Jackson House, 1664
A National Historic Landmark
76 Northwest Street
Portsmouth, N.H. 03801
(603) 436-3205
JacksonHouse@HistoricNewEngland.org

Directions

Open: June through October 15
First and third Saturday of the month
Tours at 11 a.m., noon, 1 p.m., 2 p.m., 3 p.m. and 4 p.m.
Admission: $5, Historic New England members and Portsmouth residents free

The oldest surviving wood frame house in New Hampshire and Maine was built by Richard Jackson, a woodworker, farmer, and mariner, on his family's 25-acre plot. At that time, timber from the region's abundant pine forests formed the basis of the economy. The extensive Piscataqua riverway powered scores of sawmills and linked the hinterlands to the sea and distant ports.

Jackson's house resembles English post-medieval prototypes, but is notably American in its extravagant use of wood. Succeeding generations added a lean-to and more rooms to the east to accommodate several different family groups sharing the property at once.

SPNEA's founder, William Sumner Appleton, acquired the house for SPNEA, now known as Historic New England, in 1924 from a member of the seventh generation of Jacksons to live there. Despite pressure to remove post-17th-century additions, Appleton limited his restoration to stripping off 20th-century lath and plaster and replacing 18th-century sash with diamond-pane casements where evidence of the original fenestration was too compelling to ignore.

Also in Portsmouth are Historic New England's Governor John Langdon House and Rundlet-May House. Nearby in the Piscataqua region are Hamilton House, Sarah Orne Jewett House, Gilman Garrison House and Sayward-Wheeler House.

Directions: Take I-95 to Exit 7 (Market Street). Bear right after the railroad tracks. Turn right onto Deer Street. Turn right onto Maplewood Avenue. Turn right onto Northwest Street.