For your next New England itinerary, combine history with fun on the water in Portsmouth and the Lakes Region. Be sure to include a lake or coastal cruise.
When people think of New Hampshire, they tend to picture a land covered in forests, lakes and mountains. But on a recent four-day swing through the southeastern part of America’s fifth smallest state, I had a chance to explore its seacoast, a slice of real estate a little under the radar of most tourists.
To the surprise of many, New Hampshire cradles an 18-mile stretch of Atlantic Ocean coastline between Maine and Massachusetts. My favorite place was Portsmouth, a very walkable city of 22,000 just an hour or so north of Boston via I-95. A center of arts and culture, its downtown brims with historic sites, specialty shops, art galleries and smart eateries. Brick sidewalks and gaslight-style streetlamps set the tone.
On my late-August trip, I combined salty coastal breezes with some fresh-water fun in New Hampshire’s Lakes Region, a vacationland about 90 minutes north of Portsmouth. With kids back in school, it was a good time to explore without the summertime family crowds.
A cooper demonstrates barrel-making at Strawbery Banke Museum in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. (Randy Mink Photo)
Strawbery Banke: An Open-Air Museum
Starting life in 1623 as an English settlement called Strawbery Banke, Portsmouth grew into a prosperous port before the Revolutionary War. It has many residences from the 18th to early 20th century, some of which can be found among the collection of restored buildings that make up Strawbery Banke Museum, a 10-acre living history compound that ranks as the city’s premier visitor attraction. The original name for Portsmouth came from the wild strawberries that in late spring reddened the banks of the Piscataqua River, which flows into the Atlantic.
Many of the museum’s houses have been restored to a particular period, but not necessarily the colonial era. The 1795 Shapiro House, for example, is interpreted and furnished as the 1910 home of a Russian Jewish family, while a 1750 house is being restored to 1937-1943 when an African American family lived there. Another house contains a grocery store stocked with goods available during times of rationing in World War II. Most buildings stand in their original locations; the oldest dates from 1695. Tours are self-guided.
Some of Strawbery Banke’s buildings are dedicated to exhibitions, ranging in subject matter from maritime art to the Abenaki Indians, who lived in New Hampshire for over 12.000 years. At the cooper’s shop, a skilled craftsman demonstrates the making of wooden casks, buckets and barrels, while traditional hearth cooking takes place at the 1780 Wheelwright House. The site features heirloom gardens.
In the 1950s, the old waterfront neighborhood, a working-class area known as Puddle Dock, was targeted for urban renewal, but concerned citizens rallied to save the historic buildings from demolition, most of which were rundown and divided into apartments.
The circa-1800 Sailmaker’s House offers quaint lodgings on a quiet residential street in Portsmouth. (Randy Mink Photo)
Communing with the Past in Portsmouth
My overnight in Portsmouth was spent in the circa-1800 Sailmaker’s House, an intimate hostelry with two common areas and nine cozy guest rooms complete with modern amenities. Residing on a quiet street a block from Strawbery Banke Museum, it originally was the home of John Holbrook, who made sails for ships.
Steps from my lodging were a warren of back streets to explore and lively downtown areas buzzing with commerce. One day I walked to the stunning flower gardens at waterfront Prescott Park. Across the river, I could see Portsmouth Navy Shipyard, which has been building and repairing ships and submarines for the U.S. Navy since 1800. I continued to Memorial Bridge and crossed over to Kittery, Maine.
Harbor cruises in Portsmouth feature lighthouses, mansions and historic forts. The Isles of Shoals cruise features nine islands located six miles off the coast.
History really came alive on a walking tour led by a guide from the Portsmouth Historical Society. Sights included Market Square, the hub of downtown activity; the John Paul Jones House, where the Revolutionary War hero and “Father of the American Navy” stayed for a short time; Warner House, a handsome 1716 Georgian mansion built for a sea captain; and African American Burying Ground Memorial, a plaza dedicated to those still buried on land where graves were discovered during a road construction project.
Portsmouth wasn’t always such an attractive place and had a reputation as a rough-around-edges port town, but a 1970s revitalization was a game changer and set the stage for the visitor-friendly city of today.
The Warner House, built in 1716 for a Portsmouth sea captain, is open for tours. (Randy Mink Photo)
Downtown Portsmouth abounds with fine restaurants and chic wine bars. You’ll find locally caught fish or shellfish on almost every menu in town.
For my big splurge, I reserved a table at The Library, an upscale steakhouse. Ceiling frescoes, fireplaces and shelves of books accent the three elegant dining rooms that occupy part of a former 1880s hotel that hosted seven U.S. presidents and now houses pricy condos. I feasted on lobster bisque, pan-seared salmon and peanut butter pie.
