An Old Town by the Sea by Thomas Bailey Aldrich

IT is not supposable that the early settlers selected the site of their / plantation on account of its picturesqueness. They were influenced / entirely by the lay of the land, its nearness and easy access to the / sea, and the secure harbor it offered to their fishing-vessels; yet they / could not have chosen a more beautiful spot had beauty been the sole / consideration. The first settlement was made at Odiorne's Point -- the / Pilgrims' Rock of New Hampshire; there the Manor, or Mason's Hall, was / built by the Laconia Company in 1623. It was not until 1631 that the / Great House was erected by Humphrey Chadborn on Strawberry Bank. Mr. / Chadborn, consciously or unconsciously, sowed a seed from which a city / has sprung.

The town of Portsmouth stretches along the south bank of the Piscataqua, / about two miles from the sea as the crow flies -- three miles following / the serpentine course of the river. The stream broadens suddenly at this / point, and at flood tide, lying without a ripple in a basin formed by / the interlocked islands and the mainland, it looks more like an island / lake than a river. To the unaccustomed eye there is no visible outlet. / Standing on one of the wharves at the foot of State Street or Court / Street, a stranger would at first scarcely suspect the contiguity of the / ocean. A little observation, however, would show him that he was in a / seaport. The rich red rust on the gables and roofs of ancient buildings / looking seaward would tell him that. There is a fitful saline flavor in / the air, and if while he gazed a dense white fog should come rolling in, / like a line of phantom breakers, he would no longer have any doubts.