“The Portsmouth Historical Society’s museums and programs connect the community to our past, present and future through collections, interpretation, education and preservation.”

The Portsmouth Historical Society administers two facilities in the heart of downtown Portsmouth, including the Welcome Center and Academy Galleries which feature rotating annual exhibitions and a robust gift shop, and the John Paul Jones Historic House Museum which houses the Society’s permanent collection of Portsmouth memorabilia, furniture, textiles, and other objects of material culture. The Society is also home to Portsmouth Advocates, an architectural preservation group; and the Portsmouth Marine Society Press, our publishing arm which has printed over 40 titles to date.

We are open from April thru December every year, 10am to 5pm. On the first Fridays of every month during our on-season, we are open later until 8pm and admission is free all day on those days. Our Welcome Center hosts a 17-minute video on the diverse and exciting history of Portsmouth. Our Museum Shop offers a great selection of history books, prints, art, and unique jewelry and apparel made by local artists. Walking tours of the city start every day at 10:30am, with other fantastic themed tours on Women’s History, LGBT+ History, and of course, all things Revolutionary War in our Loyalist to Liberty walking tour.

During our on-season we host monthly Family Days centered on a rotating theme; themes in the past having been ocean touch-tanks, fairy festivals, crafting, and more. Community programming also hosts monthly textile-based project meetings called Knit Happens, as well as Read It & Eat, a cookbook club that brings people together to try different recipes from the same book. Our 3rd Grade History program goes into Portsmouth schools to provide a Social Studies curriculum to Portsmouth students, and has recently expanded into a Homeschool offering as well. Our season always ends with a Gingerbread house exhibition, where we accept and display the fantastic decorative talent our community has to offer.

Every year the Society presents exhibitions relating to art, history, the telling of our shared past, and Portsmouth stories. These mission-driven exhibitions raise the level of awareness about our cultural resources, educating our Seacoast community in addition to our national and international visitors that we receive each year.

Whether we’re new to you or old friends, we encourage you to stop on by!