Baby steps, people. We're doing baby steps here. First, it was a long weekend to the in-laws house in Plymouth. Then it was to Portsmouth, New Hampshire for two nights in a hotel. Before you know it, we'll be tackling week long trips domestically to the Cape and then eventually, to Iceland!
And because this was just such a visually pleasing trip, I've decided to break it into two separate posts.
Who is ready for a super fun weekend in Portsmouth? These guys!
The kids were deliriously happy when we got to the hotel, not just because we had been sitting a bit in traffic, but because they just hadn't been in a hotel in forever. In Europe, we didn't typically stay in hotels (usually we stayed in AirB&Bs) so this was exciting for them and they were acting a little silly.
We stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn in downtown Portsmouth and the location just can't be beat. Aside from overlooking the parking garage, we could see the North Church steeple.
Once we settled in, we decided to head out for some dinner. Portsmouth is so pretty!
Ahhh, it ALMOST felt like we were in Europe again. Todd barely fit in this doorway!
We stopped at the Portsmouth Gas Light Co. for some dinner - and the kids ate inside of a restaurant for the first time since maybe last February?
After dinner, we went on a stroll in search of ice cream. We stopped by the famous North Church for a quick picture. There's been a church on the site of the North Church since 1712, but the church itself was founded in 1641 when Joshua Moodey and Nathaniel Rogers held services in an old log cabin. This particular church was built in 1855 and George Washington once attended Mass here! Obviously not in this building, however.
So cute! It's a real working fire-lit lamp!
It was starting to get a bit darker as we searched out a place to get ice cream that might be able to accommodate Grant's peanut allergy. I love the brick sidewalks of Portsmouth.
We found a place! Red Rover Creamery was awesome. They didn't have any ice cream flavors that contained peanuts (although they did have some peanut butter cookies, but they were not near the ice cream) and they even used a brand new scooper for Grant's ice cream (just in case!) One kid got vanilla and the other got an espresso fudge. YUM.
We strolled down State Street to the Memorial Bridge (that's New Hampshire on the left, Maine on the right.)
The Portsmouth Love Wall is here at the base of the bridge down by Prescott Park. Remember when Todd put a lock on the Chain Bridge in Budapest with our initials on it? I wonder if it's still there?
This is the Piscataqua River and not the Danube River, but it's still really pretty at night! I would really like to have seen Prescott Park in the daylight because the flowers are so pretty there, but it was REALLY dark and there are no lights whatsoever.
Someone graffitied the statue of this head (of Jay?) in Jay McCance Smith park, which we swung by on our way back to the hotel.
I need more Salty pillows in my life and so does my friend Karen, who one time in Wellfleet announced that she was feeling "too salty" after eating some salty seafood. We still laugh about this!
We were all pretty tired, especially Natalie who was still recovering from her second vaccine side effects so we went back to the hotel after our ice cream and crashed. But we had early morning reservations at the Friendly Toast (NOT to be missed in Portsmouth - you definitely need reservations!) First, they put us in almost FULL sunshine (with an umbrella that only covered Natalie) but Todd was melting, so our nice waitress cleaned off a table and let us move to the shade. Oh, and I ordered the famous flight of Mimosas!
I know you are all probably thinking, "Those don't look like Mimosas!" Well, to be sure, they ALL have "bubbles" in them. My favorite was "Peach Better Have My Honey" - the drink AND the name!
Ah yes. You missed this, didn't you?
Todd had a JUMBO Pickle Bloody Mary "with house infused pickle vodka!"
Natalie said these were the BEST pancakes she had ever eaten in her entire life. They agreed the salted whipped butter and powdered sugar were what put it over the top.
Todd had a crab cake eggs benedict!
I had some French toast... and I'm not even a breakfast person!
The Friendly Toast had a little wall hanging outside depicting a pretty beach and I made Grant pretend like he was there. He always appeases me!
We had reservations for a harbor cruise that wasn't for a couple of hours, so we walked around doing some shopping at Off Piste (SO FUNNY) and swinging by the North Church again. The stained glass here was installed in 1890.
I love an unassuming building with a really cool story behind it. The Treaty of Portsmouth was signed in Portsmouth to end the war between Japan/Russia and Korea/Manchuria. They chose Portsmouth because President (Teddy) Roosevelt knew that the U.S. Navy stationed here at Portsmouth Naval Station could provide the needed protection that was required. The negotiations took place in THIS building, which had been a warehouse for the naval base and was quickly transformed for the discussions. For this treaty, Theodore Roosevelt won a Nobel Peace Prize!
Cool streets of Portsmouth. I'm so mad at myself - I had the Salt Cellar there bookmarked in my Google Maps as a "place I want to go" but I was so excited about the brick and plants and wall paintings that I didn't even notice that it was there!
YUP.
After our stroll, it was time to head over to the Portsmouth harbor cruise!
There she is, the M/V Heritag(e) that will take us around the harbor!
The kiddos are ready to board!
It was hot, but we managed to find seats in the shade.
Goodbye for now, Portsmouth. That's an AE (EL 8) flood zone, for those who were wondering - they just got brand new maps in January!
Grant with the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard ahead of him (which interestingly, is located in Maine, not New Hampshire).
Portsmouth Naval Prison was the building Natalie found the most fascinating. It used to be a prison for the Navy and Marines from 1908-1974. Prior to that, Fort Sullivan had been located here during the Revolutionary War to guard the channel that led to downtown Portsmouth, and was yet again used to defend against the Brits in the War of 1812 as well as against the confederate Navy in the Civil War. Even after they tore down Fort Sullivan, it acted as a "prison" for Spanish-American War POWs in 1898 and was known as Camp Long.
