Odiorne Point State Park on New Hampshire’s Atlantic coast in Rye combines shoreline recreation with some of the state’s earliest colonial history and the remains of 20th-century coastal defense. In 1622 David Thompson received a large grant in the region, and land at Odiorne Point was chosen in 1623 for the fortified settlement of Piscataqua, later associated with Pannaway Plantation and remembered as the site of New Hampshire’s first European settlement. The point later took its name from the Odiorne family. Its natural features include a sunken forest, while its modern landscape preserves Fort Dearborn, a World War II harbor defense site later used for radar before becoming a state park in 1972.

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Rye, New Hampshire · USA