A Convivial Social Feed

Happy Father`s Day!👨🏻🎉

Pictured are boatbuilders Capt. Edward H. Adams (1860-1951), right, and his son, Edward "Cass" Adams (1892-1959), both of the Adams homestead at Adams Point in Durham, NH, circa 1930s.⚓️

Capt. Adams was also one of the last gundalow captains along the Piscataqua. From colonial settlement, the flat-bottom gundalows transported cargo like bricks and lumber along the Great Bay tributaries, acting like the tractor trailers of their day. 🚚

And like many fathers who might have unfinished projects (sorry, long-term "in progress" projects), the Adams men were no exception. It took them 20 years to build the gundalow DRIFTWOOD as they harvested lumber locally to build the boat. Pictured most likely is the DRIFTWOOD while under construction at Adams Point, circa 1935.

In October 1950, 1,000 people attended the launch of the DRIFTWOOD, which coincided with Capt. Adams` 90th birthday. 🎂

Capt. Adams was also known for skilled carvings of boat models and animals such as ducks and turtles. In 1966, over 200 wooden carvings by Adams were gifted to the Josie F. Prescott Trust and displayed in the folk art museum in the Sheafe Warehouse in Prescott Park. Today, the items are part of the Portsmouth Public Library collection. 

In the early 1980s, the replica gundalow CAPTAIN EDWARD H. ADAMS was built at Strawbery Banke Museum and, in June 1982, launched into the Piscataqua River at Prescott Park. As the nonprofit Gundalow Company states, this gundalow served as "a unique teaching platform that travelled to Piscataqua region riverfront towns carrying a message that raised awareness of this region’s maritime heritage and the environmental threats to our rivers."

In 2014, the Gundalow Company gifted the retired ADAMS gundalow to the city of Dover, NH.

Images: Originally part of the mimeographed WPA survey in the Athenaeum`s Reference Library. Most of survey photographs date from about 1925 to 1936. The survey was given to the Athenaeum by Prof. Gordon B. Wilkes in 1972. PS1602_01; PS1602_10.

#PiscataquaRegion #maritimehistory #AdamsPoint #gundalows #collectpreserveshare📖 #localhistory ...

The 24-hour day of giving is here! Link in bio!

Our 2025 Wish List includes the following:

🤞A new booktruck for the archives

🤞The purchase of a collection of Portsmouth High School class and reunions photos by local photographer Robert Jeeves, ranging from the 1920s to 1960s

🤞The digitization of our vast microfilm collection, starting with the related papers of John Langdon (1741-1819)

If you plan on participating, NH Gives also offers some interesting incentives for donations throughout the 24 hours, which include the following:

✔️First Donor ($250) -- This prize goes to the organization that receives the first donation after 5 p.m. on June 10, 2025.

✔️Membership Matters Golden Ticket ($1000) -- A winner will be drawn from all the organizations who are members of the NH Center for Nonprofits as of June 6, 2025, that received an online donation between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. on June 10, 2025.

✔️603 Prize ($250) -- This prize will go to the organization that receives the first donation at 6:03 a.m. on June 11.

✔️Coffee Hour Golden Ticket ($250) -- The winner of the prize will be randomly drawn from all organizations that received donations between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. on June 11.

✔️Lunch Hour Golden Ticket ($250) -- The winner of the prize will be randomly drawn from all organizations that received donations between 9 a.m. and 12 p.m. on June 11.

✔️Last Donor Prize ($250) -- This prize goes to the organization that receives the final donation before the clock hits 5:00 p.m. on June 11.

Thank you for your support! ...

Hey Daddy-O, what are all the cool cats up to this weekend? (Ok, we`ll stop.😬)

This circa 1955 Douglas Armsden image shows the newly opened dining room and lunch counter of the Golden Horseshoe Grill at 88 Vaughan Street on the corner of Hanover Street in Portsmouth`s former #NorthEndNeighborhood.

The short-lived Golden Horseshoe was located in the Sagris Building, a one-story commercial structure built in 1948 by Greek immigrants 🇬🇷 Stamatis "Samuel" Sagris (1894-1975) and his brother Christofaras Harry "Chris" Sagris (1898-1950) on the site of an 18th-century building destroyed by fire.

