Fort Constitution has a stoic feel to it, appropriate for a location first fortified in 1632 for the early New Englanders. Read up more on the site here. The fort is home to the US Coast Guard and Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse, a regular fixture here at The Daily Portsmouth, and one of my favorite landmarks of the seacoast. The shot below is a view of the Fort from Great Island Common in New Castle.
All 48 feet of the Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse loom large in this shot during a rainstorm earlier this summer. You can almost feel the texture of the lighthouse’s cast iron skin. Visit PortsmouthHarborLighthouse.org to read up on the history of the lighthouse and see when the tours start back up (not until the weather warms up in May).
Today’s shots feature Strawbery Banke with some freshly fallen snow. Above is a panoramic shot of the museum campus and the former Puddle Dock neighborhood with the North Church visible in the background. Below is another shot from my trip to Fort Constitution, where you can see just how cold the Fort’s stone wall is with the ice built up from the snow and sea spray. View on large for a nice crisp shot of Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse (you can even see Whaleback Light in the distance). The fresh snow definitely made for a lovely walk on Monday afternoon.
With the arrival of the snowstorm this weekend, I had the unique opportunity to go adventuring around the seacoast (since the storm kept me from traveling)…and though it wasn’t really all that adventurous, I did have to sort of sneak around Fort Constitution to try and get some better shots of Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse in the snow, as it’s a scene I’ve wanted to capture. (They don’t let you over near the actual lighthouse during the offseason, which I didn’t know until I arrived, so I tried to climb whatever I could or sneak through the little holes in the wall to get a better glimpse.)
I’ll have a few more of the lighthouse in the gallery in the coming days, and more shots from the rest of the day around New Castle and downtown. Snapped more construction shots too of the Residence Inn, which is now adorned with brick, and also some of the former Portsmouth Herald building – as always, stay tuned for more. (And don’t forget to click the images for larger views!)
This shot is part of a very special series to me, which was taken during a trip to Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse in the rain the week after my grandfather passed away this summer. The weather wasn’t very cooperative, but it certainly made for an appropriately moody shot. You can even see a few raindrops on the lens. Another shot from the series can be seen HERE (in color).
Portsmouth Harbor Lighthouse is usually well worth the trip, and it was especially soothing on this afternoon. I’m looking forward to getting back in warmer weather for a full tour. Below is a shot taken from the first tour I ever took of the 1878 tower with my dad a couple years back (with a very old camera).
