Robert Frost Farm Historic Site

Lots of interesting facts about one of our best loved poets!

Maybe it’s only true if you live in New England, but Robert Frost seems to be one of the best-loved, and most well known poets in the US. And multiple states seem to claim him, from MA (we saw his high school years documented at the Lawrence Heritage State Park), to Vermont (he was named poet laureate of that state and also has a museum there) to NH with the Robert Frost State Park Historic Site. Stopping by the farmhouse in Derry, NH is a nice chance to catch a glimpse into this poet's life as well as that of his family. His turn as a poultry farmer, the health and education of his children, and the decisions he and his wife, Elinor, made about their lives together.

• Our Rating: 2.5 wags Not because we didn’t like this place, but it’s not really one we feel the need to visit again. Definitely worth seeing and we’d recommend it if you’re in the area, but “been there, done that” is probably more the case for us. Unless they have a special event like a Christmas Homecoming or a special outdoor exhibit. An activity in line with seeing more of the way of life in the early 1900's. Especially a life lived and written about by someone like Robert Frost. We provided suggestions for both of these activities with the ranger when we were there.
• Tucker’s Rating: 0 wags! Dogs aren’t allowed in the house or barn. And while he’d probably have loved the field, there are lots better fields around to sniff and wander through. 
• Accessibility: Not really. People using wheelchairs or strollers would have difficulty here. The parking lot is nice and flat, and the ramp running into the barn is fine, but the bulk of this site is in the house itself and that is a standard old-fashioned farmhouse, complete with narrow stairs, and long-winded ranger talk with no place to sit even if you got into the house under your own steam but just aren't into standing still for long! More on that later, but suffice to say we can’t call this one accessible.  
• Fees: FREE to NH residents according to the website. But on another site we saw a fee of $4 per NH adult or $5 for non-NH resident, still other sites state $7 for others with discounts for children and seniors. When we were there the ranger told us it was “free for NH residents and I’m not going to check to see where your license plates are from” but we did pay our fees, which I think were $7 for each of us. Seems a bit high but they have some great memorabilia, a really nice video and the house is pretty interesting so we thought it was worth it. 
• Pet-Friendly: No. Dogs are allowed in the fields behind the house but not in the actual property.
• Activities: Shopping in the barn store (interesting books, pictures, etc.) picnicking, hiking. They have a series of events here in the summer including a quilt show, classes, etc. See the website.

We’d seen quite a bit about Robert Frost when we stopped at the Lawrence Heritage State Park and we’ve driven BY this old farmhouse numerous times, so thought it would be a good place to check out as part of the blog. After all, my father used to quote from The Road Less Traveled:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I –  

I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Only the last three lines of the poem, and I’m not so sure my father TOOK the road less traveled, but I also think the nuns who forced him to memorize poetry had a leaning towards what was very modern poetry back in the 20’s…. because this poem was written in 1920. I’m not sure kids are learning poems today that were written in 2000…. But then maybe they are, what do I know?

In any case, the previous weekend, Mother’s Day, had Beth traveling in one direction and I in another (our own "two roads in a wood.... " I guess) so we waited til the following weekend to take our respective mother and step-mother, out for a Sunday drive to Robert Frost’s Farm in Derry, NH. It's easy to find, right on Rt. 28, and plenty of parking! They’ve also got a really nice tree for photographs just behind the house, so definitely bring your camera if you want a pastoral scene for family photographs.

  

Entrance to the home is through the barn to the right of the house. The barn is filled with memorabilia, sculptures, children’s poems and drawings, photos, and a seating area where you can watch video of Frost himself reciting his poems, and his daughter speaking about growing up in the Derry homestead. Definitely take the time to watch the video. It's a treat to see and hear the actual poet recite his own work. And to hear his daughter talk about life in the farmhouse and New England in general takes you back to a time quite a bit different than today's busy life, but in it's own way, VERY busy. I can’t remember the name of the film itself but it was a PBS documentary produced locally. After sitting through that film, we were asked to pay the appropriate fee and then enter the house with the Park Ranger to start the tour!

