Something Fishy

That describes our weekend outing on a NH day trip despite an overcast and chilly day. The weather wasn't a factor. We were in the car to and from and then inside this building.

Our destination was the Seacoast Science Center (SSC) in Rye, NH, slightly over an hour's drive from Nashua, NH. Located on the rocky coast in Odiorne Point State Park, the SSC is the primary facility here. 

This marine education, recreation, and science resource is dedicated to inspiring active conservation. It features aquariums, indoor touch tanks, interactive exhibits, and a marine mammal rescue center. Naturalist-led programs and events that teach about the importance of the marine environment and conservation are offered for children and adults.

If your local library offers discounted museum passes, it's a good idea to check if one you're planning to visit is listed. Here, the Nashua Public Library offered a 50% discount on 2 adult admissions. We saved on the cost of one senior admission cost ($8 each). As with many of the museum passes, it was printable on a home printer.

Immediately after entering the SCC, we entered the Marine Mammals of the Gulf of Maine exhibit. The feature here is the overhead skeleton of Tofu, a 32-foot juvenile humpback whale, that migrated into the coastal waters of New England and was believed to be struck by a ship in June 2007. This was before shipping lanes were changed to protect humpback whales.

The imposing skeleton hangs above an interactive station that teaches the ecology of humpback whales, whale evolution, behaviors, and conservation efforts. A video kiosk shows how buoys are monitoring whales in the Gulf of Maine and how this data is being used to help protect them.

Another exhibit, The Dynamic Gulf of Maine, showed the effects of climate change on the Gulf as it warms faster than most of the world’s oceans, impacting many species. For some, too warm conditions are shrinking their geographic range. For other, the warming provides an opportunity to expand into an area that was previously too cold. These changes affect the lobster and sea bass commercial fishing industries. Aquariums in the Gulf of Maine exhibit hall feature fascinating native species, including this rare blue lobster

There was no doubt that the most popular exhibit was The Edge of the Sea where the Indoor Tide Pool Touch Tank interactive exhibit included three saltwater tanks that are home to a variety of intertidal animals and seaweeds. 

Seacoast Science Center naturalist with touch tank inhabitant

A naturalist was available to assist visitors who had the chance to hold sea stars, sea urchins, hermit crabs, horseshoe crabs and other marine life. Many of these live on the rocky shores just outside the center's door. We declined participation as there was an overflow of children.

The Restoring Reefs exhibits detailed the importance of coral reef systems that are home to over a quarter of all marine species, including fish, mollusks, sea turtles, whales, dolphins, and birds. This exhibit featured large tanks that included coral, anemones, and clownfish (think Nemo). Reef systems are vital to humans as well, providing food, shoreline protection, jobs, oxygen, and water filtration services, but coral reefs are disappearing at an unprecedented rate. 

Photo credit: Seacoast Science Center

The SSC also has a Marine Mammal Rescue (MMR) and staffs a 24/7 hotline. The MMR responds to all reports of live (healthy, injured, sick) and deceased seals, whales, porpoises, and dolphins that haul out or strand on the shore in NH and northern MA. 

The MMR conducts health assessments and triage and also conducts postmortem exams and rehabilitation facilities care for and release animals.

Here's a photo of my personal favorite, a skate fish, also called “skate wings” and other names. Importantly, a skate is not a ray, and the two families of fish have very notable differences.

Skate fish, top and bottom (smiling) view

The SCC isn't the only attraction that draws visitors to Odiorne Point State Park, a public recreation area located on the Atlantic seacoast in the town of Rye near Portsmouth, NH. Odiorne got its name from the Odiorne family, who settled on the land in the mid-1660s. 

Internet source: Ft Dearborn WW II

From 1942 to 1947, the park was the site of Fort Dearborn named for Henry Dearborn, who was a major-general in the Revolutionary War, later Commanding General of the US Army and Secretary of War. The park still includes many remains of this WW II fortification. 

In years past, affluent families came to Odiorne to enjoy the summer. The property was home to dozens of cottages, one of which became the elegant Sagamore House, a hotel that attracted such notable figures as Cornelius Vanderbilt.  The site was private, expensive oceanfront before 1942 when the Federal Government sent letters to residents they had 30 days to relocate; Homes were demolished; Route 1-A, the state's coastal roadway was closed. Barbed wire was strung along a “dead line” to prevent access from the marsh creeks. Some 265 acres were condemned for the construction of a fort as part of a modernization of US coastal defenses.

Ft Dearborn Remains 

The fort was part of the Harbor Defenses of Portsmouth, NH, along with Fort Stark, Fort
Constitution, and Fort Foster. In 1940-1944 the Harbor Defenses of Portsmouth were garrisoned by the 22nd Coast Artillery Regiment. The first battery at Fort Dearborn, Battery Dearborn, consisted of four 155 mm towed guns on Panama mounts, circular concrete platforms. In 1948, Fort Dearborn was deactivated; all guns were scrapped, but the platforms remain today to the fascination of park visitors. 

In 1961, the Federal government transferred 137 acres to the state of NH for $91,000 provided that that the land would be used for public recreation. Previous owners were not given the chance to re-purchase the land. An earlier law had stated that once the government was done with the land, it would be sold back to its owners. But, the law changed between 1942 and the late 1950s when the federal government was done using Odiorne Point. Picnic areas. The park opened to the public in July 1972. 

The modern SCC building was built around the only remaining summer home to survive the conversion to Fort Dearborn, the stone Sugden House. Like the other confiscated properties at Odiorne Point, the house was not returned to its owners after the war but given to the state of New Hampshire.