Wednesday, June 24th
6:30pm
Taste of the Nation Portsmouth
Taste of the Nation is the nation's preeminent culinary benefit supporting anti-hunger and anti-poverty efforts. The event includes a gala food and wine tasting featuring the area's finest chefs, hand crafted beers, wines, musical entertainment, and a silent auction. Taste of the Nation is sponsored by Share Our Strength and hosted by Strawbery Banke. For tickets and more information, visit http://www.strength.org/portsmouth/.
Tuesday, June 30th
First Dinner Seating at 5:30pm, Second Dinner Seating at 8:00pm, Concert at 7:00pm
Dinner at Pitt Tavern at Strawbery Banke Museum, Concert at the Gundalow
An 18th Century Evening in Portsmouth
Enjoy an historic performance of George Frideric Handel's acclaimed Water Music, originally performed on a barge on the River Thames for King George I in 1717-recreated aboard the Gundalow on the Piscataqua River by a 14-piece chamber orchestra.
Savor authentic 18th century fare as it is served in Pitt Tavern, built c. 1766, on the grounds of Strawbery Banke Museum. The delicious dinner will feature hearth biscuits, cranberry glazed oven roasted duck, tourtière, and conclude with scrumptious colonial desserts. This special evening is being presented by the Gundalow Company, Portsmouth Pro Musica, and Strawbery Banke Museum. Cost: $85 - Your choice of dinner seating & reserved concert seating. Purchase your tickets online by clicking here or by calling 603-422-7502.
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JULY
Saturday, July 4th
12:00 noon–5:00 pm
An American Celebration!
A real old-fashioned fabulous 4th of July! Complete with children’s bike and wagon parade, traditional games and crafts, historic garden tours, live music, living history, hands-on activities, food and fun for all. Tickets are $15 for adults. Kids 17 and under are FREE. Active military and their families are FREE. Purchase advanced tickets online or at the Tyco Visitors Center on the 4th. To view the full schedule of activities for An American Celebration, please click here.
Saturday, July 25th
10am-3pm
Gardens by the Sea
The Piscataqua Garden Club is sponsoring "Gardens by the Sea", a garden tour of eight spectacular coastal gardens in Kittery Point, Maine. A mini "Art in Bloom" at the Kittery Art Association is included in the tour price. Advance tickets are $15, day of tour tickets, available at the First Congregational Church, Rt. 103, in Kittery Point, are $20. To order your tickets send a stamped, self-addressed envelope and a check made out to PGC/ Garden Tour to: Gardens By The Sea, Box 2005, New Castle, NH 03854-2005. For more information e-mail:
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or call Beth Hume at 603 433-9092. Tickets will also be available for purchase at the Tyco Visitors Center at Strawbery Banke Museum. A lovely luncheon will be available at the Congregational Church for $12. For reservations (lunch only) e-mail:
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The Piscataqua Garden Club is also hosting a Mid-Summer's Eve Preview Party on Friday, July 24th at the home of Alex and Danna Dearborn. For complete information about the preview party, please click here.
July 27 - August 7
9:00am - 3:00pm (Monday - Friday)
Archaeology Field School
Special opportunity for adults and students ages 16 and up, with or without prior archaeological experience. The archaeological field school will focus on the investigation of the Chase House site to gather information hidden by the passage of time about its former kitchen ell, barn and brick lined privy. This creative archaeological quest will provide hands-on archaeological field and laboratory experiences, in accordance with archaeological standards of the US Department of Interior and the Society for American Archaeology Standards of Ethics. Click here for full details. For more information, email
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or call (603) 422-7521.
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AUGUST
Saturday, August 1st
10:00am–5:00 pm
Community Day at Strawbery Banke Museum
Enjoy all the museum has to offer and help fight hunger. FREE admission to the museum with the donation of a nonperishable food item, per person, to be donated to a local food bank.
