Lions at the Door
On State Street, two golden lions guard the entrance to one of Portsmouth's grandest buildings. Above them, terra cotta figures and carved busts look down on the sidewalk. The Rockingham was built to show the world that Portsmouth had arrived.
Most of the building is now private homes, and the residents' privacy deserves respect. But on the ground floor, in a wood-paneled dining room called the Library, the Rockingham still welcomes the public. And according to the people who work there, it is not only the living who keep coming back.
From Langdon's House to Jones's Hotel
Woodbury Langdon
The site's history begins with Woodbury Langdon, whose home was built here in 1785. In 1833 Thomas Coburn converted the house into a hotel, which opened on November 1 of that year. Langdon's original dining room survived the changes that followed.
Frank Jones
In 1870 Frank Jones, the Portsmouth brewer who also served as mayor and congressman, bought the property and replaced the old house with a hotel. After a fire in 1884, Jones built the present structure, completed in 1885, partly as a tribute to Langdon. Its facade features lions, terra cotta sculptures of the Four Seasons of Man, and busts of both Langdon and Jones.
Hotel to Homes
The Rockingham operated as a hotel until 1973 and was later converted into condominiums. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. The building's eastern dining room, with its mahogany woodwork and painted ceiling, is now the Library Restaurant.
Please note: The upper floors of the Rockingham are private residences. Visitors are welcome as restaurant guests, but please do not enter residential areas.
The Ghost Stories of the Rockingham
"Well Known for Its Ghosts"
In October 2023 the Library Restaurant posted a security camera video on social media showing what looked like a white mist drifting past the camera, just above the golden lions at the main entrance. At about the same time, motion alarms inside the building were triggered, and police arrived to check on them about a minute later.
In its post, the restaurant wrote: "Our building - the Rockingham - is well known for its ghosts and notably the ones in the Library basement."
Things That Fall
Co-owner Adrienne Waterman told NBC Boston that she has seen things fall off shelves herself, and that everyone there has seen it, while acknowledging that such things can always be rationalized.
The Woman Downstairs
When the video spread, people who knew the building weighed in. Several described a female ghost in the restaurant's lower level, particularly around the restrooms, and others said they had seen and felt things while living nearby. Not everyone was convinced; one commenter suggested the mist was just someone smoking next door. But for many in Portsmouth, the clip only confirmed what the building's stories had been saying for years.
Dinner at the Library
The best way to experience the Rockingham is the way its guests always have: come in for dinner. Sit beneath the painted ceiling, admire the woodwork, and take your time.
If something falls from a shelf while you are there, the staff may not be surprised. In this building, they say, it happens.
