PORTSMOUTH, NEW HAMPSHIRE:
THE AUTHENTIC NEW ENGLAND EXPERIENCE
Story and photography
by Eric Anderson

Tom Cocchiaro, communications manager for Greater Portsmouth Chamber of Commerce, is more than ready to tell vacationers why they should visit New Hampshire. www.visitnh.gov "The rest of the world has changed and become plastic," he says, "while New Hampshire has steadfastly refused to become different. It chooses the simple life. Go into the White Mountains and you'll find a store still making its own candy. Check into an inn for service continuing as it has for 100 years with guests treated like Royalty. Come and see nature that's not crowded. Travel back in time."

And he adds almost as an aside: "Do the best first. Come to Portsmouth!" He has a point. Portsmouth (603-436-3988 portcity.org)is the jewel of New Hampshire, a small town of perhaps 22,000 souls living at the mouth of the Piscataqua River -- the second fastest running river in the country navigable by ships (the Columbia is faster going through its gorge). For more than two centuries the river spawned men who built boats, sailed seas, fought for their country. When the navy established the shipyard in 1800, it was already the oldest shipyard in America. John Paul Jones lived here for two years and here the USS Ranger was built for his daring sally against the British at Whitehaven in 1778.

At its busiest from 1840 to 1860, Portsmouth built 169 ships. Later it became the forefront of submarine technology making 138 submarines between 1918 and 1971. The USS Albacore, at one time the world's fastest submarine, is permanently berthed here as one of the tourist attractions. Nine historic homes are open to the public, including the one John Paul Jones lived in. The Warner House 1716 was rescued from the wrecker's ball by local outrage and another, the Wentworth-Gardner House 1760, was snatched back by the town just as it was going to be dismantled for the Metropolitan Museum. Portsmouth's other tribute to history is Strawberry Banke Museum, a collection of 18th and 19th century homes collected on 10 acres of the former waterfront of Puddle Dock.