Strawbery Banke Museum

Attraction Details

14 Hancock St., Portsmouth, NH 03801

Step into the past and explore 350+ years of history in the neighborhood of Puddle Dock at Strawbery Banke Museum. Strawbery Banke Museum is unique amongst outdoor history museums in preserving a complete neighborhood’s evolution of over 350 years. The Museum is a real community telling the stories where people lived and worked for hundreds of years. Explore historic houses, most on their original sites, including elegant mansions, working-class homes, a colonial tavern, and a 1940s corner store. Additionally, tour a cooper’s shop and a reproduction Native American wigwam. Strawbery Banke Museum's furnished houses and exhibit houses are open to the public for touring seasonally. The furnished houses are interpreted to different periods, with many of them furnished with the dishes, furniture, and other objects of their former owners. Some exhibit houses include the “People of the Dawnland” exhibit, exploring Abenaki culture; both past and present; “Water Has a Memory” exhibit, which educates visitors on the damaging effects to the historic houses from sea level rise and groundwater. Meet the faces of history by talking to costumed historical roleplayers at Strawbery Banke who portray the real people who lived and worked in the Puddle Dock Neighborhood. Spread across nearly 10 acres, the historic landscape at Strawbery Banke features a dozen gardens, with heirloom flowers, and vegetables. The historic houses are open for tours seasonally. The Museum’s professionally maintained outdoor skating rink operates from December through February.

Meetings

Strawbery Banke Museum offers unique spaces and historical settings for a wide variety of special events from small private gatherings and large corporate events. The museum has various spaces available to suit your needs including: 1. Flat open space on Puddle Dock, and other sites throughout the historic grounds, which are suitable for tents and have available electricity and water. 2. Interiors of a small selection of historic buildings, such as Pitt Tavern, that provide intimate settings for smaller gatherings. 3. Lawrence J. Yerdon Visitors Center which offers more modern conveniences and includes a classroom and a lecture hall 4. More options may also be available depending on the needs of your event. To check event space availability and for more information about booking meetings, corporate parties, special events, trade shows, or any event you would like to make special, please visit https://www.strawberybanke.org/private-events.

Image Gallery

Strawbery Banke preserves a complete neighborhood’s evolution of over 350 years, with most of its historic houses on their original sites.

The Museum’s furnished houses and exhibit houses are open to the public for touring seasonally.

The furnished houses are interpreted to different periods, with many of them furnished with the dishes, furniture, and other objects of their former owners.

Meet the faces of history by talking to costumed historical roleplayers at Strawbery Banke who portray the real people who lived and worked in the Puddle Dock Neighborhood.

Roleplayers speak from a historical perspective, meaning that they will only talk about the time in which their character lived. The costumes, props, and demonstrations they work into their interpretation are all period-appropriate.

Some exhibit houses include the “People of the Dawnland” exhibit, exploring Abenaki culture, arts, foodways, and storytelling traditions; both past and present; “Water Has a Memory” exhibit, which educates visitors on the damaging effects to the historic houses from sea level rise and groundwater.

Engage with the Museum’s roleplayers to get an in-depth look at a specific time and place in American history.

Spread across nearly 10 acres, the historic landscape at Strawbery Banke features a dozen gardens, with five set to period designs, heirloom flowers, and vegetables, bringing the experience of outdoor life for the families who have lived in this period for centuries.

The landscape invites you to visit period gardens and homes including a Victorian-era formal garden, a colonial period kitchen garden, a global herb garden, three heritage apple orchards, as well as a colonial revival pocket garden.

Lawns and picnic areas offer visitors the opportunity to picnic, relax, or play games in a beautiful historic neighborhood.

The historic houses are open for tours seasonally from the spring through the fall. Additionally, Strawbery Banke is open throughout the year for special events, programs, and workshops.

Candlelight Stroll invites visitors to step into the past and experience 350+ years of seasonal and holiday traditions in the Puddle Dock neighborhood. The Museum’s furnished historic houses are adorned with handmade decorations created from greens and dried flowers from the Museum’s heirloom gardens.

Labrie Family Skate at Puddle Dock Pond, the Museum’s professionally-maintained outdoor skating rink operates from December through February.