Tag: 260730

Introducing art, whimsy and laughter into your garden

For some, gardening is serious business. Not me. Well, I do consider myself a serious gardener, having been growing things since I was a toddler, but I like to make our gardens full of plants — and things — that bring smiles or even laughs to anyone visiting the garden. Gardens should be beautiful, but also fun.

When I was a small boy my older sister, Ruth Anne, introduced me to jewel weed, also called touch-me-not (Impatiens capensis). It is an annual weed that grows in shady, moist areas and has small bright yellow and orange flowers. But the best part for a kid is the seed pods. Each little canoe-shaped pod is spring-loaded with seeds, and when ripe, these pods can throw seeds several feet. Pick one and it explodes in your hand. Guaranteed to make a child — or this old guy — laugh. Mind you, I try hard to eradicate 98 percent of the jewel weed I see in our gardens, but I leave a few at the edges to amuse and delight kids of all ages.

Fuzzy plants are great for getting visitors to smile. Right now I have a variety of burnet (Sanguisorba spp.) that is named ‘Lilac Squirrel.’ If you are of a certain age, you may remember when bicycles sometimes were adorned with real squirrel tails on the ends of the handlebars. These flowers, a lovely pink-lilac color, hang down like those squirrel tails, hence the name. I always am delighted when I see them. They make me smile. As do pussywillows in the spring.

Then there is turtlehead (Chelone obliqua), a gorgeous, tall, fall-blooming flower I grow in moist part shade to full sun locations. It has pink flowers that mimic the open mouth of a turtle. They are loved by bumblebees that force themselves inside the blossoms, with little room to spare. Once inside, they sometimes make what I call “growling noises.” Are the bees angry they are having a hard time finding their way out? Drunk on pollen? I don’t know, but I grin when I hear them.

Back in the 1980s, when we had real cold winters, I had grown a peach tree to size and was anticipating a good crop of fruit. I waited, come spring, for it leaf out. And waited. No luck. It was dead. Instead of lamenting my misfortune, I planted annual vines all around it: morning glories, climbing nasturtium, scarlet runner beans and perhaps others. They grew, they blossomed, they amazed visitors: “What tree is that?” When I told them it was a dead peach, they laughed, every one.

Later I had a contorted hazelnut die of old age and my wife, Cindy, who is a fabric artist, tied on strips of different colored cloth to the branches. They blew in the breeze and added color to the garden for a year or more.

A shrub I grow next to my little stream is called buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis). This full-sun to part-shade shrub is a native, often growing in standing water in swamps — I just saw some in bloom down in Connecticut in the wild, but have never seen it up here, except in my garden. Why is it worthy of a giggle? When blooming it has one-inch spherical blossoms with many tiny white florets coming out of it, sort of like what I always imagined Sputnik to look like, with little antennae sticking out. You will want to touch it, sniff it. But it is not a handsome shrub most of the year. Although rated as a Zone 5 plant, for me it dies back to the ground most years in winter — even though we’ve been moved from Zone 4 to Zone 5.

Surprise in the garden can be good for a giggle, too. For several years I had “Sister Mary-Lou” in the garden. She was a full-bodied, bosomy scarecrow in a purple dress and old rubber barn boots. She was not made to scare away crows (as her ancestors were), but for the fun of seeing her. Even when I knew she was there, she was real enough to startle me early in the morning. Which then made me laugh at myself. She went traveling to the Tunbridge, Vermont, “World’s Fair” in the late 1990s and won Best in Show in the scarecrow competition, though she declined to brag about that. She has long been retired. A good scarecrow is always three-dimensional, not just some clothes hung on a pole and a cross bar.

Each year for the past 20 years or more there has been an event in Woodstock, Vermont, called Sculpture Fest on the property of Charlet and Peter Davenport at 509 Prosper Road and at the adjoining King Farm, a nonprofit. This year it opened in mid-July and will remain open, dawn to dusk throughout the summer and into the fall. And although it displays some serious works of art, it also always has some fun and whimsy — and ideas for me about what I might add to our gardens. It is free and open to the public.

So what whimsy might you add to your garden? I remember when pink plastic flamingoes were popular on front lawns. Then they became passé. Recently I saw a few poking their noses out of a field of tall grass and had a chuckle. Yard sculpture can be almost anything. I have a rusty toy truck from the 1940s sitting atop a stone wall. I like seeing it there, and have had nice comments about it from visitors.

So stop at that yard sale you might otherwise pass by. See if there is anything interesting, colorful or weird that you might sneak into the garden. After all, garden whimsy doesn’t need to be weeded!

Henry can be reached at henry.homeyer@comcast.net or PO Box 364, Cornish Flat, NH 03746.