For breakfast one morning, I savored an authentic slice of Paris at La Maison Navarre, a cafe and wine bar on Congress Street, downtown’s main drag. Run by native Parisian Victor Navarre and decorated with posters of France, it specializes in good things French—quiche, crepes, croissants and other pastries, including macarons in 16 flavors.
Before leaving the coast, I took a drive to check out other communities, fancy oceanside homes and state park beaches. Hampton Beach, a classic Atlantic seaside resort, boasts a three-mile-long boardwalk with game arcades and other amusements along with gift shops, pizza places, seafood restaurants and stores selling ice cream, fudge and saltwater taffy.
Lake Winnipesaukee
In the Lakes Region, which counts 273 ponds and lakes, I based myself in Meredith, a tidy village at the northern end of Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire’s largest lake. Once a prosperous mill town, picturesque Meredith oozes history and New England charm.
The village of Meredith honors hometown boy Bob Montana with a sculpture of Archie, his comic strip creation. (Randy Mink Photo)
I stayed at the Palmer Inn at Mill Falls, one of four lakefront inns in the Mills Falls Resort Collection. Next door, a complex of shops and restaurants called Mill Falls Marketplace incorporates a 19th century building that housed part of Meredith Linen Mills, a former textile factory complete with massive wooden beams and machinery remnants. Across the road, EKAL Activity Center rents watersports equipment—kayaks, canoes, aqua cycles, paddle boards—and offers sightseeing cruises.
With a historic walking tour map in hand, I enjoyed exploring Meredith’s Main Street, a block up the hill from the inn. Besides homes dating as far back as 1800, the neighborhood is dotted with cafes, arts and crafts galleries, boutiques and antiques shops. White clapboard houses and a Congregational church with a stately white steeple lend a classic New England touch to the neighborhood.
Near the town’s history museum, I encountered a sculpture of the comic strip character Archie sitting on a bench, a tribute to its creator, Bob Montana (1920-1975), who lived in Meredith for 35 years. During my walk, I also found the depot for the Winnipesaukee Scenic Railroad, a tourist train that offers rides along the lake’s western shore, from Meredith to Weirs Beach (mid-route) to Laconia.
Sophie C mail boat cruises call on the islands in Lake Winnipesaukee. (Photo credit: Lakes Region Tourism Association)
Weirs Beach
From Weirs Beach the next day, I was supposed to take the two-hour M/V Sophie C mail boat cruise to watch the postal carrier make her deliveries to people living on the islands in Lake Winnipesaukee, but mechanical problems prevented us from sailing. The same company operates the M/S Mount Washington, which has been doing narrated lake cruises since 1940. (The original Mount Washington steamship launched in 1872 and carried passengers until it burned and sank in 1939.)
Weirs Beach is the most famous public beach on Lake Winnipesaukee. The lakefront commercial strip abounds with souvenir shops and restaurants. Funspot, billed as the world’s largest arcade, boasts more than 600 games (video and pinball), plus an 18-hole indoor mini-golf course and 20 lanes of bowling.
Canterbury Shaker Village
One of the most important historical attractions in the Lakes Region, Canterbury Shaker Village provides a peek into the lives of an industrious, self-sustaining Christian communal group. Known as the Shakers for their ecstatic dancing in worship, the “brothers” and “sisters” of the United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Coming dressed simply, ate their meals in silence, enjoyed music and theater, and believed in hard work, pacifism and equality of the sexes. They practiced celibacy but took in orphans and other children who needed a home.
Tours of Canterbury Shaker Village shed light on the self-sufficient religious community that prospered in New Hampshire’s Lakes Region. (Randy Mink Photo)
Set on a hill among rolling meadows, the outdoor museum contains 32 buildings, many of them open for tours; the oldest dates to 1792. There were separate entrances for men and women. More than 300 people inhabited the village at its peak in the mid-19th century. By the early 1900s, residents were mostly women, and the last remaining sister died in 1992.
Before my tour at Shaker Village, I stopped at the Canterbury Country Store for a bite to eat. A gathering place for townspeople since 1767, the store attracts foodies with its homemade baked goods, farm-fresh products and prepared foods like pizza, soups, sandwiches and salads. I made a lunch of bacon quiche and a pint of oh-so-rich chocolate milk from Contoocook Creamery. Yum.
For more information, contact the New Hampshire Division of Travel & Tourism Development.
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By Randy Mink, Senior Editor
Lead photo – The M/S Mount Washington offers narrated cruises of Lake Winnipesaukee. (Photo credit: Lakes Region Tourism Association)
