Things to Do in Rye, NH: Odiorne Point, Rye Harbor, and Four Small State Beaches

Odiorne Point State Park: First Settlement in New Hampshire and a WWII Fort

Odiorne Point is the single most distinctive thing to see in Rye, and it carries two separate, genuinely unusual historical layers. The first is that it is the site of the first European settlement in New Hampshire: David Thompson received a 1622 land grant from the Council for New England and established a fortified settlement called Piscataqua here in 1623, a memorial at the park commemorates the site today. The second layer is far more recent. In February 1941, months before Pearl Harbor, the U.S. government seized the privately owned point by eminent domain to build Fort Dearborn, a coastal-defense installation meant to protect the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard from a feared German attack. The land had been in the Odiorne family since 1660, and by 1941 it also held summer homes with names like Glen Gables and Sea Acres; a displaced resident, Edward Gage, recalled being told in February 1941 that he had to get his belongings out that same day, before the government demolished or converted the houses.

Fort Dearborn's batteries, per Wikipedia's account, included four towed 155mm guns, two ex-Navy 16-inch guns in casemates completed in June 1944, two 6-inch guns also completed that June, and a battery of four 90mm anti-motor-torpedo-boat guns. Remarkably, the massive guns were reportedly test-fired only once, an event that damaged nearby windows, and were never fired at an enemy. The fort deactivated in 1948 and its guns were scrapped, but the concrete gun platforms and bunkers still stand in the park today, a rare, tangible WWII relic on this stretch of coast that neither Hampton Beach nor Portsmouth can claim. New Hampshire purchased the land in 1961 and opened it to the public as a state park in July 1972.

Inside the park, the Seacoast Science Center opened in 1992 and runs aquariums, touch tanks, a whale skeleton display, a marine-mammal rescue program, and environmental day camps. The park's trails, tide pools, and rocky shoreline are walkable well beyond the science center itself, making a couple of hours here an easy pairing of local history, WWII history, and hands-on marine science in a single stop. Confirm current admission pricing and hours directly with the Seacoast Science Center before visiting.

Rye's Four Small State Beaches

Rather than one boardwalk strip, Rye spreads its beachgoing across several separate, small facilities, which is the clearest visual contrast with Hampton Beach's single dense Ocean Boulevard corridor. Wallis Sands State Beach began as a one-acre parcel purchased in 1901 and has since grown to about 18 acres, with a 500-car pay parking lot, a bathhouse, and jetties; it sits on the site of a former Life-Saving Station and Coast Guard station that was discontinued around 1938 and reopened as a state beach in June 1964. Jenness State Beach is more modest, with parking for roughly 67 cars alongside a bathhouse and picnicking area.

Rye Harbor State Park is a 63-acre harborside park established in 1936, built around picnic areas rather than a swimming beach; it holds a 2014 monument honoring Captain John Smith, who charted and named this stretch of coast in 1614. Sawyer Beach is smaller still and more of a residential neighborhood beach. Taken together, the four sites let a visitor choose between a larger managed beach with parking and a bathhouse at Wallis Sands, a smaller and quieter stretch at Jenness, a harborside park at Rye Harbor, or a low-key neighborhood beach at Sawyer, rather than one crowded commercial strip.

Rye Harbor: Isles of Shoals Cruises and Charter Fishing

Rye's town boundary itself includes four of the nine Isles of Shoals, roughly ten miles offshore: Star Island, White Island (home to the White Island Light), Seavey Island, and Lunging Island. The larger, better-known Appledore Island, home to the Shoals Marine Laboratory, actually belongs to Kittery, Maine, not Rye. Island Cruises, Inc., operating as Uncle Oscar's out of 1870 Ocean Boulevard at Rye Harbor, markets itself on the claim that Rye Harbor is the closest mainland port to the Isles of Shoals, and it runs Isles of Shoals tours, Star Island ferry service, Star Island walkabouts, and whale watches through an affiliated Granite State Whale Watch operation, generally on a daily schedule through the summer. Star Island itself is a real, currently operating conference and retreat destination built around the historic Oceanic Hotel.

The same small harbor supports a working charter-fishing fleet. Harvester Fishing Charters, run by Captain Peter Aikens III out of Rye Harbor, offers inshore light-tackle striped bass trips, offshore bluefin tuna and shark charters, deep-sea bottom fishing, and private sightseeing or fireworks-viewing trips around the Isles of Shoals. Black Dog Fishing Charters, based at Rye Harbor State Marina, runs the 31-foot lobster boat The Black Dog for full-day cod and haddock trips, half-day striped bass and mackerel trips, a dedicated lobster charter, and scenic cruises. Confirm current fares and sailing schedules directly with each operator, since departures and pricing shift by season.

Historic Rye Beach: A Summer Colony, Not a Boardwalk

Rye Beach, the village stretch of Route 1A north of Wallis Sands, developed in the 19th century as what its own historical society calls a first-class summer resort of large hotels and boarding houses, not a working-class amusement strip. The Ocean House, built in 1844, expanded to accommodate 250 guests across four stories before later operating as the Philbrick Hotel and then the Farragut House, a name taken from a visit by Admiral David Farragut, until it was demolished in the mid-1970s.

Two structures from that era still stand and remain genuinely worth a look even without going inside. St. Andrew's-by-the-Sea, a small Episcopal chapel on Church Road near Jenness State Beach, was built in 1876 by the Boston firm Winslow & Wetherell in a Gothic Revival and Stick Style mix, with stained-glass windows by John La Farge, Connick Studios, and Tiffany & Co.; it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2001. The Beach Club, at 2450 Ocean Boulevard, was built around 1882 and converted to a private membership club in 1925; per its own listing on the National Register of Historic Places in 2013, it is the only beachfront private club to survive from the early 20th century along New Hampshire's coast. It remains a private, operating club today, so it is worth noting as a historic landmark to see from the road rather than a site open to visitors.

Planning a Visit

A first visit to Rye reasonably starts at Odiorne Point State Park, pairing a walk through the Fort Dearborn bunkers and 1623 settlement site with a stop at the Seacoast Science Center. From there, a swim can go to Wallis Sands for a fuller-service beach with parking, or to the smaller Jenness State Beach for a quieter stretch of sand. Anyone interested in getting out on the water should check Island Cruises' current schedule out of Rye Harbor for an Isles of Shoals tour, a Star Island ferry, or a whale watch, or book a charter with Harvester Fishing Charters or Black Dog Fishing Charters for fishing instead. A drive up Route 1A past Rye Beach takes in St. Andrew's-by-the-Sea and The Beach Club as a short, self-guided history stop. Confirm current hours, fares, and departure times directly with each organization before building a day around them, since schedules shift from season to season.