Our trip to Portsmouth was very exciting. For Elsie, it was her first time! First, we boarded onto a small boat to take us to Portsmouth. The ride was bumpy, fast, but fun at the same time. Right when we got off we ran down the dock and down the path to the village.

Arriving at Portsmouth

We decided to go to the schoolhouse, because Elsie wanted to go there and Mariah liked it a lot the last times she went. When you walk in you see desks with seats attached to them. The school is very small, there are pictures of the teachers and students. There is even a picture of the last two girls that went there with their teacher. We got a piece of paper in the shape of a milk bottle. Students who went there got these from the teachers, with tips on being healthy and for the parents, keeping up with your child’s height and weight.

Get to work, girls! You've got an article to write!

Elsie teaches a lesson at Portsmouth School

Still good advice

As Portsmouth's population dwindled, so did the school enrollement.

School daze

After we went to the schoolhouse we went to random houses to explore, we learned a lot of history of the island. We went to Henry Piggott’s house. It reminds Mariah of a dollhouse because it is very small and cute. After that we heard some speeches and sang songs, one of them featuring “Marian’s Song,” or “On My Island Home,” as it is more about the island than Ms. Marian. She was one of the last women to live on Portsmouth.

Henry's house

If you didn't take a selfie, did it really happen?

Jesse Babb house -- a rare treat to see inside

Portsmouth simplicity

We also went to the church and the houses next to it. The Post Office was our next stop. We mailed Elsie’s mom a letter and a letter to Mariah’s little cousin.

Gathering

Inside the church

Tent meeting

The P.O. opens for business during Homecoming, and cancels stamps with the Portsmouth postmark.

We also went to the lifesaving station, our favorite. One of the rooms reminds us of an orphanage. It is the room where the surfmen stayed. We took a very nerve-racking trip to the lookout tower. We were scared because the ladder is so high and when you look down it looks like a far fall. But when you reach the top, there is an amazing view.

Lifesaving Station

Mary Bryant

The climb

Mary Bryant

View from the tower

Mary Bryant

Next to the station, there are the remains of a hospital that took care of fallen civil war soldiers. The field next to it is huge; we saw a path and were about to go down it. It leads to the schoolhouse. We were about to start walking, but huge mosquitos swarmed around us and we ran off. 

In conclusion our trip to Portsmouth and the ride home was interesting, and as Elsie says, “It makes you have a different point of view of Ocracoke and its history.” And, as Mariah says, “It was much less mosquito-y than usual.”

Even during Homecoming, Portsmouth is peaceful.

Mariah and Elsie are 6th graders at Ocracoke School. (Full disclosure, Mariah is the daughter of Sundae Horn, the Current's publisher/editor.)

Sponsored by Friends of Portsmouth Island, Portsmouth Homecoming takes place in April in even-numbered years. For that one day, Portsmouth Village swarms with hundreds of people there to celebrate the heritage of the island and its people. There's food and fellowship and history and hymns. The Current staff highly recommend it. If you’ve never been to Homecoming, plan ahead for 2020, and Mariah and Elsie will see you there!