Who’s Ready to Celebrate?!

Celebrating 400 Years

July 2022

Happy Summer on the Seacoast!
A Message from Our Director

I’m thrilled to greet you this July—just six months from the start of the 400th anniversary of our incredible city. It has been a whirlwind since our planning team reignited back in September 2021 and we’re excited to highlight some of our accomplishments and plans for you today.

We’re official! In May 2022, we received approval for our 501c3 nonprofit status! Donations of any amount to support our fundraising goal of $1 million are very welcome and appreciated—thank you.

In June 2022, we got our new website up and running! Make sure to visit the site often for the latest and greatest. Huge thanks to Darci Creative and Trevor Bartlett for the design work. And special shout out to David J. Murray of Clear Eye Photo for his gorgeous photography—it’s given our website that oh so extra special touch.

As a clearinghouse for 400th celebrations, we’ve been collecting applications for programs, projects, and events. We are blown away by the creativity and passion of this community. You can see the [still growing] extraordinary list of official Portsmouth NH 400 events on our website. Keep ‘em coming!

Lastly, we received over 80 photo submissions for our commemorative 2023 wall calendar. The calendars will be on sale this fall, and you'll definitely want one in your kitchen!

It’s historic and exhilarating to be one of the first communities in the country to celebrate 400 years. Our programming for this milestone reflects the best of the best of our great city, and we have a superb team of passionate people to lead the planning.

We cannot wait to kick off the party!

Join the Run Through History!

First up on our calendar is the
2022 Seacoast Half Marathon on October 30, 2022

You may be asking, what’s the Seacoast Half have to do with the 400th anniversary? Great question!

As quoted from the event website: “This year, the Seacoast Half Marathon Race Committee is excited to welcome Portsmouth NH 400 as our 2022 race beneficiary. Get ready to run through history and help the City of Portsmouth prepare to celebrate its 400th anniversary, which is just one year away!”

Said Community Engagement Officer for Portsmouth NH 400, Susan Labrie: “Enjoy the coastal beauty while running through three beautiful communities celebrating 400 years. Learn about the historical sites along this scenic route. Feel the ocean breeze, hear cheering supporters, and enjoy an after party. Work with trained coaches, supplemented by yoga, strength, nutritional and spinal alignment tips for an optimal experience. Anyone can do it! Walkers are welcome! This is the first time the Seacoast Half Marathon is LIVE after two years of virtual races due to COVID, making it extra special!”

If you’re a runner or aspiring runner, make sure to sign up! To join a training group, connect with Coach Keri-Ann Rugg at keri-ann@mercuriarunning.com. Her training program starts in August.

Not a runner but want to help out? We are recruiting volunteers to hand out water and serve food at the start and finish lines. Please contact Ilysse Sirmaian at volunteer.pnh400@gmail.com if you’d like to help out at this inspiring annual event!

Spotlighting Our First Lightkeeper Sponsor ($50,000)—Bank of America

Bank of America New Hampshire State President Ken Sheldon commented: “…We are proud to take a leadership role, partnering with the local leaders and organizations who are collaborating on the Portsmouth, NH 400th Anniversary, as the values of PNH400 are a reflection of those Bank of America pursues in all ninety communities we serve: to advance racial equality and economic opportunity; to support diverse entrepreneurs; to help people succeed in today’s and tomorrow’s economy; and to do our part to protect the planet through sustainable investments. Working together with our partners provides a lens into the need of our communities to help break down barriers and create opportunities for progress and growth.”

Bank of America’s generous support has been crucial to the next stage of our planning. We are grateful for their belief in our mission, vision, and values.

Maritime-themed Sculpture Garden Will Welcome Visitors to Portsmouth

By Ernie Greenslade

Imagine a sculpture garden welcoming visitors to Portsmouth as they take the Market Street Gateway from Interstate 95 to the city’s downtown.

That’s the vision of the PNH400 Legacy Committee which is tasked with creating a project that will last well beyond the 400th anniversary in 2023, enriching the city for years to come.

This new sculpture garden will be located in the city’s Bohenko Gateway Park and will have a maritime theme celebrating the river and all that is connected with it. The park offers sweeping views of the North Mill Pond and the Piscataqua River and features a winding pathway and a small pavilion with benches overlooking the water, making it the perfect location for this public art project.

When completed, the park will host up to eight permanent sculptures. Just a short walk from the bustling downtown, this sculpture garden will attract visitors and residents of our Seacoast community, providing the perfect location for quiet reflection, a family picnic, or educational programs on our maritime history.