Our first stop was just inside the door, in the “outhouse” of the property. Since it’s located inside, and attached to the house itself, it’s more like an “in house” but I wouldn’t go so far as to call it a bathroom since there was no bathtub, no running water, and a two seater “necessary”! I guess that kind of “sharing” is something only real family members or true friends would allow. The ranger spent quite a while in this room chatting about the history of the house and land, how the purchase was financed, how many chickens were purchased, the paint on the walls, the implements hung from the walls, and after 20 or so minutes Lillian started to fade. She’s not the greatest at standing on her feet, and in the heat of the day she needed to SIT! She walked back into the barn and figured she’d be stuck there for the whole tour, because there really wasn’t anywhere to sit once inside the house. The ranger didn’t hesitate in his discussion, but told us we could grab a chair if we wanted. I think more than a few of us were wishing he'd take her needing to sit as a signal that he needed to either shorten his speech or at least move to a different room, but no, he kept on. Eventually we moved to the next room, a large, unfinished room where wood was stored and other farm implements were displayed, and he continued his talk…. This guy DID love to hear his own voice. He even commented on that himself a number of times. He also told us he’d been a poetry major in college. AH! That’s why they chose him for this park. He definitely knew his stuff and could wax forever on Frost, poetry and the history of this property. I wanted to ask him to recite one of his own poems, since I was curious to see just how great a poet he could be that he was working full time as a park ranger, but I also really wanted to get on with the house tour AND have Lillian join us. It didn’t take long though, and that problem had been solved.

As we moved into the kitchen of the house the ranger introduced us to his intern… actually his son who was learning the ropes of being a park ranger, and who was asked to do a bit of the presentation himself, specific to how laundry was done on a regular basis. He also pointed out the rules of bathing in the house, with the oldest person being allowed to take the first bath, and then the tub full of water being used over and over by each member of the family, down to the youngest. My guess is the youngest never was totally clean! Probably also didn’t have a clue what hot water was! At this point the ranger did allow Lillian to sit in one of the kitchen chairs and amazingly enough as we moved into the living room he told his son to carry the chair there so she could sit again. After that, he was very attentive to her having a place to sit as we went through the house, but she did have to climb the stairs to the bedrooms on her own power and there really wasn’t a place to sit up there. He just promised we wouldn't spend much time up there. We found the living room very interesting, complete with books Frost used to home school his kids. The selection included an eclectic mix with titles like The Pilgrim's Progress, and others you'd expect to see, and then some odd choices regarding religion, greek and roman history, exploration of the north pole and more! I diligently made a list when we were there, but unfortunately changed purses since then and the list is nowhere to be found! I wrote the park asking if they might share a title or two but so far no response. But suffice to say, the variety of books on those shelves would probably be a great start for a paper on home schooling in the early 1900s. 

We found the ranger's stories of Robert Frost, his wife, and children and their travels very interesting. It’s obvious that Frost loved to explore. He started life in San Francisco, but at an early age moved to Lawrence. He's also lived in NH, VT and England to name a few mroe. He also clearly had a control issue, but it may have only been control to allow himself time to create. And he also had a desire to allow life to take him where and how it would, within limits. He wasn't going to be forced to do anything he didn't want to. That may seem contradictory but listening to the stories told by the ranger had us laughing, and wondering how his wife put up with him. Had to be love, most definitely!

Frost ran the poultry farm in Derry with limited success, taught at Pinkerton Academy until 1911, and wrote poetry, a talent that started when he was a young man and just seemed to continue throughout his life with no sign of stopping.  When he sold the farm, he used the money to take his family to England where he began his real literary successes. Robert Frost didn’t want to be tied down and his wife seemed quite willing to live this type of life by his side. Her father was not behind the marriage, but was definitely a part of what kept them warm and fed in Derry. If you love Frost’s poems, or New England living in the early 1900s, or just want to walk the same land that a poet laureate has walked, to see where walls were mended and inspired the poem Mending Wall, a poem that features the line, "good fences make good neighbors", or to see the field that he stopped in on a winter's night in Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, then check out the Robert Frost Farm in Derry, NH. It’s a nice place to spend an hour or two, and you might just find yourself checking out his poetry again! We still love it!

Other resources:

Alternate website with more resources for teachers, and Robert Frost history: www.robertfrostfarm.org

Frostiana: Seven Country Songs. A really beautiful piece of composition by Randall Thompson based on poetry by Robert Frost.

Lynn Heritage State Park and Salem Maritime National Historic Site

Some days life just takes you in a different direction!

Lynn Heritage State Park is first

• Tucker's Rating - 0 wags (Pets aren't allowed indoors)
• Our Rating - 2 wags. Mainly because their website wasn't updated!
• Accessibility - Seems to be fine. They've got ramps and I think elevators
• Fees - ????
• Pet Friendly - No. But it's an indoor park. I think you can bring dogs on the walk along the beach.
• Other Activities - This isn't the greatest of neighborhoods but IS a very short distance from the oceanfront so you could check out the beach, and they've supposedly got a mural along the boardwalk that outlines the growth of the shoe industry in the area.