A few doors down, the Sagris brothers had operated their grocery store, Quality Market, at 116 Vaughan since 1930, after taking over the 1922 grocery store. On Dec. 2, 1948, they re-opened the Quality Market in the modern Sagris Building. A few years after the move, Chris died, and Sam`s son Socrates Peter Sagris (1929-1997) had to resign as Portsmouth`s assistant city auditor to help his father`s grocery store. Sam retired in 1955, and it seems so did the Quality Market. About this time, Sam`s other son, Harry Sagris (1926-1974), opened the Golden Horseshoe Grill. City directories indicate that the Golden Horseshoe was gone by 1957 when the Ship Ahoy Restaurant occupied 88 Vaughan. Harry later became the library director in Andover, MA.

The exterior snapshot of the Sagris Building still had the golden horseshoe affixed to the building in August 1970. Shortly afterward, the building was demolished during the Vaughan Street Urban Renewal Project. Today, the site is approximately on the corner of Hanover Street and Portwalk Place.

(P15.125, gift of Douglas Armsden; P0045_405_165, gift of Kevin Lafond & attributed to Tom Minichiello)

👉 The Armsden image is featured in our exhibit "The Lunch Hour: Portsmouth" in our Randall Gallery, but hey, the exhibit ends tomorrow! Stop by tonight during Art `Round Town from 5 to 8 p.m. and say hi to Sherry & the Gang OR pop in on Saturday from 1 to 4 p.m. to order up some good history before the "kitchen closes."

#lostportsmouth #northend #greekimmigrants #sagrisfamily #collectpreserveshare📖 #localhistory #portsmouthnh ...

THIS WEEK IN HISTORY: Dedication of the Schiller Station

On May 19, 1950, Public Service Company of New Hampshire (PSNH) held its dedication ceremony for the new Schiller Plant off Gosling Road in Portsmouth at the Newington town line.⚡️🔌💡

The five-million-dollar station was the world`s first integral mercury-steam electric power plant. Opening as a test service in November 1949, Schiller could supply enough electricity to a city of 100,000 people.

The new station was named after Avery R. Schiller (1890-1974), who was the president of PSNH. A 1912 Harvard graduate in electrical engineering, Schiller started out as vice president when PSNH formed in the late 1920s. In 1970, he retired after 46 years with the company.

The three-day open house allowed the public to tour the "spic-and-span" facility to see how electricity was made. The plant had giant boilers, over seven stories high, boiling mercury instead of water, at over 1,000,000 pounds per hour [pictured]. The accompanying open house where the public could tour the facility lasted three days, culminating on Sunday, May 21, 1950.

For visiting, you could receive a pin of Reddy Kilowatt complete with a poem, which we share from our collection.

PSNH claimed the visit would be a thrilling experience that the visitor would long remember.⚡️

What wasn`t long to remember was the usage of mercury-steam power due to high costs and potential environmental impact. The ower plant switched to coal, oil, and later biomass.

Now owned by Granite Shore Power, Schiller Station is expected to close its coal burning operations by December 2025, and according to the company, the station will become a battery storage system for off-shore wind power.

The photographs come from Curtis L. Richardson, who worked for Schiller until 1998, and according to him, these images were in the basement office of his boss at the station before he acquired them.

[E 2057A, E 1890, PS2830_01 & 03]

#schillerstation #powerplants #onthisdate #electricity #collectpreserveshare📖 #localhistory #seacoast❤ ...

Here’s a view of a circa 1750 mixed-use building occupied by Buckley’s Barber Shop and the Progressive Beauty Shop, two Black-owned businesses at 117-121 Vaughan Street in Portsmouth’s former North End neighborhood.

Recently retired United States Naval Chief Petty Officer Bishop L. Buckley (1918-2009) owned the barber shop and the building. In 1957, the US Navy transferred Buckley and his family from Morocco to Kittery, Maine, and when he retired three years later, he wanted to put down roots along the seacoast. In a 2020 Foster’s Daily Democrat article, he and his family were initially denied home ownership on Rogers Road in Kittery after neighbors told the real estate agent that “they did not want a Black family moving in.”

In February 1962, he and his wife, Jewell Lanier Buckley (1923-2023), purchased the building on Vaughan Street. According to the Portsmouth Herald, Buckley was the only Black barber in the city. He was active in the local NAACP and a deacon at New Hope Baptist Church.

As landlord, Bishop rented the other storefront to Elease Brinson Mosley, who operated the Progressive Beauty Shop. Little can be found about Elease, except she was a member of the local Navy Wives Club, and she married Jewell Carl Mosley (1930-1989) in New York City in 1956. In 1961, the couple lived on Penhallow Street, and he was a sergeant in the United States Air Force stationed at Pease Air Force Base. From about 1963 until around 1967, Elease operated the beauty shop, but she lived alone in an apartment at 210 Deer Street. At this time, Jewell was probably serving in the Vietnam War.

