Community support will help Strawbery Banke meet climate risk: Rowland

As Strawbery Banke Museum approaches its 70th anniversary in 2028, it is worth pausing to reflect on a simple truth. This museum exists because its community willed it into being, and it has survived because that community continues to show up. Meeting the growing challenges posed by climate change will once again depend on collective action.

From its founding in 1958, Strawbery Banke was different. Saved through an act of historic preservation during the era of urban renewal, the museum was never meant to be a static collection of buildings. It was envisioned as a living neighborhood, shaped by local voices, sustained by local support, and grounded in the belief that history matters most when it belongs to everyone.

That vision has been tested over the past six decades. Maintaining centuries-old structures is never simple, and the museum has weathered financial uncertainty, shifting cultural priorities, and the everyday challenges of preservation. For each challenge, the community stepped forward. Local schools made the site a classroom. Neighbors made it part of their daily lives. Businesses, foundations, and individual donors invested not only in buildings, but in the experiences that happen within them.

Because of that collective effort, Strawbery Banke is more than a place to visit. It is a place where children encounter history face to face, where traditions take root, and where programs connect past and present in ways that feel immediate and human. It is, quite literally, a museum shaped by the people it serves.

Today, Strawbery Banke faces its most significant challenge yet.

The restoration of the Yeaton-Welch house, the museum’s final historic house rehabilitation, begins this year to be completed in time for our 70th anniversary. The house will tell the story of an Irish immigrant family to Portsmouth.

Simultaneously, the site is confronting a threat that cannot be addressed with traditional preservation alone. Rising groundwater, heavier rainfall, and encroaching tides from the Piscataqua River are increasingly affecting the landscape and historic structures. Buildings that have stood for generations now face new and accelerating risks.

This is not a theoretical concern. Since 2012, studies conducted with partners at the University of New Hampshire documented the growing impact of surface and groundwater across the site. Foundations, gardens, and infrastructure are all affected. The question is no longer whether these challenges will continue, but how we respond.

Once again, Strawbery Banke is turning to its community. Some supporters are longtime partners while others are new collaborators, drawn together by a shared concern for preserving cultural heritage in the face of a changing climate. Together, we are developing a clear plan to strengthen the site, protect its historic buildings, and ensure the museum remains resilient for generations to come.

This moment is both a challenge and an opportunity. Strawbery Banke was founded on the belief that preservation is a civic responsibility, not a private one. That belief feels especially relevant today.

Protecting historic places in a changing climate requires collective effort, shared expertise, and sustained commitment.

As we look ahead to our 70th year, we do so with gratitude and resolve. Gratitude for the generations who recognized the value of this place and chose to save it. Resolve to honor that legacy by preparing Strawbery Banke for a future that looks different than its past, but is no less worth preserving.

Strawbery Banke Museum has always belonged to its community. The work ahead simply asks us to reaffirm that commitment to ensure this living neighborhood continues to educate, inspire, and connect us for decades to come.

Rodney Rowland is the Director of Environmental Sustainability at Strawbery Banke Museum in Portsmouth. The museum is a Smithsonian Affiliate and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. He has worked at the site for more than 30 years and now focuses on adapting it to increasing impacts from flooding.