Across the square from the Portsmouth Athenæum, North Church lifts an Italianate front and a tall steeple over Market Square. Its Italianate edifice and tall steeple rise above the square — a spire long called Portsmouth’s “landmark of record,” visible from most of the city, from the Piscataqua River, and from communities on its western bank in Maine. This congregation traces its beginnings to the first church built in 1657 near a milldam, and another building was raised roughly fifty years later on a corner of the same 50-acre glebe at Congress and Pleasant Streets.
A large clock and bell were added in 1749, and the church kept extensive records of baptisms, marriages, and funerals. Prominent members have included John Cutt, William Whipple, John Langdon, and Daniel Webster, and President George Washington attended a service here during his visit to New Hampshire in 1789. You can also sense the complexities of its past: members were required to purchase pews, and slave owners had to purchase extra pews for their slaves, placed on the top corner of the balcony.
Today this is home to Portsmouth’s United Church of Christ congregation. Notice the spire above you, then trace the square toward the Athenæum and the river beyond.