1623: Pilgrims, Pipe Dreams, Politics & the Founding of New Hampshire
Shrouded in myth, mystery, and misinformation, the true story of New Hampshire's founding family has never been fully told–until now. Why do we know so little about David and Amias Thompson of Plymouth, England? And why is what we think we know so often wrong? Barely three years after the Mayflower landed in Massachusetts, a wholly different plan for America was in play. Popular journalist J. Dennis Robinson exhumes the facts and connects the dots to reveal a forgotten journey that will challenge your perception of how New England was born.
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Point of Graves: A New England History Mystery
Museum caretaker Levi Woodbury’s solitary lifestyle is shattered when reporter Claire Caswell enlists her ex-lover to unravel a mysterious death in a historic New England seaport. Could the dead man and his missing “manifesto” connect to growing fears that an ancient cemetery lies beneath the site of the city’s next high-rise parking garage? Set in historic Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
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New Castle: New Hampshire’s Smallest, Oldest, & Only Island Town
NEW CASTLE is a tiny island town, just one square mile, with a far-reaching history. Once the provincial heart of New Hampshire, its forts stood sentinel over the Piscataqua River for three centuries. Part sleepy scenic village, part trendy tourist resort, it is best known for a famous peace treaty, a rock-throwing devil, and the first shots of the American Revolution, when Paul Revere sparked the gunpower raid at Fort William and Mary.
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Strawbery Banke: A Seaport Museum 400 Years in the Making
Strawbery Banke Museum is a rich core sample of an ever-changing America. The ten-acre museum campus, New Hampshire's earliest neighborhood, began as a British plantation on a tidal inlet. Abandoned by its founders in 1635, the settlement "accidentally" named Strawberry Bank survived to become New Hampshire's only seaport.
A century later the bustling Portsmouth waterfront was home to royal governors, tall ships, skilled artisans, and wealthy merchants. When the maritime economy crashed and the city burned in the nineteenth century, the "Puddle Dock" neighborhood drew waves of immigrant families to its ancient low-rent buildings.
Then in the twentieth century, fearful of urban "blight," a federal redevelopment project went off here like a neutron bomb. The population and the junkyards disappeared, but a grassroots preservation movement saved many historic buildings from the bulldozers of progress.
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Wentworth By The Sea: The Life and Times of a Grand Hotel
When the Wentworth by the Sea Hotel opened in 1874, it joined dozens of other resorts dotting the northern New England landscape. Today, it remains among the few grand hotels in this region. Over the decades, the hotel has undergone early success, bankruptcy, and resurgence under the guidance of a Gilded Age tycoon In 1905, it was the focus of an international peace conference. Then, after decades as a prominent family resort and convention center, it languished for 20 years, only to rise again as a beloved upscale hotel and spa. Author J. Dennis Robinson tells tales of the Wentworth’s owners, its loyal employees, and the quests who make it memorable.
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Lucy’s Voice: New England History Mystery #2
SHE WAS HAPPILY ENGAGED TO THE MOST HANDSOME MAN IN THE NATION. THEN HE KILLED THE PRESIDENT.
An ornate Spanish dresser reignites a Civil War-era mystery. What did Lucy Hale know when her fiancé, John Wilkes Booth, shot Abraham Lincoln? The privileged daughter of a New Hampshire senator, Lucy was never questioned. Museum caretaker Levi Woodbury and reporter Claire Caswell are drawn into the search for a lost journal that may rewrite history.
Music Hall: How a City Built a Theater and a Theater Shaped a City
This fully researched, color illustrated history traces the cultural development of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, from the arrival of its first settlers. The Music Hall was built in 1878 and expanded by “ale tycoon” Frank Jones in 1901. Within these brick walls generations have watched America evolve from minstrel shows to musicals and Hollywood blockbusters, from animal acts to symphony orchestras, and from vaudeville to TEDx talks. Shuttered and decaying during World War II, New Hampshire’s vintage venue went on the auction block in 1945. It served as a movie house for the next four decades. Saved from demolition by a grassroots team of volunteers in the 1980s and gradually restored to its Victorian splendor, it has been pivotal in revitalizing the city’s downtown. Signature programs like the “Telluride by the Sea Film Festival” and “Writers on a New England Stage” put this historic theater on the national map. A must-read for anyone who cherishes the performing arts.
