Get a jump start on your garden, and spread some wildflowers!
Celebrate the lovely spring weather with some fun gardening activities for the whole family! We’ll be creating seed-starting egg carton greenhouses all day between 11am and 4pm. This is a FREE event. No pre-registration is required. All activities will take place on the John Paul Jones Lawn.
Seed ball workshops at 11 am, 1 pm, and 3 pm.
Help support our local pollinators and bring a little beauty to your yard with seed balls! Seed balls are little compost and clay spheres full of wildflower seeds that you can drop in your yard or in a pot. With just some water and sunshine, you’ll soon have your own patch of wildflowers! This seed ball activity is appropriate for ages 5 and up, and children will need to have their adult present.
Categories include: most creative building materials, most whimsical, most attention to detail, and best in show. All ballots must be cast in-person at 10 Middle Street.
Downtown Scavenger Hunt
Take the fun downtown with our scavenger hunt. Collect all the stamps and enter to win a raffle of gift cards and prizes from participating retailers!
Help us celebrate the 275th birthday of the father of the American Navy!
Join us in the garden of our John Paul Jones House for cake, lawn games, and live music from Jordan TW with Matt Jensen from 12-2 pm on Sunday, July 10. This event is free and open to the public.
The John Paul Jones House will be free and open to the public all day (11 am – 5 pm). Come celebrate with us!
The festival of lights starts this evening, and we know many of you are busy wrapping gifts, cooking feasts, and lighting candles. All the best to you and your family!
The Hanukkah card pictured above is available at our Museum Shop! Stop by online or in person today!
In the News!
Did you see us on NH Chronicle and in the Union Leader?! 😲🤩 Click here to see the segment on WMUR and here for the Union Leader article!
Free Take-Home Family Craft
Stop by this weekend and get a grab-and-go family craft! Kids can decorate and assemble their own winter hat ornament to make your home a little more festive. Just ask at the front desk!
See the Gingerbread Houses and vote on your favorites to win the People’s Choice awards! The last day to vote is December 16th!
Executive director Brian LeMay’s office after the John Paul Jones Jubilee Art Auction this past September.
Thanks to everyone who has supported Portsmouth Historical Society this year! To our friends near and far, we are so grateful for your likes, shares, emails, texts, phone calls, visits, and suggestions. Your support and enthusiasm for our community quilt project, our historical quilt exhibition, the John Paul Jones House, and the annual Gingerbread House contest remind all of us here at Portsmouth Historical how much we LOVE being a special part of this “Tiny Bit Huge” community. As we approach the end of the year, and if we have entertained, educated, or inspired you, we ask that you consider an end-of-year gift to help us finish strong. Our Annual Appeal mailing is on the move thanks to the USPS, and if you haven’t received a letter in the mail, don’t fret! Just visit our WEBSITE HERE and you can make a donation today!
Season’s Greetings to Our Walking Tour Guides
A huge shout out to our fabulous Historical Walking Tour Guides! We started late, but ended the season successfully. Our new tour this year, “In The Steps of Washington,” proved to be very popular. We could not offer these tours without this dedicated group of local history buffs. Thanks to Randy Absher, Jeff Thomson, Fred Lewis, Linda King, Lauren Gianino, Elizabeth Sanborn, Alan Cohen & Joe Distefano.
