Portsmouth

When I was a sophomore in high school, we had a summer assignment for history class that required a visit to a historic landmark, living history museum, or reenactment site. I chose Stawberry Banke , a living history museum near Portsmouth that dealt with the historical inhabitants of various eras. Though I have a lot of friends who attended UNH, I really haven't spent much time in that area since then.

But walking around Portsmouth last weekend, it felt very much like walking around a piece of history. Most of the buildings are old and made of brick (I assume because it can weather the ocean winds better than wood), working boats are docked in the harbor, and the downtown movie theater's billboard looks like it hasn't been changed since 1952.

Portsmouth seems to be the blueprint for all other small, post-industrial New England. The downtown area covers a solid grid of curvy blocks and is bustling. Storefronts ranging from Gap & Starbucks to local coffee, furniture, and stationary stores line the streets. The parking is plentiful and cheap, but most people out enjoying the lovely fall weather on Sunday morning had just popped downstairs from the aparments that took up the higher storeys. Most people were just leisurely enjoying coffee at an outside table or waiting in line at one of the breakfast places. A few ladies were doing some heavy duty shopping and Portsmouth seems well able to support a number of high end and specialty shops.

One of the coolest things to see was the PortsmouthWiFi bumper sticker in the information kiosk. Even cooler was that it was staffed at 11 am on a Sunday by a pleasant older lady who was explaining how to get to Strawberry Banke with the use of the goofy cartoon map.