Tours

July 26, Aug 8, Sep 20(FULL), Oct 11, Nov 8(FULL) | 2:00 pm Oct 10 | 10:00 am Meet Jack Stains, a “Black Jack” in Historic Old Portsmouth: A Living History Tour Sankofa Scholar & Tour Guide: Kevin Wade Mitchel as Jack Staines Seafaring was one of the most significant occupations among both enslaved and free Black men between 1740 and 1865. Black seamen sailed on whalers, warships, and privateers. Some were enslaved and forced to work at sea, but…

Aug 7(FULL), Aug 28(full) | 10:00 am Port of Entry: Boys and Girls for Sale Tour Guide: Caraline Shaheen Local newspapers carried merchants’ ads for ships returning to the port of Portsmouth laden with cargo from trade ports on the West Coast of Africa, the West Indies and the middle Atlantic coastal cities of Colonial America. Visit local wharves and auction sites related to the Atlantic Slave Trade, where a captive could be exchanged for “cash or good lumber” to…

Aug 29(FULL), Sep 5(FULL) | 2:00 pm & Oct 3 (FULL), Nov 7(FULL) | 10 am Lives Bound Together: The Washingtons & Ona Marie Judge in NH Tour Guide: Sonya Martino During the Spring of 1796, George Washington’s final months in office, Ona Judge, an enslaved woman owned by the First Family, escaped the Executive Mansion in Philadelphia with the aid of that city’s free Black community and made her way to Portsmouth. On this tour, you will hear the…

Oct 31 | 2:00 PM (FULL) We Remember: Cemeteries and Burying Grounds Sankofa Scholar & Tour Guide: Angela Matthews The African Burying Ground Memorial is one of at least six locations in the city where Black Americans and Africans have been laid to rest. Hear the stories and remember.

Milford Black Heritage Trail Guided Tour Sep 13(FULL), Oct 4 (FULL), Nov 1, 2pm Not enslaved, yet not free: Harriet E. Wilson and the Abolition Movement Tour Guide: Kayla Lewis Harriet E. Wilson was the first African American of any gender to publish a novel on the North American continent. Her novel, Our Nig, or Sketches from the Life of a Free Black was published in 1859. Born a free person of color in New Hampshire, Wilson was orphaned when young and…

Hancock Black Heritage Trail Guided Tour Sunday, October 18, 10am (FULL) Asserting Freedom: A Black History Tour in Hancock, NH Tour Guide: Eric Aldrich Hancock, a quintessential New England village, defies the march of time. At first glance, this little village seems to be slumbering away quite peacefully. However, buried just beneath the Colonial veneer of this seemingly all white town is a vibrant history of early Black settlers who worked, bought land, built homes, challenged the church and struggled…

Warner Black Heritage Trail Guided Tours Postponed to 2021 A Small New Hampshire Town Remembers Its Black History Tour Guides: Rebecca Courser & Lynn Clark Historians Rebecca Courser & Lynn Clark will take us on a journey in Warner, NH that will commemorate and make visible the town’s Black community that dates back to the 1700s.