Author’s Note: Back in 2011, I was hired to write a guided tour for Segways. For what? That wheelie thing Paul Blart rides in MALL COP? Yessir. They were about to become the hottest vehicles on the potholed streets of historic Portsmouth. I don’t have to tell you how that turned out. But for a history writer, it was a good gig. I never actually piloted a Segway, but the historical society made a righteous effort. The budding entrepreneur who hired me stored the machines on the ground floor of the carriage house at the John Paul Jones’ Museum. The craze faded quickly, but I got paid.
—————-
I simply cannot keep up with Portsmouth. Three times this week I was working on this new Segway tour. I thought I was on top of things, but new things are popping up all over. I was headed to the opening of a new exhibition at Strawbery Banke Museum, It’s all about Fitz-John Porter. You know, the bronze guy on the horse in Haven Park. porter was court martialed after the Civil War and fought to regain his reputation. He was lso known for spying on enemy troupes from a hot air balloon. There’s a new beautifully designed book on Porter.
I wrote a whole book about the museum, so I know the campus pretty well. Suddenly there was a whole new structure rising up out of the field.
“That’s where they’re going to build the new gundalow,” a friend explained.
“But we have a replica gundalow,” I said.
“Not like this one,” my friend explained. “It’s going to be epic.”
We then headed to the historical society where a volunteer crew was assembling an exhibition of maritime artifacts collected by the late Joe Sawtelle. He’s the guy who orchestrated the USS Albacore haul-out, started the homeless shelter, expanded the Portsmouth Athenaeum, created a charitable foundation. Joe had big plans to turn the old Navy Prison into condos–but he didn’t get that done. We wandered through the historic society that used to be a library and, before that, Portsmouth Academy. Artifacts from Joe’s collection were everywhere. So many reminders of Portsmouth’s connection to the sea had never been collected in one giant room.
Up Congress Street, the Portsmouth Athenaeum was launching yet another exhibit. “Fire on the Water” is focused on the battle between the USS Kearsage and the Confederate merchant raider Alabama. Kearsage was constructed here at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard during the Civil War. The battle actually took place off the coast of France. The Alabama sank, but the survivors later came here to parade up Congress Street and dedicate a monument.
The sidewalks were packed. “Why are there so many people downtown?” I asked my friend
“It’s the first Friday of the month,” she explained. “That’s now ART AROUND TOWN night.” Once a month visitors can wander from gallery to gallery, and exhibition to exhibition. There are snack, musicians, even free drinks. A month later, the downtown does it all over again.
I try to keep up, but this city is getting ahead of me. There were artists everywhere. Around the corner from Savario’s Pizza on Pleasant Street, a painter on a scissors lift was working on a mural that covered the whole side of the Marple & James real estate building. He had completed a giant open mouth and was painting over windows, pipes, sash, and brick. This idea came from the Portsmouth Museum of Art. And then there’s Art Speak, part of the city Cltural Commission. Further down State Street a woman with an array of spray paint cans was creating an astonishing piece of art on a wall. She apologized because her work was not yet finished. We stopped and stared. What a city!
© 2011 by J. Dennis Robinson on SeacoastNH.com All rights reserved.
Clara Lynn’s Ranger Flag Ballad