In Portsmouth, 19th Century prosperity and decline

“Lowd House Shadows, Fall’’ (gouache on paper), by Carol Aronson-Shore, at Alpers Fine Art, Andover, Mass.

Lowd House is part of Strawberry Banke Museum, in Portsmouth, N.H. The museum says:

“James Drisco built this house across Horse Lane from the Shapley-Drisco House where he lived. He had the house built in 1810, probably as rental property. The house is named for Peter Lowd, a Portsmouth cooper, who bought it in 1824 and lived there with his family until his death in 1837. Making a living at coopering, as demonstrated in Strawbery Banke’s Dinsmore Shop, meant crafting the barrels and kegs needed for shipping New Hampshire products, Lowd was one of the many middleclass artisans who made Portsmouth prosper. In the early 1830s when he had reached the peak of his personal prosperity, Lowd invested the money from his shop on Long Wharf in another wharf and several ships. But after 1833 he and Portsmouth’s finances went into decline and he died leaving his wife and five children with extensive debts.’’