Friends of The Pearl

Holding Functions
at the Pearl

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Before and After
Images of The Pearl

Legal documents, including the signed preservation easement, and architectural drawings

New Book!

Revisiting New England

Black Portsmouth

Three Centuries of African-American Heritage

Sammons, Mark J.; Cunningham, Valerie

For more information, and to order this book, go to U.P.N.E.

The Friends of The Pearl began as a volunteer committee concerned with the long-term future of the Pearl Street Church in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the first Black-owned church in the state. The ad hoc group evolved into the project fundraising committee of the Portsmouth Black Heritage Trail, Inc.

In 2001 Portsmouth Advocates helped by winning a Preservation Services Grant from the National Trust for Historic Preservation to assess the physical damage from delayed maintenance. Timber framing specialist Arron Sturgis evaluated the building's preservation needs and ranked the costs of the renovations.

Using his conditions report, The Friends of The Pearl proposed a three phased model preservation initiative to rescue Pearl Street Church from its most serious long-term deterioration, as well as a unique solution to preserve the privately owned building and protect public access to its historic interior, while allowing continued commercial use.

New Hampshire's Landmark and Cultural Heritage Investment Program (LCHIP) offered the Portsmouth Black Heritage Trail a $164,000 matching grant to begin exterior restoration of the Pearl Street Church and to maintain what remains of its historical appearance. The collaborative effort to save this New Hampshire landmark has created many important partnerships.

This project not only rebuilt the decayed belfry and improved the building's exterior, but donated a permanent preservation easement, to the New Hampshire Preservation Alliance, the leading statewide nonprofit preservation organization.