflected late 40s, early 50s, and even the TV was playing some old shows!
There were ashtrays by the chairs, which caught my attention.

One of the museum displays in a large buildings explained the water coming up in town with the hight tide, and the ship building then, and submarine repair now.

Wooden water pipes! logs interlocked, as seen here.

I spotted water buckets hanging here, in case of fire. Had never seen that before, but knew instantly what they were.

Finally leaving the museum, I spotted a lovely park with benches in the shade of big maple trees, and as the day had again grown very hot, we sat for a bit and enjoyed the breeze off the water. The humidity is so much lower than we are accustomed to, we are pretty comfortable in the shade, even though the locals were complaining. I thought we might walk along the waterfront after Clem rested his feet, but realized sitting there that maybe I needed a rest too, so we headed back for a shower and some time in the AC.

That night we went back to the strawberry Bank area for a very nice dinner at the Puddle Dock restaurant in a historic building.

Shepherd's Pie for Clem

A delicious Pavlova for dessert.

The park was right there once again, and I convinced Clem to walk through and enjoy the lovely evening. Crowds were gathering for what was to bean open air play, but I lost that discussion, as well as that of walking around the many, many streets of old homes practically on top of each other along very narrow streets.

The town park had a lovely garden , which we enjoyed strolling through.

folks gathered for an outdoor play on a nice evening. Nice town.

A bit of the varied architecture that appears in Portsmouth.

I did offer to drive, so I could go up and down the streets before returning for the evening. We are both astounded by the sheer number of these homes! The population had expanded tremendously during the war, along with the shipbuilding industry , and presumably housing. The Naval Shipyard currently serves as one of the Navy’s leading facilities for overhauling nuclear submarines. A very interesting day!