1600s
Samuel de Champlain comes ashore at Odiorne's Point (which he named "The Cape of the Islands") 1605

Captain John Smith lands at the Isles of Shoals (which he called "Smith's Isles")  1614

David Thompson arrives in Rye and, shortly after, establishes Pannaway Plantation (at what we now call Odiorne's Point) 1623

Sandy Beach (Foss Beach) settled 1630s

Brackett Massacre 1692

Captain John Locke killed in war with natives 1696

population approx. 150 (including New Castle residents)


Timeless view of the rocks off Rye's shore

1700s
Parish of Rye, Rye's first church 1726

First bridge to New Castle erected 1759

Militia attack on Fort William and Mary 1774

38 Rye residents give their lives in the American Revolutionary War

Rye becomes incorporated as a town 1785

population 842 (plus 19 slaves)


Rye residents in 1976 celebrating the accomplishments of Rye residents of 1776

1800s
Twenty Rye residents serve in the War of 1812

Battle of Rye Harbor 1814

Four neighborhood schools built

Farmhouses begin to be converted into boarding houses and the first of many hotels is built (Atlantic House) 1846

Greenland Railroad serves Rye 1840s

86 Rye residents serve in Civil War

First trans-Atlantic cable ends in Rye 1874


Four men at work in the Cable Station

1900s
Trolly comes to Rye 1900

Rye Beach Precinct established 1901

Ocean Boulevard constructed 1902

First Rye Library erected 1911

Historic Disctict established 1960s

Rye Historical Society established 1976

Rye residents defeat oil refinery plans to enter seacoast, Parsons Park Corp. established 1970s

Town Museum restoration begins 1998


The trolley in Rye

Please visit The Rye Town Museum at:
10 Olde Parish Road
Rye, NH 03870
or call at:
(603) 997-6742
or email at:
info@ryenhhistoricalsociety.org