Thomas Bailey Aldrich Memorial
Portsmouth, NH


Photo courtesy of SeacoastNH.com Collection.

Mark Twain was inspired, he said, by the writings of his friend Thomas Bailey Aldrich, of the wittiest men he knew. Aldich’s breakthrough novel, “The Story of a Bad Boy” (1869) helped launch the genre of adventure books for boys. That book, about a mischievous Portsmouth boy, takes place largely here at his grandfather’s home prior to the Civil War. Also known as the Nutter House (for Grampa Nutter), Aldrich’s boyhood home became a memorial after his death in 1907. It remains today, much as it looked in the Bad Boy on the campus of the Strawbery Banke Museum. The back of the house includes a wonderfully managed garden, one of the finest in the Seacoast. Hugely famous in his lifetime, Aldrich also wrote a popular history of Portsmouth (Old Town by the Sea), was a poet and editor of the Atlantic. The entire text of both novels are included in our detailed Aldrich Web Site linked below.

HOURS: Follows Strawbery Banke hours
WEBSITE: http://www.strawberybanke.org/museum/aldrich/aldrich.html
ADMISSION: Admission to Strawbery Banke
PHONE: (603) 433-1106
ADDRESS: Court Street Portsmouth, NH 03802
DIRECTIONS: Go to entrance of Strawberry Banke Museum on Mnarcy Street, off State Street coming from Market Square near Prescott Park.
LINKS: Thomas Bailey Aldrich Web Site, Room by Room House Tour,