Portsmouth as Seaport and Colonial Capital
Portsmouth was first settled by the English in 1623. The men and women who
followed came here not to seek religious freedom, but to profit from the harvest
of fish and timber they knew existed in abundance. By 1650 ships were being
built for the English crown on the shores of the Piscataqua. The bustling town
of Portsmouth became the colonial capital. The leading families that dominated
New Hampshire politics--most of them Anglican, with few Puritans--are still familiar
names here: Atkinson, Cutts, Jackson, Langdon, Sheafe, Sherburne, Vaughan,
and Wentworth.
By the mid
1700s Portsmouth had become a wealthy and elegant community with a number of
great houses, whose proud owners had them richly carved and decorated with-high
quality furniture of both English and local origin. Their mantels held Chinese
export porcelain garnitures, their tea tables were laden with silver and porcelain,
and their windows, seating furniture, and beds were dressed with expensive English
fabrics. Wallpapers of English origin provided a backdrop for many family portraits
by such artists as Nehemiah Partridge, John Greenwood, Joseph Blackburn, and
John Singleton Copley. The leading families depicted in these portraits frequently
intermarried, connecting business, politics, and family fortunes. They created
for themselves an identity that was distinctly American, even though their social
customs, fashions, and traditions were essentially English.
Mirror and Embroidery
c. 1685
Maker unknown, England
Mirror in walnut-veneered frame with embroidered panels in polychrome silks,
metal purl, and raised work on satin
Tradition long held that this embroidery was the work of Frances Deering Wentworth,
wife of New Hampshire's last royal governor, but it is English, and much earlier--probably
brought to New England by a Wentworth ancestor. The key figures likely represent
King Charles II and his Queen, Catherine of Braganza.
The Society's collections include many expressions
of colonial wealth and refinement, such as an elaborately carved looking glass
brought to Portsmouth from London by John Langdon, and furniture by
John Skillin of Boston in the Chippendale style.
The story of Portsmouth as a seaport and colonial
capital is just one of the stories the Portsmouth Historical Society tells.
We also tell
the
stories of Portsmouth's role
in the American Revolution and the development of the United States Navy, of
women and everyday life in Portsmouth, of Portsmouth men abroad, and of the
Colonial Revival that heightened awareness of our local and national past.
Portsmouth Historical Society
We Tell
Portsmouth Stories
