Oops! All done. See you the weekend after July 4, 2027
If you missed the first 26 years of the Atlantic Heights Garden Tour, there’s good news. The 27th annual Portsmouth event is on Saturday, July 11, 2026. Visit 19 unique backyard gardens. Get your steps in while wandering our historic neighborhood from 9 am to 1 pm, rain or shine. A self-guided walking tour map is free. Donations are welcome.
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An architectural gem, Atlantic Heights is hidden at the end of Kearsarge Way. Many locals have yet to discover it. The streets—Raleigh, Prebble, Concord, Crescent, etc.—are named for ships built in Portsmouth Harbor. The neighborhood was created in the English Garden Style during World War I. Uncle Sam funded the project that included over 200 units, built mostly of brick in 1919. In 1925, the federal government sold off the entire development with units going for $2,000 each.
That same year, Marion Fritz was born here. The longest surviving Atlantic Heights resident, the late Marion Fritz helped found the annual garden tour. Today, her daughter-in-law, Carol Fritz, carries on the tradition in her honor.
“I’ve only lived in the neighborhood for 13 years,” says Fritz, a former high school principal. “There are about a dozen of us in the garden club.”
Beyond the annual tour, the group manages five decorative Adopt-a-Spots. One location offers fresh herbs available for public harvesting. The group also sponsors a plant swap and community clean-up day each April.
Fritz was instrumental in creating the state historic marker that stands at the entrance of what looks like an English Village. The marker notes how famed architect Walter Kilham borrowed elements from historic houses he visited in downtown Portsmouth. An entire book on the neighborhood, written by historian Richard M. Candee, was published by the Portsmouth Historical Society.
“According to Prof. Candee’s book,” Fritz notes, “the low-income housing project was created for shipbuilder families. The designer figured the average family could fit all their furniture in the back of a Model-T pickup truck. Times have changed!”
Restoration carpenter Bruce Teatrowe is among the owners whose backyard garden is open on July 11. He found his way to Atlantic Heights via Manchester, Rhode Island, and San Francisco. Teatrowe arrived at the dawn of the garden tour and took action.
“I removed the back wall of my house and built an addition that doubled its size,” he says. Years later, he added an extensive raised deck that looks out onto acres of forested land owned by Public Service. The tops of giant tankers passing up and down the river along Crescent Way look like moving houses.
“The savings account was always empty, but the view made it all worthwhile,” Teatrowe says of his 16/-year home restoration project. Now retired, he devotes himself to reading, biking, and a new creative enterprise that can be seen at Teatrowe.com online.
“Drawing and sculpture were my hobbies for 50 years,” he says. “Since the pandemic, I’ve taken up painting, which I’ll be practicing for the remainder of those sunset years.”
FOR MORE INFORMATION READ: Atlantic Heights: A World War I Shipbuilder’s Community by Richard M. Candee. Writer J. Dennis Robinson has lived and worked in Atlantic Heights for 25 years. His pocket garden will be open to the public.
(c) J. Dennis Robinson/ SeacoastHistory.com
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