Community art

Buy some works, meet the artists in Goffstown

By Chelsea Spear
listings@hippopress.com

Uncommon Arts on the Common, the 16th annual arts and crafts festival organized by Goffstown Main Streets, lets attendees purchase art directly from artisans who live in the Goffstown area.

“Goffstown’s just a really strong community, people with a lot of different interests, and I think the art reflects that, especially with what you’d see on Art on the Common,” Chloe DuBois, who serves on the board of Goffstown Main Streets, said in a Zoom interview. “You have crafters, you have people who upcycle, painters, painting a variety of subjects, but you kind of really see a breadth of everyone’s interests and their connection to their community through their art.”

Uncommon Arts on the Common was founded in 2009 by Goffstown Main Street, an organization that “helps with programming around Goffstown’s Main Street Village from events, public art,” DuBois said.

Because these events are primarily volunteer-run, they “rotate whoever’s involved with the organization, an event comes up and we get together and make it happen,” DuBois said. This year, the volunteers honed their focus on the artisans and craftspeople of the Goffstown area.

MJ Depictions will be selling photo prints at Art on the Common, and photographer Bonnie Grower will also be on hand with prints of her pet photography. Those in the market for what DuBois describes as “more practical” arts will want to check out Diana Plank, who sells elegant ceramic trays and drink coasters with citrus designs. YarnMeThings will be selling hand-crocheted plushies. Style mavens will want to check out Luna Rose and Clay and Cotton, two retailers that sell vintage clothing, and accessorize their new outfits with jewelry from Meadow Rose or Ear 2 Ear Jewelry.

While the event is keeping a tight focus on handmade arts, DuBois mentioned that Uncommon Arts would also be hosting some demonstrations, such as “live painting in front of the crowd so people can go up and ask questions.” She also singled out blacksmith Jay Davini as a vendor whose work she regards as “super cool.”

“Uncommon Art is really here to support or celebrate is livening up the village in the middle of the summer in between a season of things going on and celebrating using artists, local artists and crafters to liven it up and really support the businesses,” DuBois said. “It’s a really fun time if you want to just get out and see what your neighbors have been up to.”

Uncommon Arts on the Common
When: Saturday, Aug. 1, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Where: Main Street in the Village of Goffstown, see the website for a map
More info: goffstownmainstreet.org

Featured photo: Courtesy photo.

Life altering

Class and consequences shape new Chris Bohjalian novel The Amateur

When Vermont author Chris Bohjalian began writing his new novel, The Amateur, he kept it a secret; the only person who knew about it was a lawyer. It wouldn’t be the last time attorney-client privilege would connect to the book, which, much to Bohjalian’s surprise, would turn into a courtroom thriller.

The Amateur follows Mira Winston, a teenage golf prodigy whose life is derailed when she smashes a golf ball through a practice net and accidentally kills a classmate, Kenny Foster, a caddy. In a first for Bohjalian, who’s written 24 novels, it has a table of contents, with section titles portending that she will ultimately stand trial.

Critically, the book explores Mira’s sexual exploitation by a middle-aged country club member that begins at age 15. Her experience leads to an irrational, magical thinking belief that the death was karmic punishment for being a homewrecker, when in fact she was a victim.

Bohjalian is an almost blank slate writer who starts with a premise and lets it lead him forward. The Amateur centers on the question of what a life-altering event does to someone who’s bound for greatness. As with previous novels, the future is often present, beginning with revealing that Mira will abandon golf and become a novelist.

“Dread is my jam, and that means I use a lot of foreshadowing in my work,” Bohjalian said in a recent Zoom interview. “So you know that at some point Mira is indeed going to be on trial, and that she’s not going to be an LPGA golfer. She’s going to be something else, and that will turn out to be a female version of me.”

It’s not Mira who best resembles Bohjalian, however, but the boy who dies at her hand. “I am Kenny Foster,” he said. Like Kenny, he moved frequently as a kid, attending six schools in five years across three states, the last particularly tough. “I parachuted in just before 11th grade,” he said. He also caddied at a country club that his family could never afford to join.

That class divide is deftly addressed in the book. Kenny’s parents spent most of their limited earnings to ensure that he had a good education and a brighter future. At the gilded country club, however, he met derision, getting the caddy equivalent of scut work, servicing meager tippers, and pathetic or inebriated duffers.

“F. Scott Fitzgerald said something along the lines of, ‘I grew up in the worst house on the best block’ … a lot of that was my childhood,” Bohjalian said, alluding to a The Great Gatsby character who described his house as “a small eyesore” in the “consoling proximity of millionaires.”

