Event Registrations
2026 Speaker Series
This year, the WCMA, in collaboration with the NH Bureau of Historic Sites, is offering a series of lectures about the history of the Mansion and the Revolutionary history of the region. The talks are free to attend; donations are encouraged. Registration is required due to limited space, please RSVP below.
We hope you’ll join us for these windows back through time!
Benning Wentworth, Accidental Revolutionary, June 19
June 19 at 5pm, Wentworth-Coolidge Mansion Visitors Center
Throughout history people have made decisions that ring out long after, and Benning Wentworth, New Hampshire’s first Royal Governor, is no different. Although he retired from politics almost a decade before the Declaration of Independence was signed and passed away five years before the musket shots at Lexington Green shattered any hope at peace, he inadvertently laid the foundation for NH’s revolutionary leaders to lead the way to independence.
In this talk we’ll explore Wentworth’s efforts to place NH on a sound fiscal footing while at the same time strengthening his role as Royal Governor against all political enemies. By building roads, connecting the frontier with Portsmouth, developing the militia, and issuing land grants, Wentworth crafted a colony that was self-sufficient, growing, and independently minded.
Patrick Jennings is the Manager of the Wentworth-Coolidge Mansion State Historical Site. He holds a Ph.D. in American History from Loyola University in Chicago and a Master’s of Arts from the University of Oklahoma. Prior to moving to NH, he worked for the National Park Service as a museum specialist, park ranger, and historian. Transferring to the Department of the Army, he helped design and build the new National Museum of the U.S. Army and become a senior historian with the U.S. Army Center of Military History.
Space is limited for this free program. Please RSVP using this form:
RSVP form for June 19
A Goodly Place: the Construction and Character of the Wentworth-Coolidge Mansion, July 10
July 10 at 5pm, Wentworth-Coolidge Mansion Visitors Center
Overlooking the Piscataqua River’s back channel at Little Harbor sits one of Portsmouth’s hidden gems, the Wentworth-Coolidge Mansion. Home of New Hampshire’s first Royal Governor, Benning Wentworth, the rambling forty-plus-room mansion represents one of only two colonial governor’s residences to have survived essentially unchanged since its original construction. Over its long history, the Little Harbor estate has served as a working farm, seat of government, summer home and artist retreat. From its unique architecture to the elegant gardens and historic lilacs that once graced its grounds, the mansion has faithfully reflected the eclectic tastes of three centuries of owners. Presented by John and Adi Rule, a father and daughter team of former WCM guides.
For ten years, John Rule served as tour guide at the Wentworth-Coolidge Mansion. He has lectured at on the history of colonial governor Benning Wentworth’s land grants and participated in a public panel discussing interesting and little-known facts about the Wentworth mansion. Rule is also a volunteer archivist at the New Hampshire Historical Society where he has lectured and written about the history of New Hampshire’s Brown Paper Company.
Adi Rule was a guide at the Wentworth-Coolidge Mansion for a decade and still wonders if she’s seen all of it. In addition to guiding, she facilitated and organized events at WCM, including moderating the panel “Secrets of the Mansion.” Previously, she was an interpreter at Strawbery Banke Museum. Adi is a writer and editor, and teaches fiction at the Solstice MFA in Creative Writing Program at Lasell University.
Space is limited for this free program. Please RSVP using this form:
RSVP form for July 10
Wait list sign up
If any of the above programs are full, please use the form below to sign up for the wait list.
Use this form to join the wait list and select the program here:
Wait list sign up
Talk to us
Have any questions? For tours and other Mansion details, visit the NH State Parks page. To reach the Association, please use the button below.