Good Ghosts Among Us
Portsmouth, New Hampshire is a seacoast town colonized by white settlers in 1630 on land that belonged to the Abenaki Indian tribe. Given that New England was the first stop on the 1620 Imperialism or Bust! Tour, it’s unsurprising to see the remnants of centuries past preserved in towns and cities all over the region. In fact, we’re kind of obnoxious about being the oldest kid on the colonialist block. So much so that in Boston we’ve worked extra hard to maintain the original seventeenth-century street design that is a cross between a labyrinth and an M.C. Escher drawing. It’s as if the founders were saying, “Welcome to Boston! Now, get lost. Literally.”
Portsmouth is sleepy, but it’s not quiet. The ocean hugs its margins and it was once a major trading hub for lumber, fishing, and the ship building industries. Harbor towns have that tidal rhythm to them—the flux of arrival and departure of water and people and time. And so, like a lot of New England towns, it tries to pin its history above ground. Turn down any street and you’re walking through the past. Colorful houses preserved since the 1700s make it easy to imagine regular people sweeping their front stoops, walking over to Market Square to go to shop and work, or pacing on a widow’s walk waiting for the sails of a ship carrying a husband or father to come into the harbor.
I love this about New England. We let our ghosts roam around in daylight. We’re not shy about waving the past around for everyone to see, no matter how messy or morally inconvenient. Why not? Nothing good comes from trying to pave over history. Just ask anyone who’s ever driven in Boston.