Seacoast region offers a view into state's past at historic homes and sites
Rundlet - May House
364 Middle Street
Portsmouth, NH
Phone: 603-436-3205
Open seasonally. Visit HistoricNewEngland.org for hours and admission.
Merchant James Rundlet furnished his mansion with fine Portsmouth-made furniture and imported wallpapers, and installed the latest technology for cooking and heating. The beautiful gardens behind the house, with roses, peonies, pet cemetery, and orchard, still follow Rundlet’s original layout.
Sandown Historical Society Museum
Route 121A
Sandown, NH
Phone: 603-887-6100
Originally a storage house built in 1873, at the time it handled the largest volume of freight in the country. The exhibits feature local history, industry history, and 19th century artifacts. Open May - October, weekends only.
14 Hancock Street
Portsmouth, NH 03801
Phone: 603-433-1100
Open May 1 through October 31, 10AM- 5PM Daily
Guided Tours and Holiday Events available November-December
For more than 300 years people lived and worked in the neighborhood known as Puddle Dock, today Strawbery Banke Museum. On this ten-acre site one hour north of Boston the houses, shops, taverns and gardens continue to tell the stories of the generations who called this neighborhood home for almost four centuries of New England history. Through restored furnished houses, exhibits, period gardens, historic landscapes and costumed role players Strawbery Banke is the living history of the people who settled in Portsmouth, New Hampshire from the late 17th century to the mid-20th century. The Museum Shop supports Strawbery Banke’s educational activities by offering reproductions, books and other items related to the Museum’s narrative of the neighborhood’s evolution from 1690 to the 1950s.
Tuck Memorial Museum
40 Park Avenue
Hampton, NH 03842
Phone: 603-929-0781
Open: Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday, 1-4 p.m. or by appointment
This museum presents a variety of exhibits involving 19th century history, including furniture, artwork, the area trolley system, farm implements, fire-fighting equipment, and a schoolhouse from the 1840's. The complex contains four buildings, The Tuck Museum, Farm Museum, Seacoast Fire Museum, and the 19th-Century District Schoolhouse. A children's playground and picnic facilities are located next to the museum. Admission is free.
Warner House
150 Daniel Street
Portsmouth, NH
Phone: 603-436-5909
This brick Georgian mansion was built in 1716 for Archibald McPhaedris, a sea captain. Inside, visitors will find 18th century household items and furnishings, including wall murals that are among the oldest in the United States. Open June - October. There is an admission fee.
Wentworth - Coolidge Mansion
375 Little Harbor Road
Portsmouth, NH
Phone: 603-436-1552
A large house, believed to be as old as 1695, was also the home of New Hampshire Royal Governor Benning Wentworth in the mid 18th century. A council chamber inside was the first meeting place for the earliest New Hampshire state government.
Wentworth - Gardner House
50 Mechanic Street
Portsmouth, NH
Phone: 603-436-4406
A Georgian colonial, built in 1760. Open May - October.
Woodman Institute Museum
182 Central Avenue
Dover, NH 03820
Phone: 603-742-1038
Open: April-November, Wednesday-Sunday, 12:30-4:30 p.m.
This four-building complex includes the Woodman House (1818), former home to lawyer Daniel Christie; Hale House (1813), home of U.S.Senator John Parker Hale; Keefe House (1827) and the William Damm Garrison home (1675). Collections of natural science to include the largest mineral exhibit north of Boston, items of local history from the 1600s to present, and a fine collection of paintings and early furniture. Cost: There is an admission charge. Hours: April-November, Wednesday-Sunday, 12:30-4:30 p.m.
Albacore Park
600 Market Street,
Portsmouth, NH 03801
Phone: 603-436-3680
Open: Memorial Day to Columbus Day, daily, 9:30 a.m.- 5 p.m.; Columbus Day to Memorial Day, Thursday through Monday, 9:30 a.m.- 4:30 p.m. Call ahead for seasonal changes.
The focal point of this park is an exhibit of life on a modern submarine. Visitors will tour the sub and view all its compartments. Cost: Adults, $5; children age 7-17, $3; Military, $4; family, $10.
American Independence Museum
1 Governor's Lane
Exeter, NH 03833
Phone: 603-772-2262
Open: May 16 - October 27, Wednesday – Saturday, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Housed in the Ladd-Gilman House, built in the first decades of the 18th century. During the American Revolution, this building stored the state's treasury. Among the museum’s permanent collection of documents chronicling the nation’s founding are an original Dunlap Broadside of the Declaration of Independence and early drafts of the U.S. Constitution. Permanent collections include American furnishings, ceramics, silver, textiles and military ephemera. Exhibits detail the history of Portsmouth and the structure itself. Cost: Adults, $5; students, $3.
Barrett House at Forest Hall
79 Main Street
New Ipswich, NH 03071
Phone: 617-994-6675
Open seasonally. Visit HistoricNewEngland.org for hours and admission.
