Trip Back In Time-Finale

It took us a little over two hours to tour all the homes. Rick and I realized it was almost 1:00 PM and we were starving,but we had one more house to check out. Tickets at Strawberry Banke are good for two days,so if you want to split up your tour into two days,you can do so.  Portsmouth also has a Black History Trail and the Harbor Trail tours. The even have a horse and carriage ride tour. There was slavery in Portsmouth,and a few years ago,the town was doing some street repair and discovered a 300 year old slave cemetery buried under the road-only the second discovered in the northeast. They estimated that there was up to 200 slaves buried there. Portsmouth also has the John Paul Jones House ( "I have not yet begun to fight" ),where he stayed when his ship USS,Ranger,was being built at the Shipyard. Portsmouth is chock full of history.

Our last house is the Sherburne House. This house is not refurbished. It was built around 1695,making it one of the oldest homes in NH. Right where I am standing to take the photo below  is where the tidal inlet would come in.

A bit of Sherburne House history.

All the new pieces are painted in red. Everything else is original. 

This section of stairs was original to the house.

There were many posters explaining the architecture of the period. Folks were not allowed to touch the walls because the sensitive nature of the materials.

A peek out of one of the windows.

Fabulous shot of the roof construction. You could still see the marks that axes made when they hewed out the posts.

A view of some of the homes and a picnic area.

More views of homes. I am standing in the tidal inlet area again. It was hard to imagine how much fill it must have taken to create the area. One would never guess the ocean came up to this area naturally.

More views. I'm not sure if the gentleman at the picnic table appreciated being in the photo or not :) 

On the way out,we stopped at the gift shop and picked up some old fashioned candy for Zach. Rick asked if they still carried spruce gum. The gentleman behind the counter said they have tried to get it,but can no longer find it. Rick was a bit bummed. His grandfather McQuilkin used to get spruce gum  and give it to Rick.

We drove over to the the parking garage and walked to the Dolphin Striker,which is a nice restaurant on the waterfront. We jokingly refer to it as the "Porpoise Beater." Rick was a chef here back when he was in high school.Like much of downtown Portsmouth,the building that houses it is quite old. I love the atmosphere of it.

I had a nice view of the Piscataqua River (pronounced  PISS-CAT-AH-QUAH).The river is the home to one of the fastest currents in North America and empties into the Atlantic Ocean. Like the names of many rivers,etc in NH,it's a Native American name. It was home to the first sawmill in the US in 1623,as well as being one of the best harbors in the US .

Rick had a hard time deciding what he wanted to have for lunch!

Our appetizers look quite delish,don't they? Rick had raw oysters,and I had an arugula,pistachio,and goat cheese salad. They threw in some cherries to boot. Rick had broiled haddock,shrimp and scallops with rice and asparagus for the main course,and I had beef wellington with a truffle sauce and English peas. It was divine.

I hope that you enjoyed our visit to Strawberry Banke! If you ever make it to NH,you must check out Portsmouth. It's a wonderful place to explore US and NH history.

Have  fabulous day on this Fabulous Planet!