a look at our changing landscape

It’s no surprise that Portsmouth’s landscape has changed over the last 400 years. At times, changes have been slow and barely noticeable, but there have also been big events—such as the arrival of Europeans—that dramatically altered Portsmouth’s appearance. Native Americans came close to living in perfect balance with the landscape. Early Europeans, however, exploited the environment in pursuit of money. But they still depended on the landscape for their livelihood and achieved a level of self-sufficiency rarely seen in modern times. That model of independence and self-reliance served as the foundation for this country. Unfortunately, it’s a model that all but a gritty few have forgotten.

From looking at physical and historic evidence, John Forti can determine how the Portsmouth landscape has changed over the centuries. According to Forti, who is curator of historic landscapes at Strawbery Banke, women from the Abenaki tribe were farming on the Seacoast for more than 1,000 years before Europeans arrived. This contradicts much of what early colonists said about natives, who claimed that the natives were not putting land to good use. Colonists were determined to use as much of the land as possible. They came to “render merchantable commodities from the landscape,” taking timber, codfish and sassafras, Forti said. “They were harvesting from a landscape that other people were trying to stay in balance with,” he said. Within decades of their arrival, the colonists had filled in or altered many of the inland marshes and ponds that characterized the waterfront. 

It’s difficult to picture what Portsmouth would have looked like four centuries ago. Forti relies on primary sources to understand what early settlers might have seen. He studies probate inventories, journals, garden design records and other human resources, but he also depends on evidence written by nature. By digging three feet into the soil, he can read a history of the landscape in various pollens and seed varieties. Careful analysis of these indicators is like reading the rings on a tree. They allow scientists to determine what plants peppered the landscape and what natural events impacted Portsmouth.

Although the city originally developed as a center for trade and ship manufacturing, several areas around the city were cultivated to feed Portsmouth’s growing population. The plains of Portsmouth, Greenland and Eliot, Maine, became breadbaskets for urban residents. But, while large-scale agriculture occurred on the outskirts of town, most homes had their own kitchen gardens, where colonists grew herbs, greens and other edible produce. Agriculture expanded throughout the state until the introduction of large-scale animal husbandry.

 The introduction of sheep to New Hampshire in the early 19th century significantly changed the landscape. Mills popped up and created demand for raw wool. Historically, wool had been imported from England and Ireland, but several entrepreneurial farmers in New Hampshire decided to abandon crops and raise sheep, instead. The animals quickly decimated New Hampshire’s rich topsoil. When the mills went under, sheep farming was no longer lucrative, but by then it was difficult to reintroduce crops to the poor soil.

So residents started getting their food from other places. One of the biggest events to change New Hampshire’s landscape was the introduction of the railroad, according to Forti. With railroads came meat and produce from California and the mid-western states. Small scale farms in New Hampshire had a difficult time competing with industrial operations out west. The result was a mass abandonment of farming throughout the state, but especially on the Seacoast, where other industries were creating demand for workers. As farms were abandoned, forests gradually started taking back cleared land. Today, 70 percent of the cultivatable land in New Hampshire has returned to forest. 

Then came automobiles, and with them came roads and then highways. Retail stores and commercial activity migrated to places where they would be more accessible to drivers. As a result, many formerly thriving downtowns have continually suffered. 

Forti tries to recreate the landscape to understand what worked well in the past and what didn’t. “This is about preserving models for success and teaching from models that show us we did harm,” he said. The gardens at Strawbery Banke are cultivated without chemical fertilizers because none were available back in Colonial times. Many of the plants cropping up come from heirloom seeds that have been passed down from the earliest settlers. Other plants are native to the Seacoast. Growing native varieties brings back native wildlife to create a vibrant, living landscape.

“There are so many inroads into history through gardens,” Forti said. “History and historians focus on how people influence the landscape. To me, a much more important thing is how the landscape influenced people.”

In New Hampshire, where citizens supposedly “live free or die,” the economy is still utterly dependent on imported goods. “Less than six percent of New Hampshire’s produce and agricultural products come from in-state,” Forti said. This is hard to believe, considering how steeped New Hampshire’s culture is in its pastoral history. What often sets New Hampshire residents apart from their neighbors to the south is a deeper connection with the land. Sometimes it’s hard to see that connection through the omnipresent veil of urban growth and consumer culture, but a connection can still be found, and a study of how the landscape has changed over history shows how important the environment has been for generations of Portsmouth residents.