Saturday, August 22nd
7:00pm-10:00pm (VIP admission starts at 5:30pm)
PASSPORT - A Craft Beer and Culinary World Tour
A Special Benefit Event for Strawbery Banke Museum and NH Public Television
Don’t miss New Hampshire's premiere craft beer and food pairing event at beautiful, historic Strawbery Banke Museum in Portsmouth. Sample over a dozen hand-crafted beers from Smuttynose Brewing Company, Portsmouth Brewery and select New England breweries, exquisitely paired with culinary creations from around the world prepared by The Common Man Family of Restaurants, The Portsmouth Brewery Restaurant and other local fine dining establishments.
Your tour will include learning about many of the world’s leading ale and lager styles and meeting the brewers themselves. Enjoy beers expertly paired with a range of world and American cuisines at more than 12 beer and food pairing stations. Select New England and East Coast breweries who produce outstanding leading styles will also be at the event to further enhance the experience.The museum will feature a history of beer making in Portsmouth, beginning in the colonial era. And several of the Strawbery Banke buildings will be open for touring. A raffle featuring great brewery, restaurant and travel-oriented prizes also will be featured. Don't miss this one-of-a-kind culinary learning event in a truly spectacular setting! For more information and to purchase tickets, please visit: www.nhptv.org/passport or call 603.868.1100 .
August 24th - August 28th
9:00am - 4:00pm daily (Monday - Friday)
Animation Vacation presented by Kid Filmmakers
Kids will learn the history of animation and watch cutting-edge films. They will make their own flipbooks and create anime, Claymation® and cutout animation movies. For kids ages 10-15. For more information visit www.kidfilmmakers.com.
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SEPTEMBER
Saturday, September 19
12:00 noon to 4:00 pm at Prescott Park
New Hampshire Fish and Lobster Festival
This fun-filled event will feature seafood tasting, games, music and more. Walk the decks of a local fishing boat, taste freshly-landed local seafood prepared by top chefs, learn to identify and prepare local fish, watch an on-location cook-off competition between chefs, investigate the Gulf of Maine ecosystem, sing a song and hear a tale or two. This first-ever interactive festival celebrates 18 miles and 400 years of NH fishing communities and traditions. Strawbery Banke Museum will be hosting Working Waterfront tours at Prescott Park and also be giving historic cooking demonstrations over an open fire pit. Admission is free with seafood tastings for $3.00. For more information, please visit www.prescottpark.org/fish.cfm.
Saturday & Sunday, September 19 & 20
12:00 noon to 4:00 pm
2009 Tour of Fairy Houses in Portsmouth
Sponsored by the Friends of the South End, this self-guided walking tour features whimsical fairy houses built by families, children, garden clubs and local artisans. The tour will include Strawbery Banke, Prescott Park, the Governor John Langdon House and the Wentworth Gardner and Tobias Lear Houses. Excerpts from "Fairy Houses - The Ballet" will also be presented. Visitors are invited to build an entire Fairy House Village on Peirce Island using only natural materials.
Free parking is available on Peirce Island. For up-to-date information, visit www.fairyhouses.com or click here to view the event poster. Just added, click here for the Fairy House Tour Map.
Saturday, September 26
6:00pm-8:00pm (dinner reservations are at 8:30pm)
Vintage & Vine 2009 - Harvest Wine Tasting Tour at Puddle Dock
Join Strawbery Banke Museum for one of the Seacoast's most popular fundraising events: Vintage & Vine! This delectable event will feature an assortment of fine wines offered by the New Hampshire Liquor Commission along with top local restaurants - Agave, Anneke Jans, Blue Mermaid Island Grill, Brazo, Cafe Mediterraneo, Herbert Brothers Seafood, Jumpin' Jay's Fish Cafe, The Green Monkey, The 100 Club, Rudi's Portsmouth, and Wentworth By the Sea Hotel- donating exquisite hors d'oeuvres to compliment the fine wines. Guests also have the option to experience a gourmet dinner, prepared exclusively for Strawbery Banke Museum supporters, at one of five local, upscale restaurants. Each restaurant is donating a portion of the dinner's proceeds to the Museum. Click here for full event details and to purchase your tickets.
