PORTSMOUTH —Strawbery Banke Museum invites visitors to step into history with its Homes and Hearth Guided Tours, offered on April 5-6, 12-13, and 19-20, 2025. This 90-minute guided tour takes guests inside four historic homes, where generations of Portsmouth residents gathered and grew together over centuries. 

Tickets are available online at StrawberyBanke.org/homes-hearth-tours and advanced ticket purchase is recommended, as space is limited. Tickets are $25 per person, with Museum members receiving a $5 discount. 

“Strawbery Banke’s historic houses hold the stories of the people who lived, worked, and built their communities within them,” said Linnea Grim, president and CEO, Thomas W. Haas Endowed Chair. “The Homes and Hearth Guided Tours offer a unique opportunity to step into the kitchens and living spaces of Portsmouth’s past and experience the warmth, resilience, and traditions that shaped everyday life.”

Led by expert guides, the 90-minute tour includes visits to four of the Museum's historic houses. Each stop showcases a different era:

• 1870 at the Goodwin Mansion: Explore the refined home of Ichabod and Sarah Goodwin, reflecting the lifestyle of a wealthy Portsmouth family navigating social and industrial change.

• 1919 at the Shapiro House: Visit the home of Jewish immigrants Sarah and Abraham Shapiro and discover how their kitchen and home reflected their resilience and adaptation in a growing immigrant community.

• 1943 at the Abbott House & Store: Experience life on the home front during World War II as you step into Bertha Abbott’s corner store, a community hub during a time of rationing and uncertainty.

• The eighteenth century at the Wheelwright House: Step back in time to an open-hearth kitchen and learn how early Portsmouth residents preserved food, prepared meals, and relied on their hearths to sustain their families.

Tours will be offered on the following dates and times: 

• April 5-6, 12-13, and 19-20, 2025: 10 a.m., 11 a.m., noon, 1 p.m., and 2 p.m.

For more information about Homes and Hearth Guided Tours and tickets, visit StrawberyBanke.org.

About Strawbery Banke Museum:
Strawbery Banke Museum, a Smithsonian Affiliate, is a nearly 10-acre History Museum located in downtown Portsmouth, NH, interpreting over 350 years of history, from Indigenous history to the present day. The Museum invites visitors to explore historical houses on their original sites, heirloom gardens, traditional crafts, and visit with costumed roleplayers who share the stories of the people who lived and worked in the waterfront neighborhood of Puddle Dock. Strawbery Banke welcomes visitors, members, schoolchildren, and volunteers for daily programs, exhibits, skating, and signature special events throughout the year.

Strawbery Banke Museum is funded in part by grants from the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation; the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts & National Endowment for the Arts; the Institute of Museum and Library Services; the National Endowment for the Humanities: Democracy Demands Wisdom; and the New Hampshire Land and Community Heritage Investment Program. For more information and a complete calendar of events, visit StrawberyBanke.org.