Badger's Island is located in the Piscataqua River at Kittery, Maine, directly opposite Portsmouth, New Hampshire. It carries U.S. Route 1 between the states, connecting to the Kittery mainland by the Badger's Island Bridge, and to New Hampshire by the Memorial Bridge. Now largely a suburb of Portsmouth, the island features houses, condominiums, restaurants and marinas.
Prior to the Civil War, Badger's Island was famous for shipbuilding. Eastern white pine for masts, together with lumber for hulls, arrived down the Piscataqua River from inland forests. Only two tenths of a mile (322 m) from Portsmouth's busy wharves, the island's gradual slope into the deep channel between was ideal for launching vessels. First called Rising Castle Island, it changed to Langdon's Island when John Langdon established his shipyard. The first U. S. Navy ships commissioned by the Continental Congress were built here by master shipbuilder James Hackett, [1] including USS Ranger in 1777. [2] One of his apprentices working on Ranger was William Badger. [3] Acquiring 3 acres (12,000 m2) on the island in 1797, he would dominate its shipbuilding until his death in 1830, launching more than 100 ships, [3] including naval vessels, merchant vessels and privateers. The region produced many fine shipbuilders, including his nephew Samuel Badger, but William Badger, called Master Badger, is best known. He is buried on the island that bears his name.
In 1837, Frederick Fernald purchased Badger's shipyard. In 1844, he joined William Pettigrew to establish Fernald & Pettigrew, which would produce some 30 ships. Among their output was a series of clipper ships, including the Typhoon. [4] Launched in 1851, Typhoon set a sailing record to Liverpool, England—13 days, 10 hours dock to dock. Known as the "Portsmouth Flyer," it was the largest merchant ship yet seen in that port. [5] But Badger's Island would lose its importance as a shipbuilding center. The industry shifted downriver to Fernald's Island, home since 1800 to the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.
U.S. Navy vessels built on Badger's Island:
Clipper Ships built by Fernald & Pettigrew: [7]
Badger's Island became a terminus for the Kittery, a ferry which delivered passengers across the swift Piscataqua River from Portsmouth to the landing and waiting room of the Portsmouth, Kittery & York Street Railway. Beginning in 1897, the company ran trolleys through Kittery Point and across the salt marshes of Brave Boat Harbor to York Harbor and York Beach, the summer resort. [8] In November 1901, it became part of the Portsmouth, Dover and York Street Railway. [9] The trolley line remained in service until 1923 when the Memorial Bridge opened, the first bridge spanning the river without a toll. The section of Route 1 across the Badger's Island Bridge to Kittery's John Paul Jones Memorial Park, with its Sailors' and Soldiers' Monument by Bashka Paeff, was a City Beautiful plan to complement the Memorial Bridge.
The Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, often called the Portsmouth Navy Yard, is a United States Navy shipyard in Kittery on the southern boundary of Maine near the city of Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance and basing activities than shipyards, which are sometimes associated more with initial construction. The terms are routinely used interchangeably, in part because the evolution of dockyards and shipyards has often caused them to change or merge roles.
America was the first ship of the line built for the Continental Navy, but she never saw service there, being given to France after launching.
Kittery is a town in York County, Maine, United States. Home to the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard on Seavey's Island, Kittery includes Badger's Island, the seaside district of Kittery Point, and part of the Isles of Shoals. The southernmost town in the state, it is a tourist destination known for its many outlet stores.
The Piscataqua River is a 12-mile-long (19 km) tidal river forming the boundary of the U.S. states of New Hampshire and Maine from its origin at the confluence of the Salmon Falls River and Cochecho River. The drainage basin of the river is approximately 1,495 square miles (3,870 km2), including the subwatersheds of the Great Works River and the five rivers flowing into Great Bay: the Bellamy, Oyster, Lamprey, Squamscott, and Winnicut.
USS Ranger was a sloop-of-war in the Continental Navy in active service in 1777–1780, the first to bear her name. Built at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard on Badger's Island in Kittery, Maine, she is famed for the one-ship raiding campaign by Captain John Paul Jones, during naval operations of the American Revolutionary War. In six months spent primarily in British waters she captured five prizes, staged a single failed attack on the English mainland at Whitehaven, and caused Royal Navy ships to be dispatched against her in the Irish Sea.