PNH400 is inviting artists to submit designs through a Request for Proposal that will be released this month. A committee, including representatives from the community as well as others with expertise in public art will select the finalists. Plans are to install the public art during the 400th celebration in 2023.

Donors to the sculpture project will be recognized in many ways, including in a permanent monument on the site and in media outreach, on the PNH400 website, and at all events connected with the sculpture garden.

For more information on the project, contact Ernie Greenslade, egreenslade@comcast.net.

If interested in sponsorship, email Susan Labrie at susan@portsmouthnh400.org

Portsmouth NH 400 Wins Grant to Help Fund Historic Comic Book

By Denise Wheeler and Dennis Robinson

The New Hampshire Charitable Foundation awarded a Community Express Grant for $10,000 to PNH400 to help fund Portsmouth Time Machine, a lively comic-book-style history of Portsmouth scheduled for release in 2023.

"The last history of New Hampshire’s only seaport written for young people went out of print in 1966,” says Denise Wheeler, a local educator and PNH400 Minister of Fun. Wheeler, who submitted the NHCF grant proposal, has championed this innovative collaboration since it was proposed by history writer J. Dennis Robinson, and children’s book illustrator Robert Squier, both of Portsmouth.

“Parents, educators, and historians will finally have a fun, accurate, relatable, and inclusive resource that synthesizes what our 400th celebration is all about,” Wheeler says.

“Portsmouth Time Machine will be a colorful, fast-paced story centered on key events and characters from the city’s past,” says Robinson, who is currently at work on the project. The 32-page comic tracks the adventures of two young students who, due to a cell phone glitch, travel through time. The narrative includes contemporary research on Indigenous, African American, and women’s history – stories that shed light on unsung local people. The primary audience is young people in the orbit of middle school, specifically grades 4 to 9, but will also engage adults and visitors who want to know more about the evolution of the city.

“That includes not only youths in Portsmouth, but in Rye, New Castle, and surrounding towns that were once part of old ‘Strawberry Bank’ and share its founding date and history,” Wheeler adds. “Getting this age group excited about Portsmouth’s past is critical since they are the future stewards of our shared history.”

The Portsmouth Time Machine project has a budget of just over $20,000 for research, original art, writing, design, and printing. PNH400 has committed to cover one-third of this. Other local supporters to date include Peter Egelston, Amanda and Jay McSharry. The project also dovetails with Robinson’s next book for adults, 1623 that explores the largely forgotten and short-lived fishing outpost at Rye from which New Hampshire takes its founding date.

Reconnecting with Old Friends

When we got word that our friends Paula and Bill Munch were headed to Portsmouth, England, we jumped right on this opportunity!

Paula and Bill represented Portsmouth, NH when the newly elected Lord Mayor of Portsmouth, England was installed. Because Portsmouth, NH and Portsmouth, England are “Friendship Cities” through the Sister Cities International Program, Paula and Bill were invited to a private 14-person celebratory dinner in the Lord Mayor's parlor, joining many dignitaries including the Lady Mayoress and Deputy Lady Mayoress, representatives Duisburg, Germany (sister city to Portsmouth, England), newly installed City Councilors, and others from important Portsmouth England institutions.

At the dinner, Paula had the chance to speak twice about our 400th anniversary and successfully hand delivered our Portsmouth NH 400 promotional rack cards along with a formal invitation to the Lord Mayor and City Council to visit us in 2023 during the celebrations.

Thank you, Paula and Bill for representing us so well in England as we prepare to kick off our 400th anniversary celebrations in 2023!

Lord Mayor Hugh Mason is seated in the front row, third from the left.

Paula Munch is third from the right in the black and white dress.

Deputy Lord Mayor Tom Coles is to the far right.

Bill Munch is standing, third from the left.

Got FOMO?

Here Are Our Two Most Recent Press Releases, in Case You Didn’t Catch Them

101 Ways to Honor Our 400th

The keepsake, 224-page, softbound book will feature 101 color photographs of objects whose stories are important to Portsmouth. The book will give readers a sense of “who we are” and “where we are” as Portsmouth continues its journey from before 1623 to beyond 2023. Click here to learn more including how to get your copy!

Mark your calendars for September 9-10, 2023—you definitely don’t want to miss this!

The Portsmouth air show known as the Thunder Over New Hampshire Air Show is back under the special 400th anniversary name “Heritage in the Air”. The anniversary show will feature vintage aircraft in the air and on the ground and will provide a vision of the future of aviation in the United States and on the Seacoast.