The town of New Castle is actually an archipelago of several islands that reside within the Piscataqua River, with Great Island the largest among them. It was there that the first English settlers arrived way back in 1623, constructing a rudimentary series of earthworks that steadily evolved into a professional fort known as “The Castle.” As the citadel grew in size and sophistication, so too did the surrounding community that supported it. By 1679, the settlement had become large enough to warrant incorporation as a parish of Portsmouth. Its population only continued to grow, allowing for New Hampshire’s colonial governor—Samuel Allen—to formally charter it as a separate town nearly two decades later. The residents decided to call their new town “New Castle” in honor of the neighboring fortress that had recently been renamed as “Fort William and Mary.” It was specifically named for King William III of Great Britain—also known as William of Orange—and his wife and co-monarch, Queen Mary II. They had both assumed the British throne in 1692, following the overthrow of William’s uncle, King James II, during the Glorious Revolution. New Castle soon developed its own prosperous economy that was largely driven by hospitality, maritime trade, and local fishing. And even though New Castle was spread among several different island, a few of its citizens took to agriculture.

Around this time, New Castle was caught up in a strange supernatural controversy that eventually attracted the attention of the powerful Puritan clergy of New England. In 1682, a local tavernkeeper named George Walton reported that his business had become plagued by demons. Those entities had constantly assaulted his tavern by throwing stones and other projectiles, smashing windows and damaging siding. Several prominent clergymen from across the region started to take an interest in the stories, including the great Cotton Mather. Walton’s tales eventually raised an incredible commotion throughout the colonies, even reaching England a few years later. Walton, who was in the midst of a terrible property dispute with his neighbor, accused her of committing acts of witchcraft. Incensed, she, in turn, claimed that Walton was a wizard. The practice of accusing one another of such a crime stemmed from a wider cultural phenomenon that was gripping New England in the late 17th century. Driven by influential religious figures like Cotton Mather, New England’s Puritans ardently believed their communities beset by evil spirits conjured forth at the behest of their neighbors. The mania reached its climax with the Salem Witch Trials further south in Massachusetts Bay Colony. Hundreds of people were eventually accused, with some 18 people hung at the gallows. Colonial officials finally intervened, declaring the trials as unjust. Cases declined dramatically thereafter all across the region, including in places like New Castle.

Fort William and Mary continued to dominate the local landscape, serving as a defensive bulwark against any foreign naval incursion that could attempt to invade New Hampshire. The fort itself was manned completely by colonial militia right up until the eve of the American Revolution. By that point, tensions between the government of King George III and the colonial population of New England were about to foment into open hostilities. The final straw occurred in the fall of 1774, when British soldiers under the command of General Thomas Gage began seizing local stores of gunpowder across the region. Rumors quickly spread that blood had been spilled, resulting in militias from every New England colony to start assembling outside of Boston. Furthermore, several Patriot leaders began relocating their armories to more secured locations. And in some cases, it resulted in limited military actions against official fortifications. On December 14, 1774, a group of Patriots led by John Langdon—a future Founding Father—stormed Fort William and Mary, hoping to capture its supply of ammunition. Severely outnumbered and outgunned, Captain John Cochran and his command of five soldiers surrendered the fort to Langdon’s men. The Patriots subsequently transported the weapons up the Piscataqua River, where they were hidden in the cellar of a Congregational church. The munitions were later used several months later to help reinforce the Patriot army as it attempted to repulse the British at the Battle of Bunker Hill.

Two decades after the American Revolutionary War, Fort William and May was reconstructed and given a new name by Congress—Fort Constitution. It continued protecting the mouth of the Piscataqua River over the next century, undergoing several massive renovations during that time. The fort specifically served as the guard for the Portsmouth Naval Yard as it, too, grew in national importance throughout the 1800s. In the meantime, New Castle remained an isolated fishing village despite the presence of two new bridges that connected it to the mainland. Its character changed dramatically, though, when Daniel Chase and Charles E. Campbell opened the beautiful the Wentworth by the Sea in 1874. It quickly attracted vacationers from all over the Northeast, who enjoyed the Great Island’s cool environment in the summer months. As such, New Castle soon developed a reputation as being an exclusive resort community—one that it has managed to keep well into the present. Fort Constitution is also no longer an active fort, with its last major renovation occurring in 1897 as part of the War Department’s “Endicott Program.” Its guns and accompanying garrison were gradually reassigned to different posts during World Wars I and II, leaving the site a shell of its former self. Fortunately, the federal government protected the ancient citadel by listing it on the National Register of Historic Places in 1963. Like the rest of New Castle, Fort Constitution draws thousands of interested visitors every year.