In June 1967, photographer Lawrence G. Straus captured this image as part of a North End urban renewal survey conducted by Athenaeum Proprietor James L. Garvin, a recent UNH grad who would later serve as the New Hampshire State Architectural Historian for 24 years. Straus would become an archaeologist & anthropology professor at the University of New Mexico.

In 1970, the building was demolished during the Vaughan Street Urban Renewal Project.

In 1978, Buckley purchased a home on Manson Way, now still owned by the family. 2020, Manson Way Extension was renamed Buckley Way in his honor. ...

Here is a 1960s view of the Smith Office Equipment Co., which once stood at 225 Islington Street on the corner of Langdon Street in Portsmouth. #flashbackfriday

In February 1961, local businessman Rudolph R. "Rudy" Smith (1924-2014) established Smith Office Equipment Co. when he rented one-half of the basement in this building. The business had two employees and a part-time bookkeeper, and it started as a franchise dealer in Olivetti-Underwood machines. Within three months, Smith and his wife, Josephine Zanuccoli Vinciguerra (1912-1985), purchased the entire building, and the company grew to sell office supplies and stationery. Shortly after this photograph, Smith Office expanded into the building next door, at left, and built a connecting ell. At the height of business, Smith employed more than 60 people.

[Note: At right is a duplex, which is now the site of a gas station.]

#OTD, January 10, 1976, an early morning fire gutted the Smith Office building, destroying the entire inventory. Over 100 firefighters kept the blaze from spreading, but the fire displaced residents on the upper floors of the business and the adjacent building. The next day, Smith Office rented the old A&P Store at 848 Islington (now Bank of America) until a grand re-opening at its new store at 674 Islington (now CVS) in September 1976.

Smith Office and the adjoining building were demolished on Jan. 28, 1976. In 1983, brick town homes were built on the site.

In 1985, Rudy Smith retired, but Smith Office Supply continued. Shortly after his retirement, Josephine died. Some may remember her as the owner of Tony`s Radio and TV, which was also on Islington Street. Her first husband was Anthony Vinciguerra.

📸 Portsmouth Housing Authority Collection, P0057_0195, and PS0493a

👉 If you have photos or papers related to Smith Office or other Portsmouth area history, we accept donations in our effort to preserve the history of the Piscataqua region. Contact us at info@portsmouthathenaeum.org

#onthisdate #smithofficeequipment #islingtonstreet #collectpreserveshare📖 #localhistory #portsmouthnh ...

Happy 2025!🎉

Here`s a snowy view of the Thomas Neil House, a Gothic cape also known as the Samuel P. Long House, decorated for the holidays in Portsmouth. The photograph was taken on Dec. 28, 1937. #wherewasthisWednesdays🤔

In this photo, the sign next to the door was for the Emma Bilodeau Smith School of Dancing, which would be perfect if you needed to learn a few moves to ring in the New Year. In the 1936 city directory, the house was occupied by two families: Herman C. and Emma Bilodeau Smith and the widow Jennie Sinclair Neil Knowlton (1861-1961). It was Jennie who grew up in the house, and she had returned to her childhood home after living forty years away.

Included is a snapshot of Jennie with her father, Thomas Neil Jr. (1828-1930), on the front steps of the family house, where he lived for 61 years. Thomas, an Athenaeum member, worked for Charles and Alexander Ladd as a young man. Then he partnered with Nathaniel Raynes in the ship chandlery business and Augustus W. Simpson in the flour and grain business. He became the teller at the Rockingham National Bank from 1886 until about 1906. Thomas Neil was Portsmouth`s oldest resident when he died at 101 years, 5 months, and 22 days.

About 1925, which might be when this photograph was taken, Jennie was returning to her childhood home on Middle Street to care for her elderly father. Her husband was an English professor, and the couple had lived briefly in Providence, RI, & Germany, before settling in Madison, WI, where he taught at the University of Wisconsin for ten years until nerves forced him to resign in 1900. When he died several years later, she was left to raise their five children, ranging from 6 to 19. After they were grown, she returned to #PortsmouthNH. So yes, you can home again.😊

According to the centenarian`s obituary in 1961, Jennie was a dedicated naturalist who enjoyed reading about wildlife & the Bible.

In 1971, Crown International Inc. purchased the former Long-Neil house at 297 Middle Street and demolished it as part of the construction of the Portsmouth Housing Authority`s Margeson Apartments, which opened in August 1973.

📸 PS2769_13 & PS2769_11

#collectpreserveshare📖 ...