183 



After Mr. Putnam had closed his remarks, the company 

 adjourned to the j'^arlors where several choice selections 

 of vocal and instrumental music were tinelj^ rendered by 

 meral)ers of the Salem Oratorio Society and the Salem 

 Schubert Club. 



Ox Saturday morning the sun rose clear and bright, 

 and the party during the forenoon rambled about in 

 various directions as inclination dictated. Several inter- 

 esting places were visited : Odiorne's Point where M. 

 Champlain landed in 1605, and the place selected by the 

 Laconia company for the site of the lirst building erected 

 on the grant, and it should therefore be venerated bv 

 every citizen of Xew Hampshire for the associations that 

 cluster around this beginning of the state. At Frost's 

 Point a fort was built soon after the settlement called 

 Fort AVilliam and Mary; in 1775 fortifications were 

 thrown up, and in the fort a company of artillery was 

 stationed. In 1808, it was rebuilt under the name of 

 Fort Constitution and remained until a new structure was 

 commenced in 1863. 



The lighthouse, the village, the village church, the burial 

 ground, — were all noticed. New Castle is situated at the 

 mouth of the Piscataqua river, at the entrance of Ports- 

 mouth harbor, some three miles from the cit}', formerly 

 known as " Great Island.'^ It Avas settled in 1623 and 

 was a part of Portsmouth. In 1693 it was incorporated 

 under its present name. The charter under the seal of 

 William and Mary, written on parchment in old English 

 black letter, is said to be still in the archives of the 

 town. This was the home of the Jeffreys, Atkinsons, 

 of John Frost who married Mary, sister of Sir William 

 Pepperell, a family of the Prescotts and other honored 

 names. 