Having worked in Lynn for a number of years back in the 80's for my uncle, John Meshna, Jr. (any ham radio junkies out there?), selling bank-owned property there in the early 90's and then working for the VNA for a bit and being recently involved in a restaurant development project in the downtown area, I knew we needed to be familiar with where we were driving when we headed to "Lynn, Lynn, the city of sin!" Not to put a bad light on the city, but it does have some areas where didn't feel all that safe walking around. But we checked the directions, checked the website to confirm the park would be open on Sunday, and headed out just after noon. Lynn is a very dense city that encompasses a very diverse community. Lynn is truly a league of nations, and you'll see people from every walk of life from young mothers pushing strollers, to older couples out for an afternoon stroll, to Hell's Angels on motorcycles and monks working outside a temple (we saw all of these and more!)... it's all here. Easy access via train, and the close proximity to beaches and other oean side towns make this a great location for a park, and compared to many of the out-of-the-way parks we've got on our list, this is an easy one to visit even if you don't have a car! Unfortunately, some people are actually afraid to GO to Lynn. It is a city with a reputation for high levels of crime, and has carried this reputation for over a century. Most people in New England know Lynn by the following poem:
Lynn, Lynn, city of sin
You never come out the way you went in
Ask for water, they give you a gin
The girls say no, but they always give in
Back in 1997 the city solicitor tried to change the city's name to Ocean Park to avoid this reputation but his proposal didn't pass and so we still have the City of Lynn.... home to General Electric (which grew out of Elihu Thomson's experiments with arc lighting and industrial motors, Lydia Pinkham and her amazingly popular women's tonic (used to dig up old bottles for this stuff in the backyard where I grew up!), and a number of firsts including: the first dance academy in the US, the first tannery in the US, the first ironworks, and even the first Roast Beef Sandwich! But this isn't a blog about Lynn, or cities trying to improve their reputation... it's about the parks, and Lynn Heritage State Park is not going on our list of favorite parks.... mainly because when we finally found a place to park and tried to get in, the wrought iron gates were locked and this park was clearly closed! Very aggravating since according to the website, it's only open Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday from noon to 4 pm. Not the easiest park visit to schedule. If you decide to go though, we'd suggest calling the day OF your visit to confirm that the park is open. the lot, while small and easily missed, is easy to get to (just behind the park building) and free. We drove around the block twice (hard to do since there are a number of one way streets) and finally decided to park in the lot for WFNX... not recommended but for the short time we were there to take photos of the outside of the building and the neighborhood we weren't concerned.
They do have displays of historic artifacts in the front windows, and at the back of the building is a very pretty park. One large tree had obviously blown over in the recent windstorms we've had, and there was some trash strewn around, but it looks like it would be a very nice place to sit and have lunch. The stained glass that appears around the top of the 1st floor is beautiful and features images from Lynn's history including shoes, and other items. We did get some pictures of this and the park, but it was a short visit and we probably won't go back. The online walking map doesn't provide anything more than an outline of the streets in the area and the name of the park. No trails or indication of how to get to the waterfront boardwalk and the murals that are mentioned on the website. But it is just a block away from North Shore Community College, and as we said, about a block from the train station, so it's easy to find. With the rest of our afternoon free, we decided to head up to Salem, MA (about 20 minutes north of Lynn Heritage) to see how that waterfront has changed over the years.
Salem Maritime National Historic Site
Salem's Pickering Wharf used to be a popular hangout for me and some friends after I graduated from college. There were plenty of waterfront restaurants/bars and a great breakwater for walking. One of my favorites was Victoria Station, and I'm happy to say it's still there, looking pretty much as it did back then, including great outdoor seating! But wow has the waterfront area grown up since then! We found our way and parked in a public parking garage and it became immediately clear that this area of Salem has changed in a big way since the 80's. But we were thrilled to discover that Pickering Wharf is also right next to the visitor's center for the Salem Maritime National Historic Site, so we'd get to visit a park today after all! We stopped in at the visitor's center so Lillian could sit for a minute and the ranger immediately asked if we'd like to view their free movie on the history of the Salem Waterfront. If you go to this park, don't miss this movie. It's not long but gives a great overview of all the buildings in the area, and the heyday of Salem, when it was the center of international trade. The visitor's center is just across the street from the Customs House where Nathaniel Hawthorne worked. A short distance away is a tall ship replica, the Friendship of Salem which is part of the park tour. There are numerous historic houses, shops and wharves that are all part of the park property and would make a full day of sightseeing if you're in the area. To be honest, this area of MA has so many historical buildings, parks, and tours that you could easily book a week here and not get bored. We only had a few hours so decided that this would be a park we come back to, even if it wasn't on our original list of 52! It's easily accessible, and while there is a $5 fee to get into all the buildings and onto the ship, you can see quite a bit just walking around, and taking advantage of the free film we saw at the visitor's center. Check out the Fees and Reservations page for a list of free activities if you really want a low cost day or two!
Other Historic Sites
Witches
Salem is most famous for it's witch trials, and there are plenty of historic sites to learn about that part of Salem's past, too. The Salem Witch Museum provides a great reenactment of the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 through the use of stage sets, special lighting and narration. I remember going to this museum as a school field trip, and again with a college group and it brought history to life for me.
Historic Homes
Witch House, also known as the Jonathan Corwin House, is the only home left in Salem with direct ties to the Witch Trials. Guided House Tours are expensive ($10.25/adult) but they do allow a $2 discount for self-guided tours, and if you are interested in witch trials, this should definitely be on your list. Special tours are held during October.
House of Seven Gables (also known as the Turner-Ingersoll Mansion) is listed with the National Registry of Historic Places and is open to the public. Featured in Hawthorne's novel, The House of Seven Gables, it's appropriate that they've recently moved the home of his birth to the same property so you can catch two historic sites at once. The House of Seven Gables waqs built in 1668 and is the oldest 17th century wooden home in New England. It's treasures include a hidden staircase, hundreds of old photos and paintings, and approximately 2,000 other artifacts! Definitely worth stopping in, and when you're ready to step back outdoors, you can enjoy their beautiful Colonial Revival Gardens.
Also check out:
New England Pirate Museum
Peabody Essex Museum (one of my favorite little museums!!! check out the website and you'll see why!)
Many of these sites are located along the Heritage Trail, a red line painted on the sidewalk that takes you all over the city. Starting at the National Park Visitor's Center, you'll walk through historic neighborhoods, museums, the waterfront, shops and more. So if you're looking for something to do for a sunny day, head to Salem! We didn't put this on our original list, but it's there now and we're definitely going back! 4 wags from us most definitely! (None from Tucker since they wouldn't have let him into the buildings, bt we did get him a patch for his hiking vest!)