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Mystery on the Isles of Shoals: Closing the Case on the Smuttynose Ax Murders of 1873
The cold-blooded ax murder of two innocent Norwegian women at their island home off the coast of New Hampshire has gripped the region since 1873, beguiling tourists, inspiring artists, and fueling conspiracy theorists.
The killer, a handsome Prussian fisherman down on his luck, was quickly captured, convicted in a widely publicized trial, and hanged in an unforgettable gallows spectacle. But he never confessed and, while in prison, gained a circle of admirers whose blind faith in his innocence still casts a shadow of doubt. A fictionalized bestselling novel and a Hollywood film have further clouded the truth. Available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and Audiblecom formats
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Bunker Hill Time Machine and Portsmouth Time Machine: A Graphic History of the Bunker Hill Monument and the Graphic History of Portsmouty, NH
Two richly illustrated books in one volume. On a school field trip to the Boston Freedom Trail, Seth and Ella are catapulted into the past by a cell phone glitch. From 5,000 BCE to the present day, they explore the site of the famous Battle of Bunker Hill in Charlestown, Massachusetts. Deeply researched and beautifully illustrated, Bunker Hill Time Machine tracks the on-and-off construction of the 221-foot obelisk made of Quincy granite. PLUS Portsmouth Time Machine follows Ella and Seth through the history of the Granite State's only seaport, from an Indigenous village to the 400th anniversary of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Readers are introduced to key moments in the city's maritime, military, political, and cultural evolution with special pages devoted to black, literary, and women's history. Each includes a map and bonus features with the amazing art of Robert Squier.
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Portsmouth Time Machine: The Graphic History of Portsmouth, NH
A history research project goes wild when a cell phone glitch catapults Ella and Seth into a time warp. From an Abenaki village a thousand years in the past to a robot-ruled future, they explore New Hampshire’s only seacoast up close. Portsmouth Time Machine is the first-ever graphic survey of New Hampshire’s only seaport, today a hugely popular heritage destination. Ella and Seth visit the founding English settlement in 1623, join the 1774 “powder raid” at Fort William and Mary, observe a Civil War battle at sea, rescue the crew of the USS Squalus, and help negotiate the Russo-Japanese peace treaty. Along the way they encounter enslaved activist Prince Whipple, poet Celia Thaxter, tycoon Frank Jones, President George Washington, Capt. John Paul Jones and more. The time travelers fight fires, sail ships, discover vaudeville, celebrate the arts, and experience the tragedy of urban renewal. Special sections focus on Black history, literature, famous women, and a two-page historic walking tour map. Illustrated by Robert Squier.
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Under the Isles of Shoals: Archaeology & Discovery on Smuttynose Island
Second Edition: The serene sloping lawn of Smuttynose Island is, in fact, a time machine. Only two buildings survive on this flat, primitive spot, ten miles out to sea from Portsmouth, New Hampshire. But look deeper. The thin layers of soil that cling to the rocky island are thick with treasure. No, this is not the imaginary pirate gold of romantic lore. This is rich new data about our shared American past.
Indigenous Peoples hunted here 6,000 years ago. Hundreds of European fishermen salted and dried their prized Atlantic cod on these rocks in the dawning days of the American colonies. The hardy fishing families who lived here were eventually displaced by Boston tourists drawn to the region by poet Celia Thaxter.
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A Brief History of North Church, Portsmouth, NH
The city's oldest organization and steward of the iconic Market Square steeple, the North Church of Portsmouth, celebrated its 350th anniversary with this deeply researched, highly readable, illustrated history. J. Dennis Robinson is the author of popular books about Strawbery Banke Museum, the Music Hall, the Isles of Shoals, and Wentworth by the Sea. This sturdy (40-page, 8x10 inches) booklet traces the evolution of the 1712 "schism" that split the town's Congregational. Robinson tracks North Church from its founding pastors to the present day. This is the story of a little church with a big heart and a rich history. Signed copies of this limited souvenir edition, the only history of this landmark church in print, are available exclusively from the Portsmouth Historical Society. An ebook version is also available from Amazon.
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