Barrett House was built by Charles Barrett Sr. for his son, Charles Jr., and daughter-in-law, Martha Minot. Martha’s father encouraged the grand scale of the house by promising to furnish it in as lavish a manner as Barrett Sr. could build it. The house features family furnishings, French scenic wallpaper, early 20th-century bathrooms, and a ballroom with period musical instruments. A terraced allée leads up the hillside to a summer house.
Dover Walking Tours
299 Central Avenue
Dover, NH
Phone: 603-742-2218
The Dover Chamber of Commerce offers three self-guided walking tours of historic sites: The Pine Hill Cemetary, the Old Mill and the Riverfront, and a tour of Dover's historic homes.
Durham Historic Association Museum
Main Street
Durham, NH 03824
Phone: 603- 868-2700
Open: June-August, Wednesday, 1-3 p.m. or by appointment
Exhibits on the local history of Durham feature items and documents dating back to 1632. Old photos and maps, farm implements, dolls, historic clothing, the 1875 town hearse and more.
Fort Constitution Historic Site
Route 1B, U.S. Coastguard Station
New Castle, NH
Phone: 603-435-1552
Originally constructed in the 1600's, this site was known as Fort William and Mary. A British stronghold that sat on Portsmouth Harbor, it was captured by colonists in 1774, 2 years before the American Revolution. Only ruins of the fort now remain, and visitors can glean information from the panels located at the site. This site is a National Historic Landmark.
Fort Stark Historic Site
Off Wild Rose Lane
New Castle, NH
Phone: 603-436-1552
This fort was first put into use in 1746, and remained active through World War II. Visitors can tour the information center and the fort, which give a sense of how forts have changed over the centuries.
Governor John Langdon Mansion
143 Pleasant Street
Portsmouth, NH
Phone: 603-436-3205
Open: June 1-October 15, Friday-Sunday. Tours on the hour, 11 a.m.-4 p.m.
From the vast central hall to the reception rooms, everything in this mansion was designed to reflect Langdon’s status as the town’s leading citizen. Langdon became a sea captain, merchant, shipbuilder, Revolutionary leader, signer of the United States Constitution, and three-term governor of New Hampshire. There is a large garden with perennial beds, rose and grape arbor, and pavilion.
Admission: $6; seniors, $5; students and children, $3.
Jackson House
76 Northwest Street
Portsmouth, NH
Phone: 603-436-3205
Open seasonally. Visit HistoricNewEngland.org for hours and admission.
Jackson House is the oldest surviving house in New Hampshire and Maine. It was built by Richard Jackson, a woodworker, farmer, and mariner, when timber from the region’s abundant forests formed the basis of the economy. To highlight its interesting construction methods, the house is shown unfurnished.
John Paul Jones House and Museum
43 Middle Street
Portsmouth, NH
Phone: 603-436-8420
This National Historic Landmark was built in 1758, and was home for a time during the Revolutionary War to national hero John Paul Jones. Visitors will enjoy the collections of 18th and 19th century clothing, guns, furnishings and china. Open June - October. There is an admission fee.
Moffatt - Ladd House
154 Market Street
Portsmouth, NH
Phone: 603-436-8221
This was the home of U.S. General Whipple, and it sports an authentic underground passage. The building was constructed in 1763. Open June - October.
Odiorne Point State Park
Route 1A
Rye, NH
Phone: 603-436-7406
The site of the first European settlement in New Hampshire, founded in 1623. During World War II, it was home to Fort Dearborn, a U.S. Army Base. Today, the park offers a look back at the history and a view of the area's nature through panels set throughout the park. In addition, visitors will enjoy canoeing, walking trails, a bike path and picnic areas. In the winter, cross-country ski trails are available. The park is also home to the Seacoast Science Center, which holds events throughout the year.
Old Meeting House
Fremont Road
Sandown, NH
Phone: 603-887-3453
Built in 1774, this meeting house is still in original condition. Inside visitors will find the pews (including seperate seating for slaves), paupers benches, and a pulpit. Open by appointment only. Donations are suggested.
Portsmouth, NH 03801
Phone: 603-436-3988
The trail passes more than 70 points of scenic and historic significance in Portsmouth, include ten buildings on the National Register of Historic Buildings, ten National Historic Landmarks, and three homes maintained by the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities.
Hours: Tours offered July 4 through Columbus Day, 10:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Monday; and 1:30 p.m. on Sunday.
P.O. Box 606
Portsmouth, NH 03802-0606
Phone: 603-436-5096
Experience the rich history of Portsmouth NH as told through its 17th, 18th, and 19th century gravestones. Portsmouth was settled in 1623 and has contributed to major events of history ever since. The gravestones of Portsmouth and New England in general are unique places to learn this history firsthand as well as view beautiful early art through their carvings. In addition to numerous historic figures and interesting people of note, in Portsmouth rests some of the first settlers of our country, sea captains and shipping merchants, colonial revolutionaries, civil war veterans, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, African-American slaves, colonial politicians and governors, and other people whose lives contributed to history.
