By Karen Dandurant
news@seacoastonline.com
Posted Feb 2, 2020 at 5:20 PMUpdated Feb 3, 2020 at 8:49 AM

PORTSMOUTH — Presidential hopeful Deval Patrick took a tour of the Black Heritage Trail in Portsmouth on Sunday, learning about the history of New Hampshire slavery in the city.

“Thank you for inviting me,” said Patrick, a Democrat. “I am looking forward to the tour.”

The tour began at the Court Street home of the Black Heritage Trail. The first stop was the African Burial Ground memorial.

Nur Shoop, a certified guide for BHT conducted the tour, joking she felt like this was her first tour.

“There are important people here,” said Shoop. “The press is here. I am a little stage shy.”

An experienced guide, Shoop expertly imparted stories about slavery in Portsmouth that Patrick had never heard. She explained how coffins were discovered under Chestnut Street in 2003 during road maintenance.

“People tend to think the city didn’t know they were there, but that is not true, an urban myth,” said Shoop. She handed out copies of the Portsmouth Chronicle from June 24, 1853, an article discussing the coffins on Chestnut Street, found then by workmen and reburied.

“When she talked about how the coffins were stacked on top of each other, Patrick seemed shocked.

“Not only were they stacked, but there were sewer pipes running through them,” said State Senator David Watters, D-Dover,

Watters accompanied Patrick on the tour and has endorsed his candidacy. He said he likes his policy and stance on things like health care, climate change and education.

JerriAnne Boggis, executive director of the Black Heritage Trail, said Patrick is the fourth presidential candidate to take the tour.

“It gives us an opportunity to talk about diversity in New Hampshire history,” said Boggis. “There are people who think New Hampshire is not the right state for the first-in-the-nation primary because they don’t think we are diverse enough compared to other parts of the country. We need people to know our history because we are.”

Portsmouth resident Joanne Hardin was among those who came out to walk the trail and meet Patrick, who served as the 71st governor of Massachusetts for two terms.

“Most of my family lives in Massachusetts,” said Hardin. “So I know of him as the governor. My family speaks highly of him and I wanted a chance to meet him.”