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1600's (17th CENTURY)
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1603...English explorer Martin Pring sailed to the New World in 1603 and came to the area of Plymouth Bay, MA.
He took back with him some sassafras, an herb that was thought to aid in the cure of colds and flu,
and was becoming a poplular "cure-all" in Elizabethan England. It is rumored that Pring entered
what is now Portsmouth Harbor and rowed up the Piscataqua River for perhaps a dozen miles, but
there is little evidence of this. If indeed Martin Pring explored the Piscataqua, he may have been the
first European to do so. At that time there were no bridges across the water, or power lines, or factories
and houses along the riverside. To Pring, alone in his rowboat, the Piscataqua may have looked something like this.

Early 1600's...By the early 1600's fishermen from Europe had known for decades that the Gulf of Maine was a rich
fishing ground. Fishing stations (where loads of fish were caught, dried, and prepared for transport) were
created on offshore islands all along the New England coast. Monhegan Island off the midcoast of Maine and The Isle of
Shoals off Portsmouth Harbor were two important fishing stations. Ships from The Isle of Shoals sometimes came to
Odiorne Point to get water from a spring very near the beachhead. Perhaps some of those Europeans walked along this
same stretch of beach 400 years ago.

1616...David Thompson makes his first visit to the Piscataqua region. Thompson is considered the "First Yankee" of
New Hampshire. He is the one who organized the first year-round settlement, and also had the vision to create
profitable trade between England and the New World. Thompson's story is a long, but interesting one. His father was a
servant to Sir Ferdinando Gorges, an important figure in Queen Elizabeth's government. Young David Thompson was born
in 1592 in the London suburb of Clerkenwell, near to the Gorges estate where his father worked. The 1590's were the
height of Elizabethan society. David Thompson's neighborhood of Clerkenwell was a close walk from the Tower of London,
London Bridge, the shipping docks of the river Thames, and the neighborhoods where bearbaiting and public executions
were staged, as well as the neighborhood where the theatre of a young playwrite named William Shakespeare was played.

Ferdinando Gorges became embroiled in the Essex Scandal (the Earl of Essex was rumored to be a lover of Queen
Elizabeth), lost his fortune, and was thrown into prison. But in 1603 (the year of Queen Elizabeth's death) with the
ascension of King James I to the throne, Gorges was restored to favor and given a choice appointment, governor of the
fort at Plymouth, England. Plymouth was the westernmost port in the country, and also the sally point for sea voyages
to the New World and beyond. Sir Walter Raleigh and Francis Drake were from this area of England. Drake earned a
famous victory against the Spanish Armada at the port of Cadiz, and also became the first Englishman to sail around
the world in 1580. Thomas Cavendish was also from the area of Plymouth. His first sea adventure came in 1585 when
he sailed for Roanoke Island, North Carolina, site of that famous lost colony. In 1588 Cavendish became the second
Englishman to sail around the world. Pirate John Hawkins was a native of Plymouth, England and earned fame for his
victories against the Spanish Armada. But also Plymouth, England was the jumping-off point for dozens of anonymous
fishermen on their way to Iceland, Greenland, and Newfoundland.

In 1605 an English explorer named George Weymouth returned to Plymouth, England after a voyage sailing along what
is now the coast of the state of Maine. Weymouth had with him 5 members of the Sagadahoc Tribe, including a man
more famously known as Squanto (who would later prove most helpful to the Pilgrims at Plymouth, Massachusetts).
At the age of 13, David Thompson showed a keen ability to communicate with the Sagadahocs and befriended them
during their extended stay at Fort Plymouth. This experience with the Sagadahocs would be of help to David later
in life.

At the age of 14 it was time for Thompson to apprentice himself to a tradesman. He selected an apothecary named
Dr. Richard Vines.

In 1606 England decided to create permanent settlements in North America. Two colonies were to be created...one
in the south (near the state of Virginia), and one in the north (in the state of Maine). Dr. Richard Vines was
selected to accompany the settlers of the northern colony, and his apprentice, David Thompson, came along. In 1607
the Popham Colony began to get ready for the upcoming winter on a peninsula of land at the mouth of Maine's
Kennebec River. However, due to an unusually harsh winter and the loss of a storage shed to fire, the colony was
unable to hold on permanently.

In 1616 Sir Ferdinando Gorges sends Dr. Richard Vines on a fishing trip to Monhegan Island, Maine. Again, David
Thompson goes along. Vines and Thompson sail as far south as Boston Harbor (where Thompson sees for the first
time the island he will settle...still called Thompson Island off Charlestown), and also enter the Piscataqua
River. The two sail into, and name, Little Harbor, and also sail upriver beyond Dover Point to Fox Point and
the entrance to Great Bay.

1621...To ligitimize his charter for colonization, Sir Ferdinando Gorges must have a fort built. In 1621 David
Thompson begins construction on Fort Pannaway on a height of land on the Odiorne Point peninsula. Known as Flake
Hill (where fish were hung out to dry in the sun), this height of land was the chosen location for Thompson's fort
because it could look out to sea, but could also look behind...down into Little Harbor. The fort was completed for
the winter of 1622/23 and the community became New Hampshire's first permanent settlement. Nobody knows the exact
location of Fort Pannaway today (much of the area around Flake Hill has been disturbed for the construction of
Coastal Route 1, and for the construction of WWII's Fort Dearborn), but perhaps these stones, at the crest of a
rise east of Route 1, were somehow used in the construction of Thompson's community. Pannaway meant, "where the
water spreads out."

