Portsmouth Commemorates Cherry Tree Centennial

Cherry trees on the banks of the South Tidal Pond, below City Hall.

The Portsmouth Peace Treaty Living Memorial Project

Capt. Bryant Fuller, commander Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and Japanese Consul General Hikihara plant a yoshino cherry tree, descended from the Washington DC cherry trees given to the United States by Japan in thanks for America's assistance during the Russo-Japanese War, in front of Building 86 at the Shipyard, where the Portsmouth Peace Treaty was negotiated and signed.

Strawbery Banke Museum Board chair Martha Fuller Clark joins Consul General Hikihara, Strawbery Banke historic landscapes curator John Forti and Museum president Lawrence J. Yerdon in planting a yoshino cherry tree in the Community Garden at Strawbery Banke. Nearby, the Shapiro House tells the story of the immigrant Jewish Shapiro family who arrived in Portsmouth in 1904, having fled Czarist Russia.

Consul General Hikihara (right) and General Manager Frank Wetenkamp plant a yoshino cherry tree descended from the Washington DC cherry trees at Wentworth By the Sea Hotel which hosted the Russian and Japanese diplomats during the Portsmouth Peace Treaty negotiations of 1905.

John Paul Jones House Museum manager Sandra Rux and horticulturist Ann plant a fourth yoshino cherry tree in the museum gardens. The Portsmouth Peace Treaty exhibit, created for the 100th anniversary in 2005 and the centrepiece of the Portsmouth Peace Treaty Trail is on permanent loan to the Museum. On October 30, 2013, the Japan-America Society of NH with the City of Portsmouth installed a commemorative plaque on the Portsmouth High School site where two of the yoshino cherry trees were planted. A visiting group of 18 students from Gakuen Nichinan Junior Senior High School and their principal Shougo Fujiwara, participated in the ceremony. The students sang the traditional Japanese song about the cherry trees, "Sakura."