Historic Atlantic Heights 25th Garden Tour July 6

PORTSMOUTH — First-time visitors to Portsmouth‘s Atlantic Heights neighborhood frequently describe it as “quaint” and “charming.” On Saturday, July 6, the public is invited to view 19 backyard gardens at “The Heights” from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Created in the English Garden Style during World War I, the neighborhood was planned as housing for shipyard worker families. Designed in just 10 days, built in eight months, the nation’s first federally-funded housing project was a bold experiment in community-friendly architecture. There were originally 278 units in 150 detached, semi-detached, and row houses. Most are brick with a few built of wood.

Only one road, Kearsarge Way, leads to and from Atlantic Heights. Its modest matching houses are huddled beneath the towering Interstate halfway between the city’s bustling Market Square and the malls of Newington. Kearsarge Way is named for a famous Portsmouth ship built in the Civil War. It leads to a cluster of roads, all named for Piscataqua-built ships–Ranger, Porpoise, Raleigh, Preble, Falkland, Crescent, Saratoga. Here are handmade gardens created by people with busy lives. Visitors will see how resourceful gardeners have crafted unique pocket gardens, ranging from lush cottage borders to thriving vegetable plots.

Attendees can park and wander the quiet streets in this rarely-seen neighborhood tucked up against the Piscataqua River with views of Maine. A donation is requested at the sign-in table at Big Rock Park located at the end of Kearsarge Way. Funds go to the Garden Club that has continued this and other annual neighborhood events for a quarter century.

For much more about this unique architectural housing project, look for a copy of the book Atlantic Heights: A World War I Shipbuilders’ Community by Richard M. Candee. Copies are available at Portsmouth Historical Society and at the sign-in table on Saturday. A map of participating gardens (marked by spinning pinwheels) will be available at the park, rain or shine.