Portsmouth, New Hampshire’s Haunted Red-Light District - Patreon Preview

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Welcome to this month’s patron exclusive post! If you’re anything like me, you’ve already learned something new in the title, and there’s plenty more!

Portsmouth, New Hampshire History

Portsmouth, New Hampshire, was first explored in 1603 and found to be home to a natural harbor that would allow big ships to use as, well, a port. It was incorporated as a town in 1653 and given the name “Portsmouth”, but not for the reason you think. You see, it wasn’t given that name because it was a port, oh no. It was given that name in honor of the colony’s founder, John Mason. You know, John Mason, Portsmouth, makes sense, right? No? Oh yeah, that doesn’t make any sense.

Wait, hold on, here it is! You see, John Mason used to be the captain of the English port of Portsmouth, Hampshire, England! Now it’s all coming together. They named the new town after his old workplace! It also turns out that ports have captains! You really do learn something new every day. Like, just yesterday, I learned that my book is really underperforming on Amazon to an embarrassing degree. Wait, sorry, I’m getting off track here. I also didn’t mean to dump on you about the book. It’s not a big deal. Anyway, back to the story!

Fast forward a little over a hundred years, and Portsmouth is now one of the busiest ports in the brand-new nation of the United States of America. It was an important site during the Revolutionary War, with African slaves helping to defend it against the British.

Read the Rest on Patreon!

Slightly Odd Society

Slightly Odd Society by Slightly Odd America

A very special thank you to the Slightly Odd Society Members on Patreon and Substack!

Ruth Dempsey

SpookyTooth

Mike Faria

JP

Corey


About the Author

Ed Sweeney documents folklore, odd history, hauntings, and cryptid cases at SlightlyOddAmerica.com. He wrote Slightly Odd Fitchburg: The Odd and Haunted History of Central Massachusetts, is a content creator, and founder of the Slightly Odd Society

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Location: Portsmouth, NH 03801, USA

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