Look ahead for a stately, two-story colonial house with a big central chimney, brown wood siding, and white-trimmed windows-if you spot a house that looks like it could tell a bunch of stories over a couple of cups of tea, you’ve found the Joshua Wentworth House!
Now, picture yourself walking the streets of Portsmouth in 1770: horses clip-clop by, townsfolk go about their business, and suddenly there’s the sound of woodworkers hammering and sawing as this beautiful house is being built for Joshua Wentworth, grandson of a Lieutenant Governor. That name might sound familiar-there were a lot of Wentworths in Portsmouth, and yes, they basically had a family reunion of houses! This one, though, stood for generations at 119 Hanover Street, serving as a single-family home, then a duplex, a tenement, a bakery (imagine the warm bread smells!), and even a newspaper office-you could say the house has had more careers than most people.
But here’s where our story gets wild: In the 1970s, the future of the old house looked grim-bulldozers were ready for urban renewal! Locals jumped into action, plotting heroic, if slightly wacky, options to save it. Cut it in half and move it? Maybe. Then, someone piped up: “Why not float it down the river?” That’s right! In 1973, after months of drama, this 190-ton house set sail up the Piscataqua on a barge. You can imagine the tension as this giant, chimney-and-all, drifted past startled seagulls and spectators, probably wondering if it would spring a leak like an overworked rubber duck!
Restoration came next, in 1980, as experts uncovered clues to its many lives hidden in creaky floorboards and old bricks. Though it’s now privately owned, the Joshua Wentworth House stands here as a living witness to 250 years of Portsmouth history-and proof that with a little teamwork and a lot of imagination (and maybe a sturdy barge), almost anything can be saved. Now, who’s ready for the next adventure?
