Going to Blazes Exhibit

It's been 200 years since "a great and distressing fire" burned 272 buildings in the city, but the Federal Fire Society and Mechanic Fire Society still exist — as do the brick buildings that replaced many of the wooden structures that went up in smoke on Dec. 22, 1813.
The legacy of the fire — as well as two other conflagrations in 1802 and 1806 — is being explored at the Portsmouth Athenaeum in "Going to Blazes," a free exhibit that opens Feb. 1 in the Randall Room.
"Why does the center of town look as if it were rebuilt at the same time? Basically, it was," said Sandra Rux, who is co-curating the exhibit with Joyce Volk.
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