Lawrence Heritage State Park - #10

Is it a park? Is it a museum? Is it the birthplace of Robert Frost (like the sign on Rt. 495 says)?

Tucker’s Rating – 1 wag (pets not allowed and there’s nothing there for them anyway!)
Our Rating – 2.5 wags. Although the thought of us wagging our tails at ANYTHING but a 5 is kind of ludicrous. We considered this park an interesting place, but not a "destination park", at least not in winter. Also, the lack of staff and lighting was a big drawback. We’d suggest it as a place to go for those with a particular interest in mill history, Lawrence history, or if you happen to be in the area and have an hour or so to discover some interesting local facts. It's definitely not a waste of time, but not a highlight either. Kids might be entertained by some of the exhibits and they do carry the MA DCR's Park Passports. The Park Passports are part of a program run by the Massachusetts Division of Conservation and Recreation, to promote children visiting state parks. Actually a really cool program we've seen, similar to one where kids earn patches for visiting firetowers in NH! While Lawrence Heritage State Park doesn't have its own stamp (since its not really geared towards children) the passports themselves are available and they do have a stamp that can be used to prove you've visited the park. This site also includes a visitor’s center, and carries announcements about local events, so it feels a little like a tourist information booth when you first walk in, but there are interesting things to see.

Accessibility - ADA Accessible including ramps and elevators. Lillian had no trouble getting in and around!

Fees - Free (even the parking if you hit it on a day that the small lot has a vacancy. It was totally empty the day we visited.) There is also street parking but we'd recommend the lot.

Two weeks in a row! We must be determined this year!
And to answer the first questions we posed, officially it’s a park, in reality it’s a museum, and no, Robert Frost was born in San Francisco in 1874. When his father passed away, he DID move with his family to Lawrence, MA around the age of 10. He graduated from Lawrence High School as valedictorian, and published his first poem in the school newspaper. His most famous poem, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening with it's last four lines, "The woods are lovely dark and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep-, And miles to go before I sleep" is one I can still hear echo in my head in my father’s voice. Amazing how sound is something we carry with us forever. I even found part of this poem in Frost’s own handwriting on the web . But this isn’t a blog about Robert Frost, or poetry even! It’s about parks and hiking and interesting stuff along the way! So here we go!