Confronting those inequities is one reason Bohjalian considers the novel his “most important” since 1997’s Midwives and The Sandcastle Girls, written in 2012, but it’s not the main one.

“We’re in the midst of enormous cultural transitions, a reckoning, so to speak,” he said. “I view The Amateur as important because it gets at all of those issues of how we look at young women, and the way we often give men of my generation a pass they do not deserve — Exhibit A, the man in the White House.”

This leaves the question of why Bohjalian kept The Amateur under wraps until he announced it with an email titled “How I Spent My Summer Vacation.” The answer isn’t nefarious, but practical.

Writing on the sly was less subterfuge than a reflection of a desire to work without pressure. Legal counsel provided plot guidance for Bohjalian when it became clear that The Amateur would not be solely about becoming a writer, but also about beating a murder charge. Still, he completed it in 90 days in what he described as “a frenzy.”

Given his prolific output, none of the people he normally confers with were concerned by his seeming radio silence at the time. “If anyone at Penguin Random House was wondering about my eerie quiet here in Vermont, all they assumed was I was giving myself a break and riding my bike and hanging out with my wife and my dog and having a lovely summer.”

Bohjalian will celebrate the book’s publication on Aug. 1 at BNH Stage in Concord, where he’ll have an onstage chat with Gibson’s Bookstore founder Michael Herrmann.

“I’ve known Michael since 1997, when I did my first event for Midwives at his bookstore; we’ve been friends ever since,” he said. Herrmann, he continued, “knows me better than almost any bookseller I know, and I think we will have a blast on stage, given our experiences together dating back 30 years.”

Gibson’s Bookstore presents Chris Bohjalian
When: Monday, Aug. 3, 7 p.m.
Where: BNH Stage, 16 S. Main St., Concord
Tickets: $45 includes copy of The Amateur, $15 admission only

Featured photo: Chris Bohjalian. Photo by Victoria Blewer

Stay Cool

Spend some summer at NH’s lakes, beaches and caves

New Hampshire’s summers are getting hotter, stickier and, this year especially, wetter. It’s the kind of weather that makes a person start eyeing every pond, quarry and roadside dam as a potential escape hatch. The good news is that the Granite State is, without much exaggeration, one of the best places in the country to jump into a body of water.

The state routinely ranks among the nation’s top three to five for water clarity and water quality, according to Amy Smagula, the Chief Aquatic Biologist with the state’s Department of Environmental Services, as well as Director of the Jody Connor Limnology Center.

Smagula has spent 29 years with NH DES — starting as an intern, running the Exotic Species Program for years, and now overseeing 13 staff and 22 programs that monitor lakes, ponds, rivers and beaches across New Hampshire. If anyone’s an authority on where it’s safe to swim this August, and how to know where it isn’t, it’s her.

“New Hampshire has very good water quality overall,” Smagula said by phone recently — with a caution: “However, these are natural systems, so things do happen.”

Both the National Weather Service and the Old Farmer’s Almanac expected this summer to run hotter than average, and so far that’s happened. Overall, summers here are trending warmer and more humid — which makes this less a lifestyle diversion than a genuine survival guide.

In other words, a pool membership or a $50 water park ticket isn’t required to cool off in the dog days of August. New Hampshire is stitched with public lakes, ponds and rivers. Getting wet isn’t a necessity, either, with a trio of genuinely strange and wonderfully cold cave systems left behind by the last Ice Age.

But natural water isn’t a chlorinated backyard pool, so a little bit of homework — the kind Smagula and her team at NHDES have made pretty easy — helps ensure a cool-down doesn’t turn into a rash, a stomachache, or worse.

Where to swim

Before picking a spot, begin with the NH Healthy Swimming Mapper. It monitors roughly 70 bodies of fresh water and 16 coastal beaches for bacteria. It’s updated at least once a day, and during bloom season sometimes multiple times a day, for fecal bacteria and cyanobacteria samples as they come back from the lab.

NHDES (des.nh.gov) introduced this oh-so-useful tool a few years ago, and Smagula calls the current version “the best iteration that I’ve seen of it.” It’s the closest thing New Hampshire has to a real-time weather report for water safety, and it’s free.

However, Smagula stressed that the mapper can’t cover everything.

“We can’t possibly sample 950 lakes and ponds and 11,000 miles of rivers and streams every single day in New Hampshire,” she said.

That’s why it’s essential that swimmers conduct what Smagula calls a “self-risk assessment.”

That’s a 30-second check before jumping into any body of water, mapped or not. Steps include scanning the sand for waterfowl or pet waste, then looking at the water itself. Is it clear, or does it look like a shaken snow globe, with flecks or scum floating in it?