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OCTOBER
Thursday-Sunday, October 8-25 - ALL SHOWS ARE SOLD OUT
Thursdays and Fridays at 7:30pm, Saturdays at 8pm, Sundays at 5pm
*Please note the change to the Saturday schedule. Only one performance at 8pm is now being offered due to the length of the play which is running at 2 hours and 45 minutes.
Lamplight Dialogues: The Ghosts of Puddle Dock Come to Life
The second production of Strawbery Banke Museum's History Theatre
This fall, in the historic properties at Strawbery Banke Museum, the ghosts of Puddle Dock’s former residents will emerge. In the parlor before the fire or around the dining table by candlelight, stolen secrets, haunted pasts, and family feuds and reconciliations will play out on their original stages. With “Lamplight Dialogues,” playwright and Harbor Light Stage producer Kent Stephens masterfully dramatizes the untold stories of the historic port city.
Composed of six short acts in six separate properties, “Lamplight Dialogues” is presented as “promenade theatre.” Audiences in small groups will be guided by lamplight from one scene to the next across the museum grounds, where they will witness dramas that span the history of Portsmouth from 1789 to World War II. A brief intermission with refreshments will be served in the William Pitt Tavern, and—in a moving and exhilarating conclusion—theatergoers will unite with the ghosts for a finale and curtain call around a bonfire in the middle of Puddle Dock. The play is presented as a special event with a separate admissions ticket after regular museum hours. ALL SHOWS ARE SOLD OUT.
Saturday, October 10
10:00 am–5:00 pm
New Hampshire Fall Festival - Named Best of NH Editor's Pick for Best New Festival!
Celebrate harvest time with Strawbery Banke’s second annual New Hampshire Fall Festival. Experience a traditional New England country fair complete with demonstrations from craftspeople, heritage breed and farm animal exhibits, farm animal and livestock demonstrations, special autumn activities in the Children’s Garden, presentations on heirloom seeds, canning and food preservation talks, fiber arts, demonstrations and exhibits on historic crafts and industries, coopering, harvest-themed crafts in the Family Discovery Center, garden tours, flower arranging presentations, live musical performances, and much more! NEW this year: Beer sampling from local breweries and Prescott Park's Chili Cook-Off will also be a part of the festival. Tickets are $15 for adults, $6 for youths (12 and under). Strawbery Banke Museum and Prescott Park Arts Festival members are FREE. For more information about the Chili Cook-Off please visit www.PrescottPark.org.
Saturday, October 24
1:00pm-5:00pm
Antiques on the Banke
Join nationally recognized experts in the field of antiquities for this exciting and educational event. Antiques experts- think Boston Museum of Fine Arts - Sotheby's - Winterthur - will provide object identification and appraisals as well as workshops. There are three levels of tickets for the event: $8 for an item identification and appraisal ; $20 to attend all 4 workshops; $25 to attend the workshops and have one item appraised.
Friday and Saturday, October 30–31
5:30-8:00 pm
Ghosts on the Banke
Long-dead sea captains, 17th century shopkeepers and wayward pirates haunt the streets as you trick or treat safely from house to historic house in this family friendly Halloween event. Tickets are $6 per person.
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DECEMBER
Saturday and Sunday, December 5-6, 12-13, 19-20
4:00pm-9:00pm
Candlelight Stroll
Stroll through life in a simpler time as the history of American holiday traditions unfolds around you. Bring the whole family for a wholesome stroll through the sights, sounds, & smells of New England's favorite holiday season.Tickets are $20 for adults. Kids 5-17: $10. Kids 4 & under: FREE. Family rate (2 adults and your children ages 17 and under): $40.
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, December 28, 29, 30
Tours Start at 10:00am and run on the hour with the last touring starting at 2pm.
Holiday House Tours
These guided 90-minute tours focus on the evolution of winter traditions over the centuries. Visitors tour five historic houses and experience the widely various decorations, sights, sounds, and smells of holidays and winter days past. Tickets are $12 for adults. Kids 5-17: $10. Kids 4 & under: FREE. Family rate (2 adults and your children ages 17 and under): $30
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