What was the Butts Hill Fort like before Roderick Terry saved the property in 1923? Around 1900 Benjamin Hall owned the fort land at Butts Hill. He seemed to own a good portion of Portsmouth land. The 1914 Portsmouth tax book has him owning (beyond his own residence and estate) the Orswell land, the Baker land, Fort land, Greene land, Ogden land, Dyer land, George Hall land, Copper Works, house lots, Davol Place, Willow Lane, and lot 25 Ocean View. There were rumors that he would sell the Butts Hill Fort land to the state for a park, but what he had in mind was selling it as 200 house lots! Images from Jim Garman’s collection help us to visualize the land at this time.

Vintage photos originally in John Pierce Collection.