By Vintage Pics
We were a boat-building city. As early as 1690 Portsmouth was making large wooden ships. Sure, a lot of our famous frigates, like the RANGER and RALEIGH, were built across the Piscataqua River at Kittery, Maine. Ships were being built up and down the river from Eliot to Newington and beyond. But the Portsmouth city skyline, from the North Mill Pond to the wharves of the South End was once a forest of masts bobbing in the tide. Hundreds of sailing boats from around the globe glided in and out of the harbor, some traveling to active commercial ports inland.
Once a world trade center, Portsmouth was a hard-knuckle seaport of fishers, sailors, shipbuilders, and merchants. Today we have the gundalow, two of them in fact, to remind us of our shipbuilding heritage. We now have annual visits from historic tall ships. But for the most part, the memory of the city’s dependence on the sea is visible only in early photographs and painted scenes.
So, any time someone builds a wooden boat here these days, it’s cause for cheering, toasting, and a round of shanty singing. Dorothy Vaughan, the first president of Strawbery Banke Museum, once promised to excavate the former Puddle Dock inlet and fill it with historic ship replicas. The task, however, was daunting. Instead, the museum created the Lowell Boat Shop (seen here) which was popular for many years.
Today a new “Hands on Boats” program offers young participants a chance to explore the joys and fundamentals of boat building while also getting out on the water. The mission of the Boatshop at Strawbery Banke is to provide expanded maritime history-related exhibits and demonstrations, as well as workshops and programs focused on maritime-related topics and skills.
The Bosuns & Boatbuilders and Sailors & Shipwrights camps are offered in partnership with the Gundalow Company. Campers spend each morning in the Boatshop crafting model boats and have one-the-water fun each afternoon learning seamanship.
Copyright 2025 by J. Dennis Robinson/ SeacoastHistory.com.
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