1623...The Isle of Shoals is a very crowded place at this time, packed with various European fishing stations. To
escape the crowding, David Thompson sees to the creation of a fishing community along the eastern side of nearby
New Castle Island.

1600s...This graveyard behind the Odiorne homestead west of Route 1 is the final resting place of several early
settlers. The burial plots are marked only by pieces of broken, or crudely shaped stone. There are no carvings.

1629/30...Temporarily at peace (thanks to unpopular King Charles I and his military failures with Spain), England
is now free to concentrate on the colonization of the New World. A venture known as the Laconia Company is created
with the purpose of settling the Piscataqua region. The Laconia Company takes over the operation of Fort Pannaway
and also moves the center of settlement upriver...to an open knoll on the western bank of the Piscataqua where, in
the summertime, patches of strawberries grow here and there. The new settlement is called Strawbery Banke, and
construction begins on the creation of a Great House (a large, common dwelling) that is to serve as the center of
the new community. The location of this Great House may have been somewhere near the corner of Marcy and
Jefferson St., just north of the current Strawbery Banke Museum. A stream-fed inlet at the center of the community
known as Puddledock was the site of a warf for many years. Filled at the turn of the 20th century,
the outline of this ancient warf can still be see in the open common at the center of Strawbery Banke Museum.
The Piscataqua was a good spot for a harbor because the riverbottom has very little silt, and the current is so
swift that the river does not usually freeze (although it has in the past) for some 4 or 5 miles upstream from
Portsmouth.

1652...The area now called New Hampshire becomes part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The Massachusetts Bay
Colony was setup as a theocracy that was limited to church members. As part of this merge, Strawbery Banke
changes its name to Portsmouth (something a little "less pagan").

c.1659...John Cutts builds a dam somewhere at the mouth of Hodgson Brook, near where it flows into North Mill Pond.

c.1660...Born in 1589, Robert Mussell came to New Castle Island as an older man and "squatted" much of the
land composing Salamander Point. Parts of his old home at 24 Salamander Lane (which was built in order to
justify his claim) may be as old as 1660.

1664...Surrounded on all sides by other homes and on one side by a big electric power station, Richard Jackson's
house is now far from isolated. But in the mid-17th century things were more quiet. Jackson decided to build
"way out" on the north side of North Mill Pond, and he owned the land all the way down to the water. His home,
now run by the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities (SPNEA), is the oldest home in New Hampshire
and Maine.

1667...This house at 79 Main St. in New Castle is one of the oldest surviving buildings on the island.

1679...New Hampshire splits from the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

1682...Point of Graves was set aside as a burial ground in 1671. The oldest stone is marked 1682. Stone carving
was an artform in colonial New England, and reflected the difficult life and harsh climate experienced by the
first settlers. The earliest grave markers were undressed, or crudely shaped blocks of stone. Carved slate
did not appear until around 1660 in the Boston area. The earliest headstones reflect a more solemn view of
death and depict skulls, grim reapers, and hour glasses. During the 1700s the religious style became less
severe. Stone images were "softened" with winged cherubs and carved faces meant to closely resemble the
deceased. During the early 1800s headstones were more frequently carved out of marble instead of slate.
These stones reflect our country's newfound fascination with things Classical and the Neoclassical style
of architecture that was popular at the time. Items of Classical architecture decorate these stones.

1693...New Castle becomes independent from Portsmouth.

c.1695...The John and Mary Sherburne House on Puddle Lane in the South End (now part of the Strawbery Banke
museum) is the oldest stud framed house (as opposed to post-and-beam construction) in the Piscataqua region.
Note the leaded glass panes. Sliding vertical window sash didn't appear in Boston and Portsmouth until sometime
around 1705.

1696...Portsmouth Plains was a farming community a couple miles to the west of the South End's center of population.
Today it is known as the area surrounding Calvary Cemetery, the Little League field, and the Islington St./Route 33
intersection. In June of 1696 a party of Native Americans landed at Wallis Sands Beach, trekked inland to Portsmouth
Plains, and raided the settlers there. 14 were killed and 4 taken prisoner. The colonial militia took chase,
pursued the Indians through Great Swamp, and caught up with them (on a hill further to the west) while the would-be
kidnappers paused to take breakfast. That hill is now called Breakfast Hill.

The so-called "Indian Wars" in New England from roughly the mid-1600's to 1763 were mostly a result of the European
usurpation of Native lands. Sadly, the story is an old an oft-repeated one...Europeans stole the land and destroyed
an otherwise civilized and wonderful culture.

But in some cases the "Indian Wars" were also an indirect result of greater conflicts taking place in Europe.
Basically, England, France, and Spain were vying for domination of Europe and the New World. With Louis XIV
("The Sun King" and builder of the Palace of Versailles) at the throne, France was experiencing a time of
prosperity. The French trappers and Voyageurs penetrated deep into the North American interior and were able
to create successful relationships with the Native American tribes. The French had a good grip
on North America with fortified locations at Quebec City and Louisbourg, (Cape Breton) Nova Scotia.

Often the English colonists were caught in the middle.



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