Portsmouth’s White Mountains and Working Waterfront

They’re not mountains, of course (we know that!) They’re piles of road salt, stored along the working waterfront for the New Hampshire winter ahead. And if you’ve driven through Portsmouth on the Route 1 Bypass, or looked across from the Sheraton Portsmouth Harborside Hotel, you’ve probably seen them: great white piles rising up next to the water.

They’re not the sort of thing that usually makes our tourism brochures (but they should!)

And this totally tells you something important about Portsmouth. For all the brick sidewalks, historic houses, harbor views, restaurants and shops, this is still a working seaport.

Portsmouth has been a port for about 400 years. The Piscataqua River (considered one of the swiftest in the United States) is the reason the city is here in the first place, and it’s still busy today. The Port of New Hampshire handles commercial cargo ranging from road salt and other bulk materials to break-bulk and containerized goods.

That includes salt. Granite State Minerals stores road salt at the Market Street Marine Terminal after it arrives by ship, before it heads out by truck for use on New Hampshire roads when winter comes calling.

So while visitors might be standing along the waterfront taking pictures of the boats, there’s a whole lot of less-glamorous business happening on that same river.

And that’s putting the PORT in Portsmouth.

Tugboats, Fishing Boats and Other Working Vessels

Look out over the water and you may see one of the Moran tugboats that work the Piscataqua. They help guide larger commercial vessels through the river, whose strong currents and shifting tides make navigation a serious job.

The tugboats have become such a familiar part of the Portsmouth waterfront that it’s easy to think of them as scenery. They’re not. They’re working boats.

The same goes for the commercial fishing vessels that use the fishing pier at Peirce* Island, where boats can take on ice and fuel and handle their catches. * It’s a family name, so it’s spelled differently than the verb!

Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and the Piscataqua River

And then there’s Portsmouth Naval Shipyard across the river in Kittery, Maine. Established by the federal government in 1800, the shipyard has been part of the Piscataqua’s working waterfront for more than two centuries. Today, it’s a major Navy facility focused on maintaining and modernizing the submarine fleet.

All of this is happening alongside the Portsmouth visitors know so well.

The Working Waterfront Meets Downtown Portsmouth

You can walk along Ceres Street, grab lunch, wander through Market Square and spend an afternoon admiring the old and historic buildings. You can sit by the river (or on one of the many decks) and watch the boats go by. You can visit Prescott Park, shop downtown or catch a show.

And somewhere nearby, a cargo ship may be unloading. A tugboat may be maneuvering through the channel. (Google up to see Tugboat Pilots jumping aboard the ships!) A fishing boat may be heading out. And there may be a giant pile of salt waiting for its turn.

That’s the thing about Portsmouth: the waterfront isn’t just there to look pretty. It’s part of a living, working port.

Which makes those white mountains a pretty good Portsmouth landmark after all.