by Portsmouth, New Hampshire, is a coastal city that offers visitors a wealth of nautical history, boutique shopping, historic architecture, and a nationally recognized dining scene.
Earlier this year, U.S. News & World Report named Portsmouth, which boasts one of the nation’s oldest operational ports, one of the finest underappreciated travel destinations in the United States.
Traveling to Portsmouth on a tight budget? Here are three inexpensive ways to enjoy the city by the sea.
Enjoy movies, concerts, tours at Prescott Park
For fifty years, the city’s 10-acre seaside Prescott Park has hosted the annual Prescott Park Arts Festival, which offers free theater, movies, and concerts to the public. During the festival smovie night series, which features a selection of classic and contemporary films for a suggested $5 donation, bring a blanket or chair and relax outside while watching a film. Alternatively, consider live theater for a suggested $8 payment and live music for a suggested $15 donation.
Seasonal tours of Prescott Park’s verdant gardens are also offered. The South Lawn’s garden beds and the formal garden surrounding the anchor sculpture are currently open for one-hour tours on Fridays through August 22. In addition to answering inquiries, tour guides assist guests in identifying plants.
Walk the Portsmouth Harbour Trail
On the Portsmouth Harbour Trail, visitors can explore 400 years of Portsmouth history while traveling a picturesque path and learning about the city’s working waterfront, historic residences, and well-known locations including Market Square and Prescott Park. The tours begin at 1 p.m. at the Market Square information kiosk and run Thursdays and Saturdays through October 15. Adult admission is $15; seniors and students pay $12; children ages 8 to 14 pay $10; children under the age of eight enter free.
According to PortsmouthNH.com, you will hear tales of the wealthy and well-known as well as the modest business owners and ladies who had prosperous enterprises here. You might also learn about the writers, editors, publishers, politicians, fisherman, boat builders, and brewers who made Portsmouth the talk of the country in their time.
Explore the Portsmouth Athenaeum
The Portsmouth Athenaeum is a non-profit membership library and archive of over 40,000 books and papers pertaining to local history, situated in the historic Market Square. The public is welcome to use the exhibition gallery and the research library for free. The 1805 building also hosts educational activities, concerts, and lectures for visitors, some of which may be paid for.
The Portsmouth display Poet, Lawyer, Patriot: In the Age of Jonathan Mitchell Sewall began exhibition on June 27 at the Randall Gallery of the Athenaeum and will remain there until November 15. Sewall’s written works, his song performed on the battlefields during the Revolutionary War, and his tributes to President George Washington’s 1789 visit to Portsmouth are the main topics of discussion. Tuesday through Saturday, from 1 to 4 p.m., is when the Randall Gallery is open.
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Kristi Palma writes about New England tourism as a culture reporter for Boston.com. She writes about hotels, airlines, and activities in Boston and New England. She is the writer of the weekly travel newsletter Scenic Six.
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