When alcohol businessman Frank Jones completely redesigned the Wentworth by the Sea in 1879, he chose the French-inspired Second Empire-style architecture to influence its final appearance. Also known simply as “mansard style,” Second Empire architecture first emerged in Paris at the height of the reign of Emperor Napoléon III. Born Charles-Louis Napoléon Bonaparte, he was the nephew of the legendary Napoléon Bonaparte of the French Revolution. He rose to power by serving as France’s president before making himself its monarch by the middle of the 1800s. Nevertheless, his reign saw a brief restoration in French national pride that was accompanied by a cultural renaissance that affected everything from the arts to the sciences. One the areas that saw this development was architecture. Napoléon III had taken a particular interest with architectural projects at the time, going as far as to commission the complete redesign of Paris’ central cityscape. He subsequently appointed engineer Georges-Eugène Haussmann for the project, instructing the latter to create a new generation of buildings that could accommodate the city’s swelling population. Largely borrowing design elements from the French Renaissance of the 16th century, Haussmann essentially created a brand-new architectural form that soon defined the appearance of Paris. While the project itself only lasted from 1853 to 1870, its impact was felt throughout the world for many years thereafter. Haussmann’s new form quickly appeared across France, as well as many other countries throughout Europe, including Belgium, Austria, and England. Furthermore, the architecture quickly emerged in North America, finding a popular audience in both the United States and Canada. Many hoteliers like Frank Jones saw the fabulous design aesthetics of Second Empire architecture and copied it for their own structures throughout the remainder of the 19th century.

Second Empire architecture was specifically meant for larger structures that could easily showcase its ornate features and grandiose materials. Architects, business owners and other professionals who embraced the form believed that it represented the best of modernity and human progress. This idea especially found an audience in the America, where society was largely perceived to be on an upward path of collective mobility. (In fact, the architecture had become so enmeshed in American society that some took to calling it “General Grant” style.) The form looked similar to the equally popular Italianate-style, in which it embraced an asymmetrical floor plan that was rooted to either a “U” or “L” shaped foundation. The buildings usually stood two to three stories, although some commercial structures—like hotels—exceeded that threshold. Large ornate windows proliferated across the facade, while a brilliant warp-around porch occasionally functioned as the main entry point. The porches would also have several outstanding columns, designed to appear smooth in appearance. Every window and doorway featured decorative brackets that typically sat underneath lavish cornices and overhanging eaves. Gorgeous towers known and cupolas typically resided toward the top of the building, too. Yet, Second Empire architecture broke from Italianate in one major way—the appearance of the roof. Architects always incorporated a mansard-style roof onto the building, which consisted of a four-sided, gambrel-style structure that was divided among two different slopes. Set at a much longer, steeper angle than the first, the second slope often contained many beautiful dormer windows. The mansard roof became a central component to Second Empire architecture after Georges-Eugène Haussmann and his fellow French architects starting using it for their own designs. They had specifically sought to copy the mansard roof of The Louvre, which the renowned François Mansart had created back at the height of the French Renaissance.

Pascual Cervera y Topete, Admiral in the Spanish Navy at the time of the Spanish-American War (1898)

Jim Folsom, Governor of Alabama (1947 – 1951)

Dan Edward Garvey, Governor of Arizona (1948 – 1951)

Earl Warren, Governor of California (1943 – 1953) and 14th Chief Justice of the United States (1953 – 1969)

William Lee Knous, Governor of Colorado (1947 – 1950)

James C. Shannon, Governor of Connecticut (1947 – 1948)

Walter W. Bacon, Governor of Delaware (1941 – 1949)

Millard Caldwell, Member of the U.S. House of Representatives (1933 – 1941) and Governor of Florida (1945 – 1949)

Melvin E. Thompson, Governor of Georgia (1947 – 1948)

C. A. Robins, Governor of Idaho (1947 – 1951)

Dwight H. Green, Governor of Illinois (1941 – 1949)

Ralph F. Gates, Governor of Indiana (1945 – 1949)

Robert D. Blue, Governor of Iowa (1945 – 1949)

Frank Carlson, Governor of Kansas (1947 – 1950) and U.S. Senator from Kansas (1950 – 1969)

Earle Clements, Governor of Kentucky (1947 – 1950) and U.S. Senator from Kentucky (1950 – 1957)

Jimmie Davis, Governor of Louisiana (1944 – 1948)

Horace Hildreth, Governor of Maine (1945 – 1949)

William Preston Lane Jr., Governor of Maryland (1947 – 1951)

Robert F. Bradford, Governor of Massachusetts (1947 – 1949)

Kim Sigler, Governor of Michigan (1947 – 1949)

Luther Youngdahl, Governor of Minnesota (1947 – 1951)

Fielding Wright, Governor of Mississippi (1946 – 1950)