Let's do TWO parks!
We started off the day planning to see both Lawrence and Lowell's State Parks. Both were created around the business of the mills, so it seemed like a good combination. Unfortunately, as is usually the case with us, we got out of the house later than planned and couldn’t hit both in the afternoon. They are pretty close together, and located just off Rt. 495 (easy to find), but these parks are not open late in the day. To be honest, except for the fact that the front door was unlocked at the Lawrence facility, you could have convinced me that we’d walked into a building that was really closed for at least the day if not the season.

The Lawrence Heritage State Park is accessible to all, with ramps outside and elevators inside. A person Beth tells me was a park ranger (but who looked to me like just someone from the neighborhood), pointed out the ramps so we could help Lillian into the building. She turned them down, having already faced the icy parking lot and the icy walkway. She felt confident handling the 3 or 4 stairs up into the building. They were very clear and safe, and while the building itself is in among the old mill buildings, and a part of the city that one might think is mostly abandoned, we didn't feel that safety was an issue. The "park" itself is located in an old rooming house next to what appears to be the skeletal remains of another mill building, which has been cleaned up and beautified by a garden area with walks, benches and the roof opens up to the sky above. On the way back to our car after our visit, Beth even saw a hawk sitting on one of the rafters. No doubt taking a break from fishing in the canals nearby. The park building has been made over into an information- and image-filled archive of everything mill-related wrapped with the history of Lawrence in its heyday. What an amazing place it was before the mills started to shut down. We wandered and poked around, finding lots of dimly lit rooms. Thankfully it was a sunny day, so for the most part we could see displays, read signs, etc.

As you enter the building there is a large piece of equipment that we think was a safe. Both the size and design is incredible! The sign on the front says if you’re wondering what’s inside, ask the person at the front desk to open it…. Unfortunately, there was no one at the front desk… or anywhere in the building that we could see. Just off the first large room there is also a small video room where they show various films (including The Great Impostor, a film about a famous resident of Lawrence), and the feature on Sunday was about the Bread and Roses Strike. I would have loved to watch the video, but the sign said to ask for assistance at the front desk and again there wasn’t anyone AT the front desk. Hmmmmm......

What will you find?
The building holds memorabilia on the mills (their rise and fall), the collapse of the Pemberton Mill in 1860 (we were happy to see that it was rebuilt and is still just down the street), the Bread and Roses strike of 1912, and the immigrant population as well as commercial memorabilia from various manufacturing companies in Lawrence including New Balance Shoes, signage from restaurants, letters written by George Washington (I’m thinking this is a case of "George Washington slept here." Why else would they have letters written by him?), school photos of Robert Frost and his wife, and more. It’s a place you could wander in for quite some time if you're into reading display signs and pouring over collages, photos, and memorabilia. There are lighted displays but none of the lights worked and it wasn’t until I’d made my second pass by an area on the second floor that I read the sign stating that they were conserving electricity by keeping all non-essential lights off, so "Please check with the front desk if there is something you’d like to see…" Again, no one at the front desk! You’d think they’d take those signs down when they know no one will be at the front desk. I didn’t bother to GO to the front desk until we were getting ready to leave because I knew no one was there. It wasn't until I stopped there on the way out to pick up various brochures and sign the guest book that I saw the bell and the sign saying to ring it for assistance. aaargh! And how long, pray tell, would it take for that person who is obviously hovering somewhere close enough to hear the bell, take to get back to their post???… now I’m thinking if there was a ranger somewhere in that building (and Beth says the guy who told us about the ramp came in after us and went downstairs) then that ranger is sitting SOMEWHERE in that building…. My suggestion... SIT BEHIND THE DESK! Rather than sitting somewhere else waiting for a bell to ring. I mean REALLY, are they watching TV somewhere? Doing piecework? Handling correspondence? Sitting is sitting, isn't it? Either that, or put motion detectors on the lights so that when you enter the room, lights and buttons are activated. If the room is vacant for say 10 minutes, the power goes out. We did see the bulk of the displays but not all…. And we were wishing we’d been able to view them without having to squint or hope the sun would come out from behind a cloud. If it were a cloudy day I think we really wouldn't have bothered going upstairs at all.

Anything else?
They’ve also got miniature reproductions of the famous mill clock tower (acting as a time capsule to be opened in 2053!), various mill buildings, and life-size statues in a mill room setting. This is a nice museum/park, but unless you’re watching one of the movies available, I think an hour tops is what you’d need, that and a flashlight!

