Portsmouth
Colonial Seaport Settled In 1623 As Strawbery Banke, One Of The Oldest Towns In The United States; The Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Where The 1905 Treaty Of Portsmouth Was Signed, Lies Across The Piscataqua River In Kittery, Maine. · Portsmouth, New Hampshire
A small, walkable colonial seaport at the mouth of the Piscataqua River, settled in 1623 and known as Strawbery Banke for its first decades, which makes it one of the oldest towns in the United States. Its brick downtown grew rich on shipbuilding, timber and trade, and much of it survived: Georgian merchant houses, narrow lanes running down to the wharves, the white steeple of North Church over Market Square and tugboats tied up below the restaurants on Ceres Street. Strawbery Banke Museum keeps a whole waterfront neighbourhood of old houses on about 10 acres, Prescott Park puts gardens and summer shows on the river, and a string of house museums tells the story of governors, sea captains and John Paul Jones. Across the Memorial Bridge in Kittery, Maine, the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard is where the 1905 Treaty of Portsmouth ended the Russo-Japanese War. Today the city is also the Seacoast's food capital, with oysters, lobster rolls and craft beer, and it is small enough that you park once and walk everywhere.
Market Square, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, 03801, United States
The streets, Market Square, the waterfront and the Harbour Trail are open at all hours, all year. Strawbery Banke Museum is fully open roughly May to October, typically daily with daytime hours, then closes for the winter apart from special events such as the Candlelight Stroll on December weekends (confirm dates). The historic house museums mostly open late spring to mid-October on a few days a week, some by guided tour only. Prescott Park's gardens are open daily in daylight, and the arts festival runs through the summer. The USS Albacore Museum is open most of the year with shorter winter hours. Restaurants keep normal city hours all year, busiest on weekends.