THIS YEAR Portsmouth is celebrating 400 years of rich and varied history. The city’s Colonial origins extend back to 1623 when a small group of Europeans settled in the wilderness near the mouth of the Piscataqua River.
To put this into perspective, the first permanent English settlement in North America had been developed only 16 years earlier, in 1607 in Jamestown, Virginia. In 1620 the Pilgrims, who had separated from the Church of England, had crossed the Atlantic Ocean and had arrived in Plymouth Harbor in Massachusetts where they built a small hamlet. The Puritans would not incorporate the Massachusetts Bay Colony and establish Boston as their foothold until 1630.
A community group, Portsmouth NH 400th, Inc., is bringing people together throughout 2023 to recall and honor the stories that make up Portsmouth’s history, including those of the Abenaki peoples who had lived in the region for hundreds of years. This organization — which relies on volunteers and the support of institutions and businesses—is in the midst of presenting a series of programs and events, including lectures, social gatherings, and exhibits.
The main public events for the summer season will be the Grand Parade on June 3, the Little Italy Carnival on Aug. 6, and a giant New England clambake in the downtown on Aug. 15.
A full-color illustrated book, “A History of Portsmouth NH in 101 Objects,” was recently published as a Portsmouth NH 400 “legacy project.” It features short essays written by numerous experts on the history and culture of Portsmouth. The book’s list of topics includes many fascinating aspects of the city’s history from its beginnings to today.
The 400th anniversary team is also developing a plan for a sculpture garden, gathering oral histories, organizing an academic symposium, and planning for a future commemorative booklet. (For more, see “Port City flips switch on a year-long 400th birthday celebration” in the NH Sunday News, Jan. 29, 2023.)
The earliest published history of Portsmouth was Nathaniel Adams’ “The Annals of Portsmouth Comprising a Period of Two Hundred Years from the First Settlement of the Town with Biographical Sketches of a Few of the Most Respectable Inhabitants.” Adams self-published the 400-page book, which was printed in Exeter in 1825.
The volume presents a clearly-written chronology of events and people, enhanced by the author’s historical perspective as a witness to the American Revolution and to the early republic.
Nathaniel Adams was born in Portsmouth in 1756, the son of Capt. Nathaniel Adams and Elizabeth Parker Adams. He graduated from Dartmouth College in Hanover in 1775, and earned a master’s degree from Harvard College in Cambridge, Mass. Adams became Clerk of the New Hampshire Superior Court in 1787, and served in that position for 42 years. He was also Justice of the Peace in Rockingham County from 1789 to 1806.
Adams was the first shareholder of the Portsmouth Athenaeum, and its first president, and was active as a Master and Grand Master of local Masonic orders. Adams died on Aug. 5, 1829 in Exeter while attending a session of the Superior Court.
Adams was 68 years old in 1824 when he completed the manuscript for his book. He believed, as he stated in his Preface, that “Everyone should be acquainted with the origin and progress of the society to which he belongs.” He also wrote, “The preservation of such facts, as will be useful to future historians, is of public importance. Those which depend on memory, or have been long handed down by tradition, are liable either to be forgotten or misrepresented. They should, therefore, be carefully collected from time to time and deposited in such archives, as are prepared for them.”
In his Frontispiece, Adams quoted from the Book of Joel in the Christian Bible: “Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children, another generation.” In accordance with the Copyright Act of 1790, he assured that a copy of his book was deposited with the federal government. He would be happy to know that today “The Annals of Portsmouth” is available in New Hampshire libraries and historical societies, in the Library of Congress, and through several online sources.
Next week: Nathaniel Adams on the early history of Portsmouth.
