Author: Joseph Candora

Strawbery Banke Museum – Portsmouth, New Hampshire

Architecture, Attractions, Historic Sites, Museums, New England, New Hampshire, North America, United States

Strawbery Banke is an outdoor history museum located in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. It is the oldest neighborhood in New Hampshire to be settled by Europeans, and the earliest neighborhood remaining in the present-day city of Portsmouth. It features more than 37 restored buildings built between the 17th and 19th centuries in the Colonial, Georgian, and Federal style architectures. The buildings once clustered around a waterway known as Puddle Dock, which was filled in around 1900. Today the former waterway appears as a large open space.

Meander around the site to see the different styles of architecture

Stop by the nearby Prescott Park

Prescott Park – Portsmouth, New Hampshire

Architecture, Attractions, Botanical Garden, Historic Markers, Historic Sites, Museums, New England, New Hampshire, North America, United States

Prescott Park is a ten-plus acre waterfront park in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The land was donated to the city of Portsmouth by two sisters, Josie and Sarah Prescott in 1940. The sisters, public school teachers, had used an inheritance to systematically purchase and clear properties along the Piscataqua River. The sisters’ goal was to create a public waterfront park, free and accessible to all, replacing what had become a run-down and seedy industrial area.

There are formal gardens interspersed with quiet pathways

Historical buildings and interpretive signs

Sailing, whale watching and other nautical pursuits are nearby

The Strawbery Banke Museum collection of historic buildings is directly adjacent to the park

The Portsmouth Love Lock Wall is in the parking lot for the park

Portsmouth Memorial Park (Memorial Bridge) – Portsmouth, New Hampshire

Architecture, Bridges, Historic Sites, Memorials, New England, New Hampshire, North America, United States

The World War I Memorial Bridge is a vertical-lift bridge that carries U.S. Route 1 across the Piscataqua River between Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and Badger’s Island in Kittery, Maine. The current bridge was opened in 2013, replacing a bridge of similar design that existed from 1923 to 2012. A large overhead plaque carried over from the original reads “Memorial to the Sailors and Soldiers of New Hampshire who gave their lives in the World War 1917–1919.”

A small dock adjacent to the parking lot of Prescott Park offers views of the modern bridge

You may see fish running upriver to spawn

A short walk will bring you to Prescott Park

The “Portsmouth Love Wall” is a new edition

Rundlet-May House (Portsmouth, New Hampshire)

Architecture, New England, New Hampshire, North America, United States

The Rundlet-May House is a historic house museum at 364 Middle Street in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, it is a well-preserved example of a high-end Federal style mansion. The house was built in 1807 by James Rundlet, who acquired his wealth in the textile trade. Rundlet imported his wallpapers from England and purchased his furniture from local cabinetmakers, whose work was noted for its fine craftsmanship and striking use of veneer. Rundlet also saw to it that his house was equipped with the latest technologies. 

The house is easily observed from a major commercial thoroughfare in Portsmouth