Port of Entry: Boys and Girls for Sale

Port of Entry: Boys and Girls for Sale offers a 90-minute walking tour through downtown Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where the cobbled streets meet the salt-scented edge of the Piscataqua River. Beginning at the tour office near the waterfront, participants move through wharves, waterfront blocks, and former auction sites to hear stories of enslaved children whose lives were shaped by the Atlantic Slave Trade. What sets this experience apart is its narrators.

Led by tour guide Nur Shoop and a group of high school Sankofa Scholars, the walk centers the lives of boys and girls who were bought, sold, or forced into labor. The youth guides mix archival records, local markers, and carefully researched storytelling to humanize names too often reduced to footnotes. Their voices create a direct connection across centuries and invite reflection on freedom, responsibility, and community memory.

The route highlights physical reminders of Portsmouth’s maritime past: rutted cobbles along old wharves, warehouse facades that once stored goods exchanged for human lives, and specific auction sites on or near Bow Street and the waterfront. You’ll stand where ledger books and dockside transactions intersected with childhood—small hands pressed into domestic service aboard merchant ships, or sold for "cash or good lumber," as period records note. Practical details are straightforward.

Tours run 90 minutes, leave from the office at 2:00 p.m. (arrive ten minutes early), and accommodate groups of about 20. Tours operate rain or shine; ticket sales are final. Expect urban walking on sidewalks and occasional uneven surfaces; plan for weather and steady pacing rather than steep climbs.

This tour is both an educational offering and a civic act: it amplifies young historians and returns agency to stories that have long been suppressed. For visitors to Portsmouth, it reframes the waterfront—not just as a view or a historic district, but as a site of human transactions and survival. The experience pairs well with a visit to nearby maritime museums and historic neighborhoods, creating a fuller picture of New England’s complex past.

Book this tour to listen, learn, and be challenged. The blend of local archival detail, waterfront context, and youth-led interpretation makes Port of Entry: Boys and Girls for Sale an essential stop for travelers who want to understand the hidden human geography of a New Hampshire port. Bring a water bottle, a notebook for questions, and comfortable shoes; photo-taking is allowed but please be respectful during sensitive storytelling moments.

After the tour, pause on the waterfront benches or cross to Market Square to read historic markers and let the narratives settle. This walk changes how you view coastal trade: it asks travelers to carry the memory of these children beyond their visit. Share what you learn with others locally.