Exploring the Town of Rye – New Hampshire Magazine

Rye makes essentially the most of its half of New Hampshire’s famously quick shoreline with a string of sandy seashores. They start at its border with North Hampton, the place the lengthy crescent of Bass Seashore is adopted by the large sands and excessive surf of Jenness State Seashore.

Farther north, past Rye Harbor, is Wallis Sands, protected by stone jetties and with views of Star Island (which can also be a part of Rye). On the rock-bound northern finish of city, Odiorne Level State Park has strolling trails alongside the shore however no seashores.

Though it’s the lengthy stretches of wave-washed sand that convey Rye essentially the most consideration — on a summer time weekend you have to reserve a spot early within the 500-car car parking zone at Wallis Sands — the city is much more than seashores. However each its previous and current are intently tied to the ocean.

Whereas exploring the coast in 1524, Giovanni da Verrazzano anchored off Odiorne Level. In 1605, Champlain sailed into the harbor; in 1614, John Smith (of Pocahontas fame) recorded crusing previous. It was a veritable social register of early explorers.

The very first settlement was in 1623, solely three years after the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth. These first settlers, led by David Thompson, got here to determine a base for fishing off the Isles of Shoals; their Pannaway Plantation was the primary European settlement in what was to change into New Hampshire. By 1630, that they had all relocated to Strawbery Banke, now Portsmouth.

In 1660, John Odiorne purchased land for a farm, which his descendants continued to carry till 1942, a complete of 282 years. The third farmhouse constructed by this household in 1800 nonetheless stands on the west facet of Route 1A, and behind it’s a cemetery with Odiorne household tombstones courting from the early 1800s. By the mid-Eighteen Eighties, rich households had begun to construct summer time “cottages” at Odiorne Level, one among which grew to become the elegant Sagamore Home, a lodge that attracted such notable figures as Cornelius Vanderbilt.

Rye’s summer time colony wasn’t simply at Odiorne Level. On the different finish of city, the imposing mansions that also line the inland facet of Ocean Boulevard should not as quite a few as these at Little Boar’s Head simply to the south however simply as spectacular.

Nearly hidden behind a pair of those is St. Andrews-by-the-Sea, one of many 10 seasonal chapels maintained by the Episcopal Church of New Hampshire. Accomplished in 1877, the stone church is one among two of those seasonal chapels which might be listed on the Nationwide Register of Historic Locations (the opposite is Emmanuel Church in Dublin).

The stained-glass home windows have been designed by John La Farge and the Tiffany studios. Alongside Church Street, in entrance of the church, is a conventional English lychgate, and the stone wall bordering the churchyard has a granite mounting block to help girls alighting from a carriage.

The Seacoast Science Middle at Odiorne Level State Park is one among this yr’s Better of NH Editor’s Picks.

World Warfare I and the Nice Melancholy modified the social dynamic of the summer time set, however it was World Warfare II that left essentially the most indelible marks on the summer time estates. Their idyllic life at Odiorne Level ended abruptly in 1942, when the land was taken over by the U.S. Military to change into Fort Dearborn. In December of 1941, the primary battery of 4 weapons was put in there to guard Portsmouth Harbor and the Naval Shipyard. The situation offered a transparent view and direct intention at any ship shut sufficient to fireside on the shipyard.

By January of 1942, all of the properties have been vacated and all however one torn all the way down to make room for the gun emplacements. Route 1A was closed to site visitors and barbed wire was strung alongside a “lifeless line” to forestall entry from the marsh creeks. The casemates that enclosed the 16-inch M1 weapons have been coated with earth and planted with quick-growing vines for camouflage. You may see the mounds at present at Odiorne Level State Park, some with full-grown timber on prime.

Farther south alongside the coast, one other relic of World Warfare II stays, this one an remark tower inbuilt 1943. Certainly one of 14 in a sequence of army defenses round Portsmouth, Pulpit Rock Tower is the one one to outlive. The 73-foot-high concrete construction has partitions a foot thick and an remark platform on the prime. A path results in it from Neptune Drive, and it’s often open to go to; it’s on the Nationwide Register of Historic Locations.

Till the early twentieth century, Rye Harbor was the province of fishermen and harvesters of English moss. However growing numbers of summer time guests introduced different alternatives, and at present Rye Harbor is the place to begin for whale-watching cruises with Granite State Whale Watch and several other fishing constitution operators headquartered in a row of colourful fishing shacks. Watch the boats come and go between the breakwaters from a bench or picnic desk at Rye Harbor State Park.

The ocean that has been so instrumental in shaping life in Rye will get its tribute on the Seacoast Science Middle in Odiorne Level State Park. Devoted to educating kids and adults in regards to the worth — and vulnerability — of oceans and marine life, the middle is greater than contact tanks the place children can maintain a starfish and pat a sea urchin. The tanks are staffed by naturalists who can present attention-grabbing traits such because the inexperienced eyes of a cat shark, shock guests with a spouting scallop, or fastidiously retrieve an ideal child lobster barely three inches lengthy.

Though the first emphasis is on sealife within the Gulf of Maine simply exterior the home windows, there’s an eye-grabbing show of colourful tropical fish and anemone to level up the vulnerability of coral reefs.

Opened in June of this yr is a completely new exhibit corridor known as “Our Dynamic Gulf of Maine,” which is full of interactive displays and instructing stations. These embody “Captured in Currents,” about tropical animals that trip north on the Gulf Stream and “Coastal Invaders,” on inexperienced crabs and different invasive species. “The Lobster Entice” is all about lobsters, and “Tales of Urgency and Hope” is a video station with tales of challenges and options associated to warming and rising seas. The middle was awarded a Better of New Hampshire Editor’s Choose in 2022.

Inside the trendy science heart constructing is the one remaining summer time dwelling to outlive the conversion to Fort Dearborn, the stone Sugden Home. Like the opposite confiscated properties at Odiorne Level, the home was not returned to its homeowners after the struggle however to the state of New Hampshire.