The imposing prison-that-looks-like-a-castle was modeled after Alcatraz and once housed almost 2,300 men toward the end of World War I. They also used it to question the crew of some captured U-Boats at the end of World War II. In all, about 86,000 inmates were housed here during it's 66 year run.
There were some talks to turn it into a hotel, but all of that was scrapped after 9/11 since the land that it sits on is still a part of an active Naval Station.
Enough history, I need a cold drink from the bar! Hooray for harbor cruises that have a bar!
This was my family BEFORE we were hit by an incredibly cold wind that came whipping in off of the Atlantic.
We were sailing along here, past the pretty homes on New Castle Island when BAM. We got LEVELED by this incredibly cold wind. While it was approaching 90 in Portsmouth, it was easily in the 60s (with the wind of a moving motor vessel!) as you got farther out into Portsmouth Harbor toward the Atlantic.
Natalie was absolutely LOVING the cold air. Grant and I, on the other hand were shaking we were so cold. We cruised past the Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse toward the Atlantic. (Full disclosure: I could not think of what the proper word was for when you are moving on a motorized boat. I know the word wasn't "sailed" as that would imply we were on a sailboat. Was it "motored past?" Was it "boated past?" Todd declared that it should be "We boat swam past the Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse!")
The Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse sits near what is now Fort Constitution on New Castle Island. First lit in the summer of 1771, it was the 10th lighthouse in the American colonies and the first one north of Boston. This particular lighthouse was built in 1878.
Grant in front of the Portsmouth Light House and Fort Constitution. Originally named, "The Castle" (as it sits on New Castle Island), the fort was renamed Fort William and Mary in 1692. This was originally a British fort, so after the Revolutionary War in 1808, it was once again renamed Fort Constitution.
Natalie in front of the Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse (sometimes called Fort Point Light) and Fort Constitution. Did you know that in late 1774, Paul Revere arrived here to let the patriots know that the British planned to reinforce the fort? Based on this knowledge and led by local John Langdon, they raided the fort and stole 100 barrels of gunpowder, later using it against the British during the war in epic fights such as the Battle of Bunker Hill. John Sullivan returned the next day to finish the job - stealing other military items (including 16 cannons!) It was considered one of the first victories in the Revolutionary War (and the only one to ever occur in New Hampshire!)
The Portsmouth Harbor Light is actually made of cast iron (which was rare for that time), and some people didn't love it when it was first built.
Wood Island Life Saving Station sits on a little island right where the Piscataqua River meets the Atlantic Ocean. It's technically in Maine, and it had been used as a base for men who would go out and save distressed mariners since 1908. These men were a part of the US Life Saving Service (which would go on to become the US Coast Guard.) One of the coolest things we learned is that this island was used in World War II to anchor the anti submarine nets that were placed underwater across the harbor. What you can't really see here is that there was also a marine railway (the only surviving one of it's kind in the US) that allowed the boats to launch onto the land so that the rescued mariners could be quickly assisted.
While not ON Wood Island, The Whaleback Lighthouse sits on a smaller island just to the south-southeast of Wood Island. It was originally built in 1830, although this particular lighthouse was built in 1872.
Waves from strong storms often overtop this 49 foot tall lighthouse.
Fort Stark State Historic Site and Batteries Lytle, Hunter, Kirk and Hays are also on Castle Island further south of the Portsmouth Harbor light, near the mouth of the Piscataqua River. Battery Cumberland was first built here in 1746, although it was rebuilt for the war in 1775 and again in 1794. The present site was rebuilt in the early 1900s after the Spanish American War.
A harbor control post was set up here in 1942 and although you can't really tell from here, it was designed to look like the superstructure of a big war ship from sea (you can barely see it on the far right, above.) At the time, they even painted it gray and placed a radar on top of the building, much like there might be on a Naval ship.
Moving around to the backside of New Castle Island, you see the beautiful Wentworth Hotel. It was built in 1874, and it changed hands several times (and was nearly demolished!) before becoming a Marriott property back in 2003. The Wentworth Hotel was where all of the delegations that signed the Treaty of Portsmouth stayed back in 1905.
One of the prettiest structures along the Piscataqua is the Wentworth Coolidge Mansion. It is the only surviving home of a "Royal Governor" in the United States. Architecturally, you can see it appears to be a house that was piecemealed together - this was not typical of the time (see my next post about the Strawberry Banke Museum for pictures of the more straight-lined, boxy homes that were typical of the mid 1700s.) It was built in the early 1750s for Benning Wentworth, who was appointed Royal Governor in 1741 by the King after New Hampshire had split from Massachusetts. New Hampshire didn't become an independent colony until January 1776. Near the center of the picture, you can see several lilac bushes growing on the property. These are the oldest lilacs in the United States! Superlative, check!
We made our way back toward the downtown Portsmouth area and passed the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. This is where they mostly do repair and modernization work on nuclear powered attack submarines. It's the Navy's oldest continuously operating shipyard! Superlative, check!
We could see them working on several submarines, such as this one with the scaffolding on it in the center of the picture.
Finally, it was time to head under the Memorial Bridge to turn around and park the boat back at the docks. Todd is contemplating where we will have our next happy hour.
These cuties didn't want to get off the boat!
Stay tuned... part 2 of our Portsmouth adventures is coming soon!
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