New Hampshire has only 18 miles of coastline, but it doesn’t waste an inch of it, efficiently packing in a handful of state parks, the historic small city of Portsmouth, and the touristy Hampton Beach, with its boardwalk, live music, and crowds.
But for most people, the first thing that comes to mind about the New Hampshire coast is that it’s incredibly, unbearably HOT.
I’m kidding. This is not what anyone thinks about the New Hampshire coast…unless they happened to visit on the same three days we did in late June 2021.
It was SO HOT. Like really, really hot. Mid 90s with heat indexes over 100 the whole time we were there. And, of course, the problem with being in New England during a heat wave is that nowhere has air conditioning, so there really wasn’t anywhere (except our trailer) to get out of the heat. This is not why I go north in summer.
But we managed to see a lot of stuff and have a pretty good time anyway. Though I definitely wouldn’t mind giving it another go when it’s a little more temperate.
We used to live in Boston, and Dave’s parents live on the other side of New Hampshire, but somehow we’d never made it to the coast…probably mostly because all of our ocean time was dedicated to Cape Cod. But New Hampshire’s beaches and beachside towns have their own flavor and deserve their own visit.
Seacoast Science Center and Odiorne State Park
We spent our first (and least hot) day here, first visiting the Seacoast Science Center and then heading out for a short hike in the surrounding state park. The science center is fairly small, but there was a good bit to see there (allow about an hour), and we all enjoyed it. It’s aimed more at younger kids (under 12 or so), but our older kids were also entertained. Admission is $10 for adults and $5 for kids up to 12, and there’s a separate fee ($4/adults and $2 for kids) to enter the state park. The science center is part of a reciprocal network for nature centers, so if you have a membership at your local nature center check to see if you can get in free.
The exhibits, as you might expect, deal with all the different geology, ecology, marine life, etc. in the seacoast area.
There were a number of really engaged and helpful volunteers there:
Gus is drawing his “favorite marine creature:”
Part of the building is a historic summer home from the area, so in some of the exhibits you’re hanging out on the house’s porch:
The trail map available at the science center advised us that it’s an easy one mile walk from there to Frost Point, and that sounded good, so we did that. It was indeed an easy and pleasant walk; some of it takes you along the coast and some of it past a cool WWII battery:
And then Frost Point itself features a long breakwater that you can go out on. We love breakwaters! Ari and Gus decided it was too hot for breakwater traversing, so they sat in the shade while the rest of us checked it out.
After our hike, we took the scenic route back to our campground (near Hampton Beach) along the coast. This was a nice drive, but also very congested. I guess one of the disadvantages of a short coastline is that there’s really nowhere that’s off the beaten path.
Strawbery Banke Museum
I’m always up for a living history museum, especially one with a name as appealing and quirkily spelled as Strawbery Banke. The outdoor museum is on the site of the historic Puddle Dock neighborhood in Portsmouth, and the premise is that it takes you through the 300 year history of the neighborhood, with different houses and buildings representing different eras. So you can see a WWII era store and learn about ration cards and whatnot:
Or visit a tavern from before the American Revolution:
There were a few costumed interpreters while we were there, but many of the buildings were unstaffed. I’m not sure how much that varies depending on the season or just staff/volunteer availability.
Admission is good for 2 consecutive days, and we took advantage of that. It would be pretty easy to see all of the buildings in one day, but we split it up so that we only spent a few hours each day before escaping the heat to go back and sit in our air conditioned trailer for the hottest part of day.
We spent some time in the gift shop, where there is an extremely adorable kids section/play area:
Boardwalk and Sand Sculptures at Hampton Beach
I don’t know if I’ve mentioned yet that it was very hot when we visited the coast, but it was, and that made us opt for an evening visit to Hampton Beach rather than a full beach day. We happened to catch the last night of the sand sculpture contest that was going on, along with a lovely sunset.
Even in the evening, parking was a bit of a challenge, but we eventually found a space a very long walk from the sand sculptures and most of the other action.
But we were walking along the beach, so that was okay:
We didn’t do that much–we listened to a little live music at the bandstand, and we spent a long time admiring the many sand sculptures. Sand sculptures are pretty great:
The beach itself is wide and sandy; when we drove by earlier in the day all the beaches looked pretty packed, but by evening there was plenty of room to spread out. And of course there’s a full assortment of greasy food, ice cream, t-shirts, etc. along the boardwalk.
Next up I’ll talk about the campground we stayed at near Hampton Beach! Or I might be talking about our 2022 travel plans, come to think of it, based on the date I’m publishing this. Or our 2021 top travel memories list! Anyway, I’ll post something or other.
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