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| (photo courtesy Portsmouth Marine Society) |
PORTSMOUTH –
The long-buried secrets of Smuttynose Island are revealed
this summer in a surprising new exhibit at Discover Portsmouth, the city’s new
downtown visitor center. “Under the Isles of Shoals” features artifacts
unearthed in recent years by archaeology professor Nathan Hamilton and his
students. Hamilton created the exhibit with historian J. Dennis Robinson who
has written a companion book about the historic “dig” that continues this
summer at the Isles of Shoals. The exhibit is free to the public and open from
10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily from May through August 31.
“If you think you know the Isles of Shoals, think
again,” says Maryellen Burke, executive director of Discover Portsmouth. The
1810-era brick buildings, formerly the city library, have just undergone a $1
million renovation. “Dr. Hamilton’s research is literally rewriting history,”
Burke says, “and you can only see it here.”
While legend claimed, for example, that Native Americans did
not visit the Isles of Shoals 10 miles out to sea from Portsmouth, Hamilton’s
researchers discovered six prehistoric occupations dating as far back as 6,000
years ago. Working from the Shoals Marine Lab on Appledore Island, Hamilton’s
diggers also found evidence of an ancient tavern littered with thousands of
clay pipe fragments dating to the 1620s. Archaeologists also turned up the
remains of “great cod” that once weighed 120 pounds.
“We explore the same two acres of Smuttynose Island through
five very different periods of time,” says co-curator Robinson. Once a thriving
“fish factory” with hundreds of men in the late 1600s, Robinson says, the
island was all but abandoned during the American Revolution. Then in the
early 1800s Smuttynose was the site of the first major hotel at the Isles of
Shoals, ushering in the seacoast tourism industry that continues today.
Signed copies of Robinson’s book Under the Isles of
Shoals: Archaeology & Discovery on Smuttynose Island will be available
in the Discover Center gift shop. The colorful new book published by the
Portsmouth Marine Society features over 180 photographs and illustrations in
176 pages.
In addition to historic artifacts, the book and exhibit
feature five original illustrations by seacoast artist Bill Paarlberg. The
exhibit also includes multiple slide presentations, scientific charts, a video
of the diggers at work, and what Robinson calls “cool big stuff for kids.” The
large objects on display include a dugout and a birch bark canoe, reconstructed
“fish flakes” used to dry Atlantic cod, and a replica of the porch of the 1846
Mid-Ocean House of Entertainment that once stood on Smuttynose Island.
“You can have your picture taken at an ancient island hotel
without leaving the building,” Burke says. “And you might even see a famous
Smuttynose murder weapon if you look closely.”
Visitors can view Indian stone tools, rare coins, imported
ceramics, early glassware, and the bones of fish and animals. Evidence shows
that original settlers ate a wide variety of birds including loon, gull, duck,
hawk, and the now-extinct “great auk,” a flightless bird related to the puffin.
Remains of seashells from Smuttynose may help unlock the traffic patterns of
colonial shipping and offer clues to global climate change.
Sponsors of the exhibit include Smuttynose Brewing Company, SeacoastNH.com, Optima Bank, Shoals Marine
Lab, Treehouse Toys, CleareyePhoto.com,
Speedpro Imaging, Isles of Shoals Steamship Company, Martha Fuller Clark
and Jeff Clark, Island Cruises, Independent Archaeological Consulting and
Portsmouth Harbor Cruises.
The exhibit is a production of the Portsmouth Historical
Society that also owns and operates the John Paul Jones House Museum nearby.
The visitor center is located at the corner of Middle and Islington streets
downtown. For more information on group tours, special events, and lectures
contact Discover Portsmouth at 603-436-8433 or
visit www.PortsmouthHistory.org.
