Neptune's Needle

Principal port of New Hampshire at the mouth and on the south side of the Piscataqua River.Three miles from the Atlantic Ocean. River at this point has 7' tidal swing and a maximum spring tidal current of 6 knots. First visited by Martin Pring in 1603 as a possible settlement site, and later by Champlain and John Smith.

It was settled by English fishing interests in 1623, under grant to John Mason from the Plymouth Company, of which Sir Ferdinando Gorges was the principal.

Became and remained the capital of New Hampshire through the colonial period, during which it was an important shipbuilding and naval stores center. On north side of the Picataqua River from Portsmouth is Kittery, Maine. Up river are the tidal towns of Exeter, Newmarket, Durham, Dover and South Berwick. Isles of Shoals 10 miles off coast from Portsmouth.

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Compiler

Peter Richards