So at the end of our hour, we headed out to explore the immediate area and were amazed at how far and wide the mills spread out. They cover acres of the city! I'd definitely recommend driving around a bit near the canal to get a good feel for how far and wide the mills stretched. Its no wonder that with the loss of both the cotton and woolen industries, Lawrence was hit with a terrible crash from which they are still trying to rebuild. Some of the renovation is very impressive, and you'll find some cute restaurants and shops scattered through the mills as well as some gorgeous stonework in a few. The Immigrant Archive is just down the block from this building and I’m certain would be great for anyone interested in more New England history past and current.

What else is in the area?
As mentioned, this area of Lawrence is still under development. There are a lot of abandoned mill buildings, but more that have been refitted for various businesses including restaurants, manufacturing, doctor’s offices, etc. I'd highly recommend Salvatore's if you're looking for a restaurant with great food, reasonable prices and a beautiful deck that overlooks the Merrimack River. Some of the buildings have also been developed into loft and studio style residences, and if you like antiques you can find Canal Street Antique Center and a few other interior decorating type of businesses in the area, with some great deals on all kinds of things both old and new! At Canal Street we were offered a beautiful solid cherry Asian-style sideboard marked from $895, down to $495 and the owner told us to “make an offer” because he HAD to get rid of it! We did very well by resisting temptation but if you’re looking for furniture, glass, tea cups, lamps, you name it, you’ll find it!

On the way home we tried to stop at our favorite Bradford restaurant, Joseph’s Trattoria/Bakery/Cafe, but they were closed for a company holiday party (in late January I guess they cover lots of holidays). If you’re looking for a yummy bakery or home made pasta, brick oven pizza and fire roasted meats and seafood, this is the place to stop! We’ll make it back there next time we’re out this way most definitely. Instead, we headed to The Loop, which is the redesigned Methuen Mall, looking happy, busy and much more popular than the indoor mall it had been. We poked around in Borders Books, had coffee and vanilla bean scones and headed back home. Altogether a nice relaxing and interesting day for a winter Sunday.

Odiorne Point, Fort Stark and Fort Constitution State Parks

Abandoned Buildings, Lighthouses, and Ghosts! A 52b452 Halloween Adventure

Tucker’s Rating – 1.5 wags for the forts (dogs aren't all that into military buildings and history but there IS lots to sniff) and 2.5 wags for Odiorne Point. Since a lot of the trails run through some interesting woods, and a very nice beach, The Point is nice but still there's no place to lie down, and our guess is when the tide comes in there IS no beach.

The humans give the forts 3 wags each, and Odiorne Point gets 3.5 wags…. A bit better than the forts, and a place we thought we’d like to check out “in season”.

Pet Friendly - No. While we did see dog prints on the beach at Odiorne Point, NH State Parks do not allow dogs on Historic sites or beaches.

Price - Free in the off-season for all. It appears that there is a fee for Odiorne Point, but the other two locations have no booth to collect fees, and since Fort Stark is not staffed, its a safe bet it's free all year round!

Accessibility - None of these are what we'd consider "accessible". Odiorne Point has paved biking trails which would be fine for a wheelchair, walker or stroller, but that's just a path through a treed area next to the road. To get to the beach you'd be pushing or wheeling over rocks, roots, and narrow trails. The beach itself is wide and open when the tide is out. Fort Stark is a dangerous spot for children and the website even includes a warning about open stairways, wet rocks and instructs you to call 911 in the case of an emergency. Fort Constitution has paved walkways for the most part so of the three would be considered the most accessible, but as mentioned in the narrative below, if you wander onto the grass, watch out for sink holes... just the right size to step in and twist an ankle! And the turret houses, etc. are accessible only by climbing stairs.

Special Notes - Odiorne Point has paved biking trails that are very nice. They also have a great boat put-in for motorized and paddle type boats. The tide was out when we were there and the creek that leads out into Little Harbor didn't look deep enough for a regular boat, but if you time it right it seems that is a definite option. Portsmouth Kayak is not too far away and they do rentals although you'd need to check their site for prices, etc. The Seacoast Science Center is also nearby, actually abutting the park based on the maps we saw.

The Adventure (and forgive the length, but remember this is THREE PARKS!!!!
Well, it’s been way too long since we did a park trip. With the very yucky weather we’ve been having lately, we would have been walking in the rain (or even SNOW one day) and with Tucker at our side, all we’d smell is wet dog! Plus, I don’t know about you, but wearing glasses and walking in the rain is just plain not fun! So we’ve had a bit of down time! And now the challenge is to catch up so we decided to visit THREE parks in one day! That’s right, this was to be a whirlwind tour of NH Parks and we knew exactly which three we’d pick. All located on the coast within a few miles of each other, 3 of the 7 forts built to protect Portsmouth Harbor and actually within site of each other.

