Captain John Salter House

The Captain John Salter House was located on the west side of Washington Street, near the southwest corner of Washington and Court Streets.

John Salter was born on November 4, 1740, the son of Richard Salter and Elizabeth Odiorne Salter. John was a sea captain who served during the Revolutionary War. He purchased this lot in 1770. The previous owner, John Beck, had started to build a house here, and John Salter completed it that year. During his lifetime, he had three wives: Dorothy Bickford, Elizabeth Ayers, and Elizabeth Tuesdall. He and his second wife, Elizabeth Ayers, had nine children, all born in Portsmouth.

Captain John Salter died in 1814, and his descendants continued to live here until at least 1902, when the old photograph below appeared in C. S. Gurney's book, Portsmouth . . . Historic and Picturesque.

The Salter House was opposite the Hutchings House on Washington Street, and the next south of the Cushman House. Captain John Salter built the Cushman House in 1791, and the home later belonged to his daughter, Maria Jane Salter and her husband, Samuel Cushman.

Today, the lot appears to be a private garden surrounded by chain-link fences and barbed wire.