June 28 and 29 -- Lay Days in Portshouth NH with History and Musicals

It rained our first night, sometimes hard, until about 11:30 next morning, and was foggy until 10am the second night. Timing the tide is important because there are times when the tidal rush downsteam would push us into the 67 foot Hinckley (Rolls Royce) in front of us if we tried to leave at the wrong time. See the turbulence in the water rushing past us? It was stronger at the height of the tidal ebb.

 I visited the John Paul Jones House here, the first of several old preserved houses in this city’s downtown area. These houses were fortuitously preserved because for long stretches the town was too poor to build anything better.

JPJ was not born here, did not die here, did not own the house and did not live there long. But he lived there as a boarder while his first US ship, the Ranger, was constructed here in Portsmouth at the expense of the Continental Congress. He was born and raised in Scotland and died and was buried in Paris, but his bones were exhumed and deposited in a sumptuous vault in Annapolis by President Teddy Roosevelt, about 150 years after his death. He used Ranger, and later the Bonne Homme Richard, to serve in our nation’s birth struggle, by harassing British shipping around England, sending the prizes he captured to France. His one great battle, which made his reputation, but not his fortune, was on the Bonne Homme Richard against the British warship Serapis, a larger vessel. At one point Serapis’ Captain asked “Are you ready to strike your colours?”, i.e., surrender. JPJ shot back his most famous, perhaps his only famous line: “I have not yet begun to fight!”  And at the end of the day it was Serapis that surrendered, and JPJ and his crew sailed that battered craft to France to have it repaired; Bonne Homme Richard was so damaged by the battle that it sank! This victory was not very significant militarily, but like Doolittle’s Raid, early in WWII, it had a tremendous impact on the morale of our incipient nation. David had stood up to the Goliath of the British Imperial Fleet  --  and won!  JPJ was a popular hero though after the war he spent a lot of time trying, unsuccessfully, to pursue claims for compensation from our government.

There was a display of conflicting newspaper editorials at the time of the War of 1812 over whether we should go to war with England again. And to this day Portsmouth is a liberal Democratic enclave in a conservative Republican state.  Its fate has depended on wars. They led to ship building which caused prosperity and at their end: depression, when the shipyard workers were laid off and the sailors and soldiers returned home.  And of the depressed portions of this vicious cycle was born the town’s tourism industry, with houses like JPJ’s, a big draw.

Another wing of the house was dedicated to a very thorough display of the activities leading to the 1905 Treaty of Portsmouth. Ever hear of it? The negotiations were convened by the invitation of President Teddy Roosevelt to end the Russo-Japanese War. That war, later described as "World War Zero" because of its extensive scope and extreme bloodshed of modern weaponry, was fought on the lands that Russia and Japan were fighting about: China and Korea. The negotiations, formal and informal, took place over a period of weeks at 38 venues (such as restaurants, theaters, yacht clubs) in Portsmouth under the long distance guidance of Teddy Roosevelt. The signing was at the Naval Shipyard. TR won the Nobel Peace prize for his efforts. Like Camp David, but more public and for a bigger war, and with similar long term effects: the combatants went at it again in WWII. The display showed an hour by hour account at each venue, of the activities that led to the signatures. The Tsar’s emissary was Baron Witte, same name as our male cat, sorta.

Lunch aboard ILENE, a visit to the supermarket by public transportation (fare 50 cents for a ride of two miles on a bus made to look like a trolley which comes by every 30 minutes), a shower, dinner at a local fish place and then Sondheim’s  “Sweeney Todd” at the Seacoast Repertory Theater,

which is around the block from our dock, and goes down deeply into the area of Portsmouth's old waterfront docks. And a good night’s sleep, like all the nights aboard.

Next day I got a haircut and visited the local farmer’s market before the serious sightseeing. First stop: The Governor John Langdon House. Before he was a three term Governor and a member of the Continental Congress he had made his money in ship building and commerce, including the construction of JPJ’s Ranger and others for the revolution. An elegant house from the front and big in the back

but the intricate pine moldings were painted gray to look like plaster; what a waste, wood is so beautiful. But plaster was the style in London, whose fashions Mr. Langdon sought to follow. His family was quite intermarried at the cousin level, to keep the money and early-settler pride under tight family control. I also learned here that Portsmouth had been a center for the construction of fine wooden furniture. Then after a brief stop in the local synagogue (Conservative) for the final ten minutes of Sabbath services (I was not dressed for the place but they accepted me), I visited the Warner House, circa 1716,

located two blocks from our dock. Here the colonial Governor had lived, and it was not quite as elegantly restored or furnished as the Langdon House, but interesting none the less.

 After lunch my next stop was the Strawbery Banke, a collection of 30 old houses, fifteen of which were open to the public, each displaying an aspect of life several centuries ago. By this time it was mid-afternoon and I had neither the time nor the energy to do the place justice; and the $17.50 admission price also deterred me as did the fact that I have visited Colonial Williamsburg several times. 

On the way back to ILENE, I visited Prescott Park, restored from a seedy red light waterfront district into manicured parkland by two determined Prescott sisters. There I viewed the juried art exhibit on display, and the Piscataqua” (the accent, I have learned, is on the second syllable), a lateen rigged “gundalow” a most unusual looking boat, apparently local in design, and used originally for cargo and now, with a motor, for passenger excursions.

"Annie" was being presented in the evening in that park, al fresco for whatever donation one wished to make. Annie was as light and fun as Sweeney Todd had been dark and brooding, and much more singable, a wonderful night of theater.

We enjoyed Portsmouth and there are more historical houses to visit on our next trip. The Harbor Place Marina, the only one right at downtown, was great for a rainy weather stop. Here are Steve and his friend Carmen, saying goodbye after collecting our rental fee.