Ask Smagula what she wishes she could correct about how people think about lake safety, and she doesn’t hesitate: the assumption that every beach is being watched.

“Anybody anywhere in the state could jump into a surface water,” she said — and plenty of people do, at ponds and river bends that appear on no list or map at all.

The other misconception is subtler: that showing up and jumping in is itself the plan.

It isn’t, in her view — the plan is showing up, looking around, and deciding.

“We have many beaches around the state that they could go to if the beach that is their first choice has something going on with it,” she said, “so they can have a plan B to go to another beach if they need to.”

Science aside, talking with Smagula reveals a sentiment that has little to do with algae counts or cell thresholds, that New Hampshire residents genuinely love their lakes. This dedication helps shape how the state agency charged with overseeing them approaches its task.

“A lot of people spend a lot of time growing up on lakes, going to camps on lakes, living on lakes, visiting lakes,” she said. “They’re meaningful to people.” Beyond that, tourism and recreation are a real economic engine for the state, one that depends on keeping the water clean enough to jump into.

All about algae
Cyanobacteria, commonly called blue-green algae, are native and normally present in trace amounts in nearly every water body in the state. However, they’re only a problem when they bloom. Even then, not every bloom is toxic, and NHDES has a reliable testing program to suss out potential danger.

“When we see a bloom, we collect a sample,” Smagula said. “Our threshold in New Hampshire is 70,000 cells per milliliter.” Above that density, the risk that toxins are present becomes significant enough to matter.

One more wrinkle is that blooms move.

“A place could be really unsafe in the morning because of high cell density, and then the wind blows,” Smagula said. “It shifts the bloom to another part of the lake.” Cyanobacteria cells can float, so a lake can look clean at 9 a.m. and develop a visible scum by afternoon, especially after hot, still weather.

Most blooms in New Hampshire last from an hour to a few days, but some lakes with heavier nutrient loads have bloomed for what amounts to an entire summer. The good news, reports Smagula, is that the algae gods have been kind so far.

“This has been a really quiet summer,” she said. “We don’t have any [active blooms] right now.”

With that in mind, here’s the list.

Per nhstateparks.org, this information is current for the 2026 season. Most beaches have no lifeguards, so it’s swim at your own risk. Costs at all parks are $2 for ages 6 to 11, $4 or $5 for ages 12 and up, free for NH residents 65 and older.

Bear Brook State Park — Beaver Pond & Catamount Pond (157 Deerfield Road, Allenstown / 485-9874)Hours: Open daily June through September

New Hampshire’s largest developed state park at over 10,000 acres offers two swimming areas: Beaver Pond, with a campground beach, and Catamount Pond, which offers a day-use area and pavilion. Canoe and rowboat rentals are available at both ponds on weekends. Pets are allowed in the campground and on trails, not on the beach. The park is also home to the NH Antique Snowmobile Museum, a cool indoor option for a break from the sun.

Clough State Park — Everett Lake (455 Clough Park Road, Weare / 529-7112) Hours: 9 a.m.–7 p.m. (through early Sept.); 9 a.m.–5 p.m. (Sept. 8–Oct. 13)

A 900-foot sandy beach on 150-acre Everett Lake, formed by a dam on the Piscataquog River. The park store rents boats, paddleboards and floats, and sells snacks and ice cream. No pets on the beach. Carry in, carry out — no trash receptacles on site. Weekend and holiday reservations are strongly recommended, as the beach can reach capacity. Note: GPS can be wonky, and it’s recommended to use Everett Dam Road in Weare as a destination.

Contoocook Lake — Lake Contoocook (Squantum Road, Jaffrey / 532-8100) Hours: 11 a.m.–5 p.m. daily (lifeguard hours); facilities open 8 a.m.–dusk

A classic small-town public beach on clear, quiet Contoocook Lake at the foot of Mount Monadnock, making it a popular post-hike cool-down destination. There’s a lifeguard on duty during posted hours, bathrooms, picnic tables, a concession stand, a covered pavilion and changing rooms. No floatation devices, alcohol, glass containers or loud music. Non-residents park at Humiston Field (31 Howard Hill Road) and walk approximately 0.8 miles to the beach.

Ellacoya State Park – Lake Winnipesaukee (280 Scenic Drive, Gilford / 293-7821) Hours: Daily 9 a.m.–6 p.m., After Sept. 20, unstaffed and weekends only through Oct. 24

A 600-foot sandy beach on the southwest shore of New Hampshire’s largest lake, with views across the water to the Sandwich and Ossipee mountains, one of the few state park beaches with a lake view on that scale. It offers picnic pavilions, an accessible bathhouse and a playground. Parking is limited and fills fast on nice weekends and holidays, but reservations can be made up to 30 days ahead. Pets are not allowed anywhere in the park.

