Portsmouth Audio Walking Tour

Highlights

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  USS Albacore

  USS Albacore (AGSS-569) is a retired research submarine whose teardrop hull pioneered the American version of that form for modern submarines. This revolutionary design grew out of extensive hydrodynamic and wind tunnel testing, all aimed at underwater speed and maneuverability.

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  Strawbery Banke

  Picture 1630, when Captain Walter Neale named this settlement for the wild berries along the Piscataqua River. This is the oldest neighborhood in New Hampshire to be settled by Europeans and the earliest neighborhood remaining in the present-day city of Portsmouth.

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  John Paul Jones House

  Picture Portsmouth, New Hampshire in 1781, when naval hero John Paul Jones rented a room in this house. This 2½-story wood-frame dwelling, built in 1758 by master housewright Hopestill Cheswell for Captain Gregory Purcell, later became a boarding house where history brushed close to everyday life.

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  North Church

  Across the square from the Portsmouth Athenæum, North Church lifts an Italianate front and a tall steeple over Market Square. Its Italianate edifice and tall steeple rise above the square — a spire long called Portsmouth’s “landmark of record,” visible from most of the city, from the Piscataqua River, and from communities on its western bank in Maine.

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  Rockingham Hotel

  Woodbury Langdon's 1785 home once occupied this site; the Rockingham Hotel replaced it in downtown Portsmouth. Built in 1885, this five-story brick building is a prominent early example of Colonial Revival architecture, consciously modeled in part as an homage to Woodbury Langdon, whose 1785 home once occupied this very site.

All 32 stops

• Strawbery Banke (South End)

  Picture 1630, when Captain Walter Neale named this settlement for the wild berries along the Piscataqua River.

• Rundlet-May House (south of downtown Portsmouth)

  Notice the symmetrical facade at 364 Middle Street, where four chimneys and a wooden balustrade crown James Rundlet's 1807 mansion.

• John Paul Jones House (Middle Street)

  Picture Portsmouth, New Hampshire in 1781, when naval hero John Paul Jones rented a room in this house.

• Benedict House (Congress Street business district)

  Three stories of Flemish bond brick rise at 30 Middle Street: the Benedict House, also called the Thomas Penhallow House, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

• Larkin-Rice House (Middle Street)

  Five Palladian windows set the Larkin-Rice House apart at 180 Middle Street in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

• Mark Wentworth House (Pleasant Street, southeast of downtown Portsmouth)

  Picture Gov.

• Richard Jackson House (Portsmouth)

  Richard Jackson, a woodworker, farmer, and mariner, raised this two-story house in 1664 — the oldest wood-frame house in New Hampshire.

• Portsmouth Athenæum (Market Square)

  Market Square holds the Portsmouth Athenæum, an independent membership library, gallery, and museum at the city's heart.

• North Church (Market Square)

  Across the square from the Portsmouth Athenæum, North Church lifts an Italianate front and a tall steeple over Market Square.

• Portsmouth African Burying Ground (Portsmouth)

  Beneath the grass and pathway of this Chestnut Street memorial park lies the Portsmouth African Burying Ground.

• New Hampshire Bank Building (Market Square)

  Two different facades sit side by side at 22-26 Market Square, the New Hampshire Bank Building in Portsmouth.

• The Music Hall (Portsmouth)

  Fire took Portsmouth's only entertainment venue on Christmas Eve of 1876, and by 1878 The Music Hall rose in its place, the oldest operating theater…

• Franklin Block (Downtown Portsmouth)

  Storefronts line the ground floor of the Franklin Block, the largest Victorian-era building in downtown Portsmouth.

• Rockingham Hotel (Downtown Portsmouth)

  Woodbury Langdon's 1785 home once occupied this site; the Rockingham Hotel replaced it in downtown Portsmouth.

• Portsmouth Downtown Historic District (Portsmouth Downtown)

  Four centuries of architecture crowd the Portsmouth Downtown Historic District, the historic urban core of New Hampshire's principal seaport.

• Portsmouth Parade Historic District (The Hill)

  Houses once on or near Deer Street were moved to make the Portsmouth Parade Historic District, the New Hampshire pocket everyone calls The Hill.

• Nutter-Rymes House (The Hill)

  An arched carriageway splits the Nutter-Rymes House at 409 The Hill in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

• General Porter House (Haven Park)

  Matthew Livermore built the General Porter House about 1751, and its gambrel roof and five dormers face Haven Park on Livermore Street.

• Samuel Beck House (The Hill)

  An early Federal door surround with an arched fanlight frames the Samuel Beck House in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

• Jeremiah Hart House (The Hill)

  Deer Street was the first address of the Jeremiah Hart House, now near the center of The Hill in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

• John Hart House (The Hill)

  Corinthian columns hold the Greek Revival portico of the John Hart House at 403 The Hill in New Hampshire.

• Daniel Pinkham House (The Hill)

  Daniel Pinkham's house at 400 The Hill is one of the finest Federal period houses on Portsmouth's north side.

• Hart-Rice House (The Hill)

  Georgian lines survive almost untouched in the Hart-Rice House at 408 The Hill in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

• Simeon P. Smith House (The Hill)

  Simeon P. Smith's house at 154 High Street dates to 1810, its central doorway framed by pilasters under a triangular pediment.

• Whidden-Ward House (The Hill)

  Michael Whidden, a joiner, built the Whidden-Ward House at 411 High Street in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

• Henry Sherburne House (The Hill)

  Henry Sherburne's house at 62 Deer Street in Portsmouth wears a scrolled pediment above its door.

• James Neal House (The Hill)

  Brick sets the James Neal House apart at 74 Deer Street in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

• Portsmouth Academy building (Downtown Portsmouth)

  James Nutter, one of the finest local builders of the period, is credited with the 1809 Portsmouth Academy building at Middle and Islington Streets.

• Portsmouth Public Library (Portsmouth)

  Since 1896 the Portsmouth Public Library has served the city, now at 175 Parrott Avenue.

• Old North Cemetery (Portsmouth)

  Slate and sandstone markers fill Old North Cemetery on Maplewood Avenue in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, a 1.5-acre parcel on the shore of North Mill Pond.

• USS Albacore (Portsmouth Naval Shipyard)

  USS Albacore (AGSS-569) is a retired research submarine whose teardrop hull pioneered the American version of that form for modern submarines.

• Portsmouth Cottage Hospital (Portsmouth)

  Harriet Kimball, the daughter of a local pharmacist, drove the founding of Portsmouth Cottage Hospital, the city's first, in 1884.

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