By Jim McGaw

PORTSMOUTH — The Portsmouth Friends Church, the town’s oldest surviving building and one of the nation’s earliest Quaker houses of worship, marked its 325th anniversary Saturday with a gathering that mixed history, reflection, and quiet celebration.

The white clapboard church at 11 Middle Road has stood through storms, wars, near-demolition, and dwindling membership. But on Saturday it was filled with people honoring not just the longevity of the structure but the enduring ideals of the Society of Friends.

Matthew Kent rings an outside bell 10 times — to represent the Portsmouth Friends Church’s 325th anniversary — near the conclusion of Saturday’s ceremony. Jim McGaw “This is by far the oldest standing building in this town,” said Town Historian Jim Garman, one of

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