By John Tabor – Seacoast Media Group – Posted Jul 1, 2018
For more information, email: Portsmouth400@PortsmouthHistory.org
How does a city throw itself a birthday party? Both Portsmouth and Dover were settled in 1623 and will celebrate their 400th anniversary in 2023 (Portsmouth’s claim to 1623 may stretch some facts in order to be the older sibling to Dover, but we’ll let the historians parse that out.)
I went to a meeting for the 400th Wednesday at the Portsmouth Public Library, along with about 50 residents. The dialogue that brought forth a bevy of ideas aimed at making the 400th a rollicking good community-wide event.
First, we learned Portsmouth has a long tradition of birthday bashes, some of the biggest being 1823 and 1923. A promoter and pageant creator named Virginia Tanner was hired in 1923 and recruited 1,000 locals for a pageant showing tableaus of the city’s history. These live tableaus with painted scenes took place on a series of August days on open land near the Sagamore cemetery. The promotional drumbeat sounded for months. Later, downtown streets featured giant pine-bough arches with a parade of native sons and daughters. It turns out 1823 was a more dour affair mainly devoted to a parade and eating oysters, and an effort at a 350th never really reached launch velocity. [Read more…]