Greenfield State Park – Otter Lake (52 Campground Road, Greenfield / 547-3497) Hours: Open daily late June through mid-October; generally 10 a.m.–7:30 p.m.

Reopened last year after renovations, this 400-acre park sits on the shore of Otter Lake. Its Picnic Beach has a small sandy swim area, picnic tables with grills, restrooms, and a small store selling snacks and camping supplies. Kayak and canoe rentals available. The park is the state’s largest campground, so it sees traffic, but the lake itself remains undeveloped and peaceful. It’s close enough to Mount Monadnock to pair a morning hike with an afternoon swim.

Kingston State Park – Great Pond (124 Main St, Kingston / 642-5471) Hours: Daily 9 a.m.–5 p.m., weekends 8 a.m.–7 p.m., through Labor Day

Situated in the state’s southeastern corner, its beach is flanked by two bath houses, one near the park office, another by the store, along with picnic tables, a playground, and a snack stand. On nice weekends the beach routinely fills to capacity by mid-morning, so an early arrival or an online day-use reservation (nhstateparks.org) can be worth it. No alcohol or smoking anywhere in the park; no pets on the beach or in the picnic area.

Mt. Sunapee State Park – Lake Sunapee (86 Beach Access Road, Newbury / 763-5561) Hours: 9 a.m.–6 p.m. through Oct. 24.

The state beach sits on Lake Sunapee with a view of the mountain’s base, with a wide grassy lawn, a bathhouse, a store, a playground, and canoe/kayak rentals. Hiking trails leave from the beach area up toward Lake Solitude and the summit, making it an easy pairing of a morning hike and an afternoon swim. A restricted boat launch is on site. The beach reliably sells out by late morning on nice summer weekends and holidays, so reserve ahead if you can.

Pawtuckaway State Park — Pawtuckaway Lake (128 Mountain Road (Main Entrance) or 7 Pawtuckaway Road, Nottingham / 895-3031)Hours: 8 a.m.–7 p.m. daily

An 800-acre glacial lake with a 600-foot sandy beach, playground and new restroom building, set against a densely forested 5,500-acre park. The beach faces west and gets full afternoon sun. The beach area reaches capacity by mid-morning most summer weekend days, so arrive early. Canoe and kayak rentals are available at the camp store. Alcohol and pets are prohibited in the beach area. Oh, and prepare to untether — there is limited to no cell service inside the park.

Silver Lake State Park – Silver Lake (138 Silver Lake Road, Hollis / 465-2342) Hours: Friday, Saturday and Sunday, all season long, 9 a.m.–5 p.m.

An 80-acre park with a 1,000-foot beach curved along a 34-acre lake. Only open Friday through Sunday during the season, so a weekday drive out will find it closed. The park store rents canoes and kayaks, also selling snacks, ice cream and beach supplies. A short loop trail starts at the beach, with more hiking into the adjoining Spalding Town Forest. The restrooms are portable toilets rather than a bathhouse this year. No pets, no alcohol.

Wadleigh State Park – Kezar Lake (78 Wadleigh State Park Road, North Sutton / 927-4724) Hours: Open 10 a.m.–5 p.m. through Labor Day

Tall pines and hemlocks shade the picnic grove right up to the sandy beach on Kezar Lake. Canoes and kayaks are available to rent, and paddlers can cross to a small island loaded with wild blueberries, or follow a 3-mile loop trail around the lake with views of Mount Kearsarge. Amenities include a bathhouse, picnic tables, a playground, a baseball field across the street, and a boat ramp near the entrance. No pets.

Wellington State Park – Newfound Lake (614 West Shore Road, Bristol / 744-2197) Hours: Daily 8 a.m.–6 p.m. through Sept. 20, weekends only through Oct. 11

One of New Hampshire’s deepest, clearest lakes, Newfound is the largest freshwater swimming beach in the entire state park system. A peninsula nature trail runs along the shore with picnic areas, fishing spots, and views across to Cliff and Belle Islands; longer trails connect out to Mt. Cardigan, Welton Falls, and the Sugarloafs. The snack bar sells ice cream and beach gear, and there are volleyball and horseshoe courts. No pets.

Wentworth State Park – Wentworth Lake (297 Governor John Wentworth Hwy., Wolfeboro / 569-3699) Hours: 9 a.m.–6 p.m. through Labor Day

Allen Albee Beach is a small, quiet 50-acre beach on the north shore of Wentworth Lake, often called the quiet sister of Lