Issues → May/June 2008 → Travel →

New Hampshire Seacoast: 18-Mile Vacation

by Wayne Curtis

The New Hampshire seacoast is the Lichtenstein of New England--a small, generally overlooked principality much beloved by the few who know it, and given little thought by the rest of us. That's ripe for change.

In an era when the long weekend has replaced the two-week vacation (itself a replacement of the months-long summer sojourn of the Victorians), New Hampshire's seacoast is perfectly accessible for those with a modest amount of time but a large appetite for the salty and the picturesque.

New Hampshire offers a sort of a Currier and Ives version of the Maine coast: friendly, historic, somehow familiar, easily digestible. And the whole of it can be seen in a leisurely day. Do you know how much time it would take to drive the whole of the Maine coast? Me neither, but it's way too long.

Remarkably, within New Hampshire's 18 miles of coastline one finds an irresistible variety of landscapes. The pieces fit together as cunningly as a jigsaw puzzle: a sweep of broad, sandy beach interlocking with low, rocky headlands, and then lush marshlands, all ratchety with the sounds of red-winged blackbirds, that all but run into downtown Portsmouth, an enchanting jewel box of a city. And Portsmouth, on the Maine border, is a great place to start a tour.

When New England was first settled by the English some four centuries ago, life revolved around the sea. Master craftsmen built ships, sailors went to sea, and traders cobbled together small empires on improbable commodities like cod and molasses. The life of the colonists ebbed and flowed with the tide. If it wasn't ocean or port, it was backyard.

At Portsmouth you still get that sense of a city looking proudly to the sea, from the salty tang in the air to the (briefly) enjoyable shrieking of the seagulls. The narrow streets twist and bend with a willful sense of purpose known only to themselves, and invariably seem to end up at or near the water.

The best way to consider how the city got this way is to stroll through Strawbery Banke. The original name of this seaside settlement is today the name of a nonprofit museum consisting of an eclectic collection of historic houses and buildings--some grand, some common--that together provide a glimpse of coastal life over the span of three centuries, back to a time when New Hampshire itself was a blustery outpost of a distant empire.

This historic village is set just across Prescott Park from the low-key harbor, but the water once intruded right between the buildings, and the settlement was originally bisected by a wharf-lined inlet. It was eventually filled in; today the footprint of the sea is marked by an irregularly shaped lawn. Squint, and with enough imagination, you can see a forest of sloop masts bobbing there.

A cooper quietly makes barrels in a nearby shed, and somewhere in the distance a blacksmith clangs on an anvil. The crunch of gravel lanes and the creak of building interiors manage to instill this historic oasis with a sense of calm--no small feat in a city that's not all that tightly wound to begin with.

The area's natural history is every bit as intriguing as the human sort. Aim south and you'll soon begin a desultory tour along the coast and around the edges of harbors and marshes. You'll find a half-dozen state parks, too. Odiorne Point State Park is one of the best, offering a lot in a little space.

With a bit of sleuthing, seven varied and distinct ecosystems may be found here, from rocky shores to rustling marshes. Most visitors seem to gravitate oceanside. Come in the early morning, when the landscape is emptier and the rising sun glints off the water. Nearby are open fields and shady groves dotted with picnic tables and barbecues, where visitors soak up time on summer afternoons.

To learn about the living landscape, leave time enough to wander over to Seacoast Science Center in the park at the water's edge. It's filled with engaging exhibits and hands-on activities, helping make sense of all that space out the windows--including what's lurking under the water.

The museum's new million-dollar Gregg Interactive Learning Studio features a broadcast studio, a computer lab, and microscope stations that will open hidden worlds, from the deep and silent seas to the state's blustery mountains.

Freshly informed, you're ready to set off on Odiorne's hiking and biking trails in search of those ecosystems. Along the way, look for concrete traces of a more recent past: During World War II, the military acquired all the land, swept away the homes and hotels, and turned Odiorne Point into Fort Dearborn, which for 20 years was part of a network of defensive strongholds protecting Portsmouth's harbor. In 1961, the federal government sold the entire parcel to the state.

