Historic Portsmouth, NH Walking Tour

By Ronald T. Campbell

Portsmouth, New Hampshire is one of the oldest communities in the United States. Commercial fishermen established a base on the shores of the Piscataqua River only three years after the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock. The area soon became a center for shipbuilding and foreign trade, playing a prominent role in colonial America and the American Revolution.

The Historic Portsmouth, NH Walking Tour meanders down shady streets lined by stately mansions that reflect the wealth and influence of Portsmouth’s most successful forefathers. It passes rows of brick commercial buildings that mark the paths of three catastrophic infernos the city suffered during the early 1800s. With nine route maps and detailed directions, this tour navigates walkers past four buildings on the National Register of Historic Places, five National Historic Landmarks, and one American Treasure.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ronald T. Campbell
• Release date: May 26, 2011
• ISBN: 9781458065315

Ronald T. Campbell

Ron Campbell is a professional writer, photographer, and amateur historian who is currently writing freelance articles for the Web and working on a Walk Portsmouth blog.His photographs, which are posted on Flickr at www.flickr.com/photos/rondeeview/, have appeared online in NowPublic news articles, the Schmap guides, and "Home & Abroad" magazine. Additionally, his photograph of the Sopwith Camel at London’s Imperial War Museum was included in the March 2009 edition of "Britain at War" magazine.

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Historic Portsmouth, NH

Walking Tour

Published by Ronald T. Campbell at Smashwords

Copyright 2011 Ronald T. Campbell

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In 2008, Prevention Magazine named Portsmouth, New Hampshire one of the top 100 walking cities in America, and the National Trust for Historic Preservation added Portsmouth to their list of Dozen Distinctive Destinations. More recently, the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation recognized Portsmouth as a Preserve America Community.

Portsmouth is one of the oldest communities in the United States. Commercial fishermen from England established a base nearby in 1623, just three years after the Mayflower landed at Plymouth Rock. Immigrants who first settled in the downtown area in 1630 called their settlement Piscataqua, then a few years later renamed it Stawbery Banke. The name officially became Portsmouth when incorporated in 1653.

Paul Revere rode from Boston to Portsmouth in December 1774, four months before his famous midnight ride. He warned townspeople that the British were coming to reinforce Fort William and Mary on New Castle Island. The famous patriot’s message led to the first armed conflict of the Revolutionary War when Portsmouth citizens surrounded the fort and seized barrels of gunpowder that were later used at the Battle of Bunker Hill.

Once an important shipbuilding community, Portsmouth was host to Captain John Paul Jones for 18 months during the American Revolution. A local shipyard constructed his famous warship, the USS Ranger, in 1777, and a 24-gun