Phil M. Donnelly, Governor of Missouri (1945 – 1949; 1953 – 1957)

Sam C. Ford, Governor of Montana (1941 – 1949)

Val Peterson¸ Governor of Nebraska (1947 – 1953)

Vail M. Pittman, Governor of Nevada (1945 – 1951)

Charles M. Dale, Governor of New Hampshire (1945 – 1949)

Alfred E. Driscoll, Governor of New Jersey (1947 – 1954)

Thomas J. Mabry, Governor of New Mexico (1947 – 1951)

Thomas Dewey, Governor of New York (1943 – 1954)

R. Gregg Cherry, Governor of North Carolina (1945 – 1949)

Frank Lausche, Governor of Ohio (1945 – 1947; 1949 – 1957) and U.S. Senator from Ohio (1957 – 1969)

Roy J. Turner, Governor of Oklahoma (1947 – 1951)

James H. Duff, Governor of Pennsylvania (1947 – 1951) and U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania (1951 – 1957)

John Pastore, Governor of Rhode Island (1945 – 1950) and U.S. Senator from Rhode Island (1950 – 1976)

Strom Thurmond, Governor of South Carolina (1947 – 1951) and U.S. Senator from South Carolina (1956 – 2003)

Jim Nance McCord, Governor of Tennessee (1945 – 1949)

Beauford H. Jester, Governor of Texas (1947 – 1949)

Herbert B. Maw, Governor of Utah (1941 – 1949)

Ernest W. Gibson Jr., U.S. Senator from Vermont (1940 – 1941) and Governor of Vermont (1947 – 1950)

William M. Tuck, Governor of Virginia (1946 – 1950) and Member of the U.S. House of Representatives (1953 – 1969)

Monrad Wallgren, U.S. Senator from Washington (1940 – 1945) and Governor of Washington (1945 – 1949)

Clarence W. Meadows, Governor of West Virginia (1945 – 1949)

Oscar Rennebohm, Governor of Wisconsin (1947 – 1951)

Lester C. Hunt, Governor of Wyoming (1943 – 1949) and U.S. Senator from Wyoming (1949 – 1954)

Chester A. Arthur, 21st President of the United States (1881 – 1885)

In Dreams (1999)

Anne Oakley: Anne Oakley was a renowned sharpshooter who became a pop-culture icon for her marksmanship during America’s Gilded Age. Oakley originally got her start at the age of 15, when she first began performing alongside her partner and future husband, Frank E. Butler. The couple eventually became fixtures of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show for a few years, using the platform to become national celebrities. The impact on Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show proved to be significant, as the circus-like pageant quickly endeared itself among American audiences. It even attracted the attention of several prominent international, including Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, King Umberto I of Italy, and President François Said Carnot of France. While touring with the company, she even supposedly shot the cigarette out of the mouth of Germany’s Kaiser Wilhelm II. Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show made Oakley America’s first popular female celebrity. She wound up making more money than anyone else on Buffalo Bill’s Wild West, save for its founder—William “Buffalo Bill” Cody himself. But Oakley also taught thousands of gun-handling lessons throughout her career to interested individuals. Some of those sessions even included a period of time in which she supervised shooting lessons at the Hotel Wentworth’s golf course. Oakley has since become a renowned cultural figure in modern America. Her likeness has been portrayed in countless movies in the years following her death in 1926, including Tall Tales & Legends, Buffalo Girls, and Hidalgo.

Helen Wainwright: Born Helen Sterling, Helen E. Wainwright was a famous Olympian who made a name for herself at the start of the 20th century as a world-class swimmer and diver. At a young age, she was a member of the Women’s Swimming Association of New York, getting coached by the great Louis de B. Handley. Handley and other experts quickly noticed Wainwright’s speed in the water and implored her to compete in national tournaments held throughout the United States. In just a matter of years, Wainwright had won 17 gold medals for swimming as well as two others for diving. Still just a teenage, she also started completing on the world stage! Wainwright won the silver medal in the women’s three-meter springboard competition in 1920, as well as the silver in the women’s 400-meter freestyle event four years later in Paris. But perhaps the greatest moment of her swimming career came in 1922, when she set an Olympic record for speed in completing the women’s 1500-meter freestyle event! Additional highlights of her inspiring life involved nearly becoming the first woman to swim across the English Channel and hosting a series of popular swimming demonstrations at the New York Hippodrome. She even hosted swimming classes at the Wentworth by the Sea. In some cases, she gave special demonstrations for guests in the saltwater pool that Harry Beckwith created during his tenure as owner. Wainwright eventually ended her career serving as a popular swimming coach onboard a series of cruise liners that operated out of her native New York City. Passing away in 1965, the International Swimming Hall of Fame inducted her into its organization posthumously several years later.