Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Walsh House


The Walsh House is located on Washington Street, the next structure north of the Daniel Webster House, on the property of Strawbery Banke Museum.

Keyran Walsh purchased this newly-built home in 1797. Captain Walsh had been a resident of Portsmouth for fifteen years and was quickly becoming a wealthy merchant. In 1799, he was the captain of America when the merchantman and its $6,000 cargo were captured by a British warship and taken to Jamaica. 


During his later years, he sailed for merchants in Boston and rented this house to tenants. Only ten years after he purchased this home, in 1807, he died at sea while transporting goods between South America and Charleston, South Carolina.
The Walsh House originally stood next door, approximately eighty feet south of its current location. It was moved by Strawbery Banke in 1969 to the site where the First Sunday-School  once stood. 

I have not found an existing vintage photograph of the Walsh House. In the 1961 black-and-white photo below of the old Sunday-school, the Walsh House can be seen in the background, at its original location.

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