Hip and urbane Portsmouth has transformed itself since the 1980s from a bygone maritime trading hub and Pentagon dependent to a cosmopolitan port city of nearly 28,000 residents that competes culturally with Boston, which is just an hour to the south.

Long a struggling Atlantic port city at the mouth of the Piscataqua River, Portsmouth was hit in the 1970s by the declining importance of the Portland Naval Shipyard (across the harbor in Maine), and again in the early 1990s when the federal government closed nearby Pease Air Force Base. Revitalization efforts since the 1980s, however, have reversed the city’s decline, and it is now a cultural center noted for its restaurants, cafès, import shops, and harbor views.

The first settlers arrived at the estuary of the Piscataqua River early in the 1600s. In 1630 a group of settlers landed on the river bank, found it covered with wild strawberries and christened the spot Strawbery Banke. A 10-acre museum of the same name preserves a historic waterfront neighborhood with more than 45 buildings constructed between 1695 and 1955.

Strawbery Banke grew from a fishing and farming village to a shipbuilding and trading center that took advantage of inland forests for masts and lumber, and an excellent harbor for far-flung trade. In 1653 the town was renamed Portsmouth.

Portsmouth was New Hampshire’s colonial capital, both politically and commercially. By 1700 it had become one of the most important cities in the colonies. At the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, however, the capital was moved to Exeter. In the nineteenth century, Portsmouth harbor’s trade and commerce was undermined by inland railroads and ports at larger cities. The city continued to decline during the twentieth century but the slide has now been notably reversed.

Besides its shopping, culinary, and cultural attractions, visitors can take in the Richard Jackson House (1664), the state’s oldest structure; the Children’s Museum of Portsmouth; harbor cruises; the Portsmouth Harbor Trail (a walking tour through Portsmouth history); and the John Paul Jones House (1758), where the Continental Navy captain stayed in 1777 and 1781.

Portsmouth can be reached by I-95 north from Boston and is served by several bus lines.