We set out around 10:30 heading to the Portsmouth area to visit Fort Stark Historic Site, Fort Constitution State Park, and Odiorne Point State Park. All three parks are closed for the season so while the property is accessible to all year-round, there is no admission fee charged at this time of year, no park rangers on hand, and at least for Fort Stark, minimal parking since it seems that the actual parking area is stuck just beyond the chain pulled across the entrance to the site. But since we’re living on a mega-budget these days, free is good, and off we went. As with the last park, dogs are not allowed at these three. In NH dogs are not allowed in any historic sites or beach locations. Check here for a list of pet-friendly parks in NH. Since both forts are historic sites, and Odiorne Point is definitely a beach, Tucker had to stay at home with Daisey for this trip. We did see doggy footprints at Odiorne so obviously off-season people risk it, but you didn’t hear that from us!

On to our adventure. As we set out we realized that we hadn’t thought about lunch, and unfortunately we’d already passed the exit to our favorite Alpine Butcher. But this is an adventure after all so we decided to continue on our way and see what we found! Yay for us! As we got off Rt. 95 in Portsmouth and headed south towards Odiorne Point, we spied Me & Ollie’s café and bakery . OMG!!! This place is awesome enough that we decided it was reason enough to get us to move to Portsmouth! (If there weren’t already enough reasons.) The café has four locations, 3 in Portsmouth, and 1 in Exeter. We stopped at the one located inside the Fresh Market on Lafayette Road and Fresh Market is yet ANOTHER reason to love this area. We’d eat healthy all the time if we had these two establishments in the neighborhood! Low lighting, gourmet everything, organic organic organic, and lots of amazing prepared dishes to bring home for a stupendous home cooked meal when you don’t have time to cook. ME & Ollie's was even given an award by TV Diner and won Best Inexpensive Lunch on the Seacoast, and we agree! Our trip was on Halloween and as we walked into the store we saw a member of KISS grabbing a shopping cart in the parking lot. Produce workers included a cow, and a dominatrix, and the workers behind the deli case all wore prison garb. Me & Ollie’s had a hippie, a fairy and a cigarette girl. The food and that light hearted approach to “casual dress” got us in a great mood.


Odiorne Point

With sandwiches and pumpkin poppers in hand, we drove on to Odiorne Point. Plenty of parking, a great boat put-in (paved and sloped to the river) and very clearly marked trails greeted us. There were no brochures or maps since its off-season (but you can print one off here), so we sat in the sunshine and admired the golden colors of the marsh and Witch Creek as we ate. Then we set off towards Little Harbor. The walking trails are NOT flat. There are a lot of roots, narrow sections, rocks, and brush. Very peaceful and remote, and if you follow the bridge along the marsh, the trail takes you to the beach. Not your typical sandy beach, although it is sand, but it appears that when the tide is high there isn’t much beach left. Large rocks, seaweed, and a beautiful view of Wentworth by the Sea and the golf course across the water. The day we were there was changeably cloudy…. First bright sun, then very dark clouds, and occasionally the sun would be shining on the hotel while we sat in dark cloud so it made the hotel appear to glow across the water. Really beautiful. We wandered down to the point, alternating between the beach and the trail that ran through the woods. Lots of bittersweet strung across the bushes, and we came across an old stone fireplace at one point. Not certain if it had originally been in a water front home, or had always been an outdoor spot. We also found a fox hole. Or that’s what we think it was, on the dunes. I can’t imagine a fox at the beach, but the only other explanation is that the clam worms we read about (there’s a sign at the end of the point) that are supposedly 3 feet long and live in burrows in the beach, actually need a rather large opening to their burrow! I tried to get close to peer in but Beth would have NONE of it! I guess she just imagined some rabid fox or mutant clam worm coming out to attack! The point looks out over open ocean all the way to Isles of Shoals and we could see a light house. We knew it was our next stop, Fort Stark. We continued around the point, partly on the paved bike trails and walked past more abandoned buildings that reminded me of the cinder block booths that used to greet us at the local drive-in (now I’m dating AND regionalizing myself!). Memories of dancing popcorn boxes and Father Time counting down the minutes to “showtime” danced in my head. At one point we walked along the trail beside what MIGHT have been an old bunker. There were periodic cement underpasses with doors that look like they’ve been locked a very long time. This is a very strange park to walk through off season. Lots of things to explore and just past the height of foliage season we were struck by how golden and green everything seemed. It would be a great place for kids to run around in. The park itself is flat, but the trails aren’t stroller or walker friendly, and once you’re in the woods, you need a good sense of direction to know which direction to walk in. But we do believe that all paths lead back to the parking lot (unless you find yourself walking UNDER the road, in which case you’re on your own!).