USS Raleigh was one of thirteen ships that the Continental Congress authorized for the Continental Navy in 1775. Following her capture in 1778, she served in the Royal Navy as HMS Raleigh. The ship is featured on the flag and seal of New Hampshire.
William Henry Webb was a 19th-century New York City shipbuilder and philanthropist, who has been called America's first true naval architect.
U.S. Route 1 Bypass is a 4.3-mile-long (6.9 km) bypass of U.S. Route 1 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire and Kittery, Maine. Most of its north section, northeast of the Portsmouth Traffic Circle where it meets the Blue Star Turnpike and Spaulding Turnpike, is built to rudimentary freeway standards, with no cross traffic but driveway access. The southern portion is similarly constructed, although there are two four-way intersections with traffic lights just south of the circle and a third at its south end, just before intersecting with US 1.
The Sarah Mildred Long Bridge is a lift bridge spanning the Piscataqua River between Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and Kittery, Maine, carrying traffic of U.S. Route 1 Bypass. An original bridge by the same name was in operation from 1940 until 2016. A replacement span opened in March 2018.
Seavey's Island, site of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, is located in the Piscataqua River in Kittery, Maine, opposite Portsmouth, New Hampshire. It encompasses 278 acres (1.13 km2).
The World War I Memorial Bridge is a vertical-lift bridge that carries U.S. Route 1 across the Piscataqua River between Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and Badger's Island in Kittery, Maine, United States. The current bridge was opened in 2013, replacing a bridge of similar design that existed from 1923 to 2012. A large overhead plaque carried over from the original reads "Memorial to the Sailors and Soldiers of New Hampshire who gave their lives in the World War 1917–1919."
The Piscataqua River border dispute was a dispute between the US states of Maine and New Hampshire over ownership of Seavey’s Island in the Piscataqua River, which forms the border between Maine and New Hampshire. The dispute was settled in 2002 by the US Supreme Court in favor of Maine.
USS Portsmouth was constructed for the United States Navy in 1798 by master shipbuilder James Hackett to a design of Josiah Fox at what is now Badger's Island in Kittery, Maine, directly across the Piscataqua River from Portsmouth, New Hampshire. She was built with funds contributed by the citizens of Portsmouth.
The Portsmouth Athenæum is an independent membership library, gallery, and museum in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, United States. It preserves and provides access to an extensive collection of manuscripts, rare books, photographs, artworks and artifacts, and digital collections related to local history and genealogy, in addition to a circulating library for its membership. As an intellectual center of the community, it sponsors exhibitions, concerts, lectures, and other educational and cultural programs. The building, dating to 1805, has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1973.
William Badger was a master shipbuilder operating in Kittery, Maine, United States who built more than 100 vessels.
James Hackett (1739–1802) was an American shipbuilder in New Hampshire in the late 18th century. He was responsible for the construction of a number of significant Revolutionary War-era warships for the fledgling country, including the Raleigh, Ranger, America, Congress, Portsmouth, two cutters for the United States Revenue Cutter Service, as well as the Crescent, built for Algiers as tribute. As a teenager, he served with Rogers' Rangers during the French and Indian War. His later military service included serving as lieutenant colonel in the New Hampshire Militia during the Revolutionary War and after in several different units.
The Samuel Badger Monument is one of the most distinctive examples of funerary art in the United States state of Maine. Located in a small private cemetery in Kittery, it depicts the locally important shipbuilding magnate Samuel Badger (1794-1857). The monument was designed by David M. French of Newmarket, New Hampshire, and was completed in 1858. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1998.
John Paul Jones Memorial Park is a municipal park in the town of Kittery, Maine. The trapezoidal park, flanked by the lanes of United States Route 1 approaching the Memorial Bridge across the Piscataqua River, was established in 1926 and named for American Revolutionary War naval hero John Paul Jones. Its centerpiece is a memorial commemorating the soldiers and sailors of the state of Maine, designed by Bashka Paeff. The park was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1998.
The Portsmouth Downtown Historic District encompasses the historic urban core of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. With a history dating to the 17th century, Portsmouth was New Hampshire's principal seaport and the center of its economy for many decades, and the architecture of its urban center is reflective of nearly four centuries of history. The district is roughly L-shaped, radiating from the downtown Market Square area to South Street in the south and Madison and Columbia streets in the west, with more than 1,200 historically significant buildings. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2017. The district includes 35 previous listings on the National Register, and five National Historic Landmarks.