Portsmouth, New Hampshire, is a river city founded in 1623. The south end, which includes Strawbery Banke, is one of the early colonial settlements along the Piscatqua River. It was not until the 1850s that vessels were regularly constructed in Portsmouth's South End. Launching the merchant ship Sarah E. Pettigrew started a new era in building ships on the Piscataqua River, and the Marcy-Pettigrew shipyard constructed some of the finest vessels.

This is the second drawing for the woodcut "Shipyard" done in the early 2000s from the top of the Pierce Island Bridge, looking down onto the La Cava Lobster Company, surrounded by wharves and early American houses. La Cava Lobster was recently razed, and the old neighborhood is now primarily residential. It still maintains a sense of past commercial importance along a protected shore. The South End meeting house rises above, and skyward anchors decorate the design.