When you've had your fill of history, both cultural and natural, pack up and push southward. Continue along rocky shores, where the cobblestones roll in against low headlands of striated rock, which here and there looks like a library shelf that's toppled forward, leaving pages bristling upward.

Then comes sand: great and unexpected expanses of it as you near Hampton Beach, a summer town, where you ease into the present. Well, near the present. To visit the southernmost stretch of New Hampshire's coast is more like slipping into the 1950s. It's imbued with a slightly honky-tonk beach-town vibe. Visitors stroll the shore and drape themselves on the seawalls, rousing themselves from time to time only to achieve some high objective, like tracking down a cardboard tray of fried clams.

After all that education on history and outdoor life that you've endured, you've earned a long afternoon of indefensible laziness. Enjoy it. It makes for the perfect ending to a perfect summer day.

Take this NH Seacoast Biking Tour

What the Locals Know

For a great Portsmouth-area breakfast, skip the diner and grab a bite at Seacoast Farmers' Market. Held each Saturday from May to November, the market's main draw is locally grown fruits and vegetables. But this outdoor bazaar also offers quick breakfast options, including freshly baked goods and coffee from Me & Ollie's. For heartier appetites, put your name in for a farm-fresh breakfast sandwich from Kellie Brook Farm. While you're waiting, browse Loon Lodge Baskets and Kit Cornell Pottery, select a bottle from Jewell Towne Vineyards, and catch the tunes from the band of the week. Located at Portsmouth's City Hall Plaza, the unique views of downtown alone make it worth the trip. May 3-Nov. 1 Saturdays only, 8-1. City Hall Plaza, 1 Junkins Ave., Portsmouth.

Call or visit Web site for additional days and locations in other Seacoast cities. 603-658-0280; seacoastgrowers.org

Cruise: The Isles of Shoals

The Isles of Shoals are a group of small islands six miles from shore in Portsmouth Harbor. A wonderful day-trip is to take the M/V "Thomas Laighton" to Star Island for a sun-splashed sea-spray picnic. Daily mid-June to Sept. $25, ages 6-12 $15. Isles of Shoals Steamship Company, 315 Market St., Portsmouth. 800-441-4620, 603-431-5500; islesofshoals.com

When You Go

Portsmouth Chamber of Commerce
500 Market St., Portsmouth.
603-436-3988; portsmouthnh.com, portsmouthchamber.org

SeacoastNH.com
Web portal for "America's Smallest Seacoast." History, news, events calendar, commentary, links.
603-427-2020; seacoastnh.com, goseacoast.com

Strawbery Banke
Self-guided tours May 1-Oct 21 daily 10-5; $15, ages 5-17 $10, 4 and under free. Visit Web site for Oct.-Dec. guided tour schedule and fees.
14 Hancock St., Portsmouth.
603-433-1100; strawberybanke.org

Odiorne Point State Park
Year-round daily. $3, ages 6-11 $1, under 6 free.
Route 1A, Rye.
603-436-7406; nhstateparks.com/odiorne.html

Seacoast Science Center
Apr.-Oct. daily 10-5, Nov.-Mar. Sat.-Mon. 10-5; $3, ages 11 and under $1.
570 Ocean Blvd., Rye.
603-436-8043; seacoastsciencecenter.org

Hampton Area Chamber of Commerce
1 Lafayette Road, Hampton.
603-926-8718; hamptonchamber.com

Seacoast Visitors' Center
Seasonal.
180 Ocean Blvd., Hampton Beach.
603-926-8718; hamptonchamber.com

Hampton Beach Village District
22 C St., Hampton Beach.
800-438-2826, 603-926-8717; hamptonbeach.org

Interested in learning more about the seacoast, perhaps, its darker moments of history? Read the Yankee classic, Horror on Smuttynose Island.