Tours of old houses are not usually Dave's thing. After visiting the Victoria Mansion on September 28, 2026, I thought a day of house tours on September 29, 2026, would be even less appealing. However, Dave and I were both fascinated with the stories told to us as we took walking tours in both Portsmouth, New Hampshire and Kennebunkport, Maine. Houses were only the prompts for dramatic tales!
The Strawberry-Banke Museum included historical buildings collected from around New Hampshire. They were furnished to show architectural styles and culture from different eras. The museum was particularly interesting to us because, according to Dave's sister, Janice, the Brimhalls on Dave's side of the family came from Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
We took a walking tour and visited four buildings--the Governor Goodwin Mansion, an 1811 Federal-style home which was owned by the governor of New Hampshire; the Shapiro House, focusing on the life of a 20th century Jewish immigrant family; the William Pitt Tavern, which showed an 18th century gathering place, and the Abbott House, built in 1720 but refurbished as a World War II era neighborhood store.
The Goodwin Mansion showed the upper class life of a shipbuilder and merchant who later was elected governor. During the Civil War, Governor Goodwin organized the New Hampshire militias that fought for the Union. He eventually lost his fortune and had to sell this beautiful house.
The Shapiro House was the home of a Jewish immigrant who "made good". He walked from the Ukraine to Germany to avoid being drafted into the Russian Army, which was a death sentence for Jews. He eventually owned a pawn shop, built this house in 1919, and took in borders to help support his family.
Mr. Shapiro's daughter had the luxuries of an early 20th century American girl.
Shapiro descendants, now fully integrated Americans, gathered at the house for a reunion.
The William Pitt Tavern provided rooms and food for travelers, as well as a place for local people to gather. It was built in the 1700s.
The Abbott House was built in 1720, but used during World War II as a neighborhood store.
It was fun to see which grocery items on the shelves are still sold today, such as Jello pudding and Heinz ketchup.
One of the displays was a ration book and another was this ration poster.
Later in the day we took a walking tour of Kennebunkport. Our guide told us the town was basically blue collar fisherman and dock workers, until the Bush family arrived 20 or more years ago. The twin cities of Kennebunk and Kennebunkport have now become stylish resort cities.
Our guide takes a spinning class with George Bush, who still spends summers at the Bush compound in Kennebunkport. Our guide described President Bush as a very humble man who sometimes doesn't attend community events because he doesn't want all the attention his presence would bring.
As we walked around the stylish part of Kennebunkport, our guide told us stories of the past inhabitants. One inn inscribed a marker in the sidewalk for each guest that stayed at the inn at least ten times. We saw the hundreds of inscribed bricks. One church was eagerly purchased by the Baptists because there was already a trail to the river behind the church, where new members of the church could get baptized. Another home was owned by a man who fathered a child with the family maid. The man's wife banished the maid, but the maid's child grew up to be the richest men in town and built his mother her own mansion!
We also stopped by "Ganny's Garden", created by Barbara Bush's grandchildren in honor of their flower-loving grandma.
We took our guide's recommendation and ate at "The Hurricane," one of our best meals of the trip.
My "Mediterranean seafood stew" came with a whole lobster on top, as well as mussels, clams, scallops, and shrimp.
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