Chesapeake Machine Works

The kids will love learning about the history and tradition of lightships and their nautical significance when you visit the Lightship Portsmouth Museum. Lightships were originally known as “floating lighthouses” that guide ships into harbors our out to sea. Their legacy is kept alive thanks to the preservation of Lightship Portsmouth, a vessel that now serves as a museum to tell its story and of similar types of watercraft through exciting exhibits and attractions.

Whether you are Jewish or not, you will find something truly compelling and thought-provoking when you pay a visit to Portsmouth's Jewish Museum and Cultural Center. The Chevra T'helim Synagogue now serves as the museum and center and offers visitors a chance to see a stunning example of European Jewish Orthodoxy. Various exhibits and presentations offer the opportunity for visitors to learn about the tradition of the faith as well as key historical events that have both shaped it and challenged it.

If it's an onstage event happening in Portsmouth, there's a good chance that it is happening at the city's Willett Hall. This entertainment venue has been a benchmark site of many types of performances that have delighted audiences for years. Everything from rock and country concerts, impressively staged theatrical performances, thought-provoking speakers or seminars, or graceful ballets or dance recitals, Portsmouth's great performances can always be found on the Willett Hall stage.