We read the historic marker to discover that Odiorne Point was actually an old settlement and the site of the first baby being born to European settlers in NH. The settlement included fishermen, coopers, farmers and more. Most of the buildings are long gone, but as mentioned, we did come across various remnants, so we considered this an interesting park. I can’t imagine how busy it would be in the summer, but definitely if you’re looking for a rustic beach on protected waters (no real waves to worry about) this would be a good one. But the parking lot isn’t huge, so get there early. At this time of year though, there’s room for all! The Seacoast Science Center is also nearby and is another great place to stop. Probably something we'll do next time we go!

Fort Stark

At the end of Wild Rose Lane off off Wentworth Road, we almost drove right past without knowing! There’s no signage on the road, but the park really IS at the end of Wild Rose Lane. Parking for maybe 4 cars was all we found, since the entrance to the park itself is chained off. We assume this is open in the summer since it looks like there is a large grass/sand parking area just inside the chains. Fort Stark is an abandoned military property that includes buildings from the late 1800’s, early 1900’s and a very interesting building overlooking the ocean, which was built in the 1940’s.

Again, since we arrived off-season, there were no brochures or maps, and none available on the website. This park is NOT one I’d recommend for people with small children. There are a number of buildings to explore, but no railings on most stairways, and some of the abandoned buildings are open to wander, but dark, and access to second floor open balconies, crumbling concrete and openings to floors below would make this very dangerous. While we were there we came across a few photographers, and on the second floor of one of the barracks it appeared some film students were taking horror or edgy fashion photos complete with draped camera, lights, and costumes. They worked silently, in a fog of smoke that was not coming from cigarettes. We left them alone to their work, and the crumbling floor they were standing on and continued to explore. The views beyond the fort were beautiful, and as we expected, we saw the lighthouse just offshore. The most interesting building we thought was the more modern building. Looking very much like the top of a ship, with a star shaped roof, and curved windows (mostly broken) looking out to sea. The entire building, unlike the others on the property, is gated off with barbed wire along the top. Stairs on the building are exterior with no railings and its difficult to determine whether that’s their original state, but the building definitely intrigued us. The older buildings are open for the most part. With what look like jail cells on the bottom floors (although one cell included a fireplace, and one looked more like an outdoor café, the rest of the buildings are also crumbling. Walking past the modern building, you’ll come upon a building with two levels. An open door on the first floor leads into a dark hallway behind the cells. It didn’t look safe enough to explore without a flashlight and a promise the whole thing wouldn’t collapse, so we continued on, but its obvious this is the way the aforementioned photography group accessed the second floor balcony. Walking around the building and up the hill behind you can look down on the building and see the strange patios, tiered wells (or maybe pools?), and turret rooms. And out to sea we could see waves crashing around the nearest lighthouse. But it was getting late and time to head to our final destination, Fort Constitution, located at the Coast Guard base.

Fort Constitution

A historic site located inside an active military site. There’s a big sign about the property being closed to the public, however on closer inspection there’s a sign telling visitors to Fort Constitution to follow the blue line to the park. So that’s what we did. Following the painted blue line through the parking lot, past the coast guard bell and buildings and on through the portcullis to the older site. It reminded me of walking through Mass General hospital when I was younger, following the different colored lines on the floor to get to the different departments. Coincidentally, we saw a tv show early Saturday morning commenting on this park and how it was haunted. We could believe this! Perfect spot to end our adventure on Halloween! One area, originally known as Fort William and Mary, was built in 1632. Most of the buildings were around during both the Spanish American War and the War of 1812. Most are only viewable through iron bars, but there are a few rooms you can go into. And we found the second lighthouse of the day. Viewable through broken glass windows in one of the turret rooms on the property. As with the other properties we saw no brochures or maps of the grounds. And scattered sink holes in the grass on the property, as well as access to rooms with broken glass windows again make this a somewhat dangerous place for younger children or those prone to twisting an ankle. But its definitely a bit safer and much more active than Fort Stark. there are many educational markers explaining the buildings and history of the site. This is an educational park, and history buffs, or children studying history of these eras would definitely find this park interesting. But care needs to be taken with younger children or people who find it difficult to handle stairs since railings are missing in some areas, and the grounds are well kept but not entirely flat. When it looked like rain was threatening we decided it was time to head home. We may return to Odiorne Point next summer, but probably not again in the off-season.