Portsmouth dates to 1638, and 15% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 78% of U.S. towns · #27 of 38 in Rhode Island. What drives it
11 places in town are on the National Register, among them the Battle of Rhode Island Site, a National Historic Landmark. Below: 16 old photos and papers, maps from 1943 on, and the census since 1790.
Founding year: Wikidata; Wikipedia’s history section gives the same year. First post office: 1854.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Portsmouth’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Portsmouth is more historic than 78% of U.S. towns, #27 of 38 in Rhode Island. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
A−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Portsmouth’s overall grade.
Rhode Island towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Rhode Island town has 94.7 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Portsmouth’s 13.6 sits below most of its state (11% of Rhode Island towns have fewer) while its 24 historic buildings outnumber those of 80% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B− to A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±3.1 points). Two sources give 1638.
Founding year: Wikidata (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Portsmouth’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
36family graveyards and cemeteries inside Portsmouth
Almy - Reynolds LotArtemas Fish LotBenjamin Chase LotBorden Slocum LotCaptain Clarke Cornell LotCaptain George Lawton LotCaptain Job Lawton LotChase and Cory LotColonel William Hall LotCorey LotDavid Albro LotDeacon Gideon Lawton LotEdward Almy LotGeorge Hall LotGeorge Sisson LotGiles Slocum LotJob Sherman LotJohn Cook Junior LotJohn Mitchell LotJoseph Fish LotNichols - Hassard GroundPortsmouthPortsmouth Friends' ChurchyardPortsmouth Historical Cemetery 59PrioryPrudence IslandRowland Allen LotRowland Hazard LotRuben Greene LotSaint Mary's Episcopal ChurchyardSaint Paul's LotSeth Anthony LotSisson - Carr LotTown Farm LotTrinityUnion
See all 36
Almy - Reynolds Lot Cemetery · Artemas Fish Lot Cemetery · Benjamin Chase Lot Cemetery · Borden Slocum Lot Cemetery · Captain Clarke Cornell Lot Cemetery · Captain George Lawton Lot Cemetery · Captain Job Lawton Lot Cemetery · Chase and Cory Lot Cemetery · Colonel William Hall Lot Cemetery · Corey Lot Cemetery · David Albro Lot Cemetery · Deacon Gideon Lawton Lot Cemetery · Edward Almy Lot Cemetery · George Hall Lot Cemetery · George Sisson Lot Cemetery · Giles Slocum Lot Cemetery · Job Sherman Lot Cemetery · John Cook Junior Lot Cemetery · John Mitchell Lot Cemetery · Joseph Fish Lot Cemetery · Nichols - Hassard Ground Cemetery · Portsmouth Cemetery · Portsmouth Friends' Churchyard Cemetery · Portsmouth Historical Cemetery 59 · Priory Cemetery · Prudence Island Cemetery · Rowland Allen Lot Cemetery · Rowland Hazard Lot Cemetery · Ruben Greene Lot Cemetery · Saint Mary's Episcopal Churchyard Cemetery · Saint Paul's Lot Cemetery · Seth Anthony Lot Cemetery · Sisson - Carr Lot Cemetery · Town Farm Lot Cemetery · Trinity Cemetery · Union Cemetery
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
On the National Register
11 historic places in Portsmouth
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. One is a National Historic Landmark, the highest tier.
Portsmouth was settled in 1638 by a group of religious dissenters from Massachusetts Bay Colony, including Dr. John Clarke, William Coddington, and Anne Hutchinson. It is named after Portsmouth, Hampshire, England. Roger Williams convinced the settlers that they should go there instead of settling in the Province of New Jersey, where they had first planned on going.
It was founded by the signers of the Portsmouth Compact. Its original name was Pocasset and it was officially named Portsmouth on May 12, 1639. It became part of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations (see Aquidneck Island) and eventually part of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.
Passages that mention Portsmouth, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Historical and genealogical record of the descendants, as far as known, of Richard and Joan Borden, who settled in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, May, 16381899 · page 39Read the page →
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The following obituary notice of Richard Borden is copied from the Record of the Friends Monthly Meeting at Newport: "Richard Borden of Portsmouth, R. I., beingone of the first planters of Rhode Island, lived about seventy years and then died at his own house, belonging to Portsmouth. He was buried on the burial gro'und given by Robert Dennis to the Friends, which is in Portsmouth, and lieth on the left hand of the way that goeth from Portsmouth to Newport, upon the 25th day of the 3rd month, 1671," old style;
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Newport County, Rhode Island. From the year 1638 to the year 1887, including the settlement of its towns, and their subsequent progress1888 · page 687Read the page →
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Another society, under the title of the " Christian Church In the town of Portsmouth." or perhaps more proi)erly the same society under a new name, was incorporated in January, 1861, agreeable to the general act contained in Chapter 125 of the Revised Statutes. A new house of worship was built a few years later, on the site of the old Union meeting house, the latter meanwhile having been sold and moved oft" to a neighboring lot, where it is still standing, the purchaser being Mr. Edward S.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Newport County, Rhode Island. From the year 1638 to the year 1887, including the settlement of its towns, and their subsequent progress1888 · page 262Read the page →
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righteous bargain." Being outside of the Rhode Island jurisdiction, Ousamequin' s name rarely appears in the history that concerns it, only we may notice that with ten of his men he had permission from the town of Portsmouth, in 1644, to take ten deer on the island of Aquidneck, within the liberty of that town ; but the deer were to be taken to Portsmouth, there to be viewed, and neither Ousamequin nor any of his men were to carry any deer or skins off from the island except at that
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Historical and genealogical record of the descendants, as far as known, of Richard and Joan Borden, who settled in Portsmouth, Rhode Island, May, 16381899Read the page →
Read the text
about one and one-half miles farther south, on the east side of the island which they called Newtown. There they laid o«ut house lots for a numerous settlement, but the speedy division of the island into farms soon absorbed all the population then in Portsmouth, and the settlement at Newport this year attracted a large portion of the emigrants to that locality. So that Newtown has remained, as the lawyers sometimes say: "In statu quo," until recently it is beginning' to put on the appearance of a neat, quiet, prosperous little country
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
By decade
Portsmouth, decade by decade
6 decades in the archive, from the 1630s to the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
In 1638, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Portsmouth’s post office opened in 1854, and the first U.S. census counted 1,560 people here in 1790.
How does Portsmouth rank for history?
Portsmouth is more historic than 78% of U.S. towns, #27 of 38 in Rhode Island. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
What is on the National Register in Portsmouth?
11 listings: 7 buildings, 2 sites, and 2 structures. 24 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Portsmouth?
15% of Portsmouth’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.1 points), against a typical 20% for a Rhode Island town; the median home was built in 1973.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikimedia Commons (8), the Library of Congress (8), Wikidata (2), the National Register of Historic Places (11), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
★ Landmark
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