Portsmouth

Portsmouth was settled in 1630 and grew on shipbuilding and trade, and the old centre keeps brick and clapboard streets running down to the Piscataqua. Strawbery Banke is what distinguishes it: rather than restoring a neighbourhood to one date, the museum keeps about forty buildings on their original sites and furnishes different houses to different periods, from the 1690s through to a 1950s corner shop and a house shown as a Second World War rental. The result reads as one place changing rather than a frozen year. Working craft shops and gardens run through it. The Isles of Shoals lie offshore with seasonal boats, and the naval shipyard is across the river in Maine.

Highlights

• About forty buildings on original sites - not relocated.
• Different houses shown at different dates - 1690s through the 1950s.
• Craft workshops and period gardens - through the site.
• A brick seaport centre - running down to the river.

When to go

May to October for full opening; a winter programme runs at Christmas. Half a day.

Practical notes

Strawbery Banke closes most buildings outside the season. Not every house is open on a given day. Parking downtown is metered and tight. The town is expensive in summer.

Nearby

Kittery is across the river; the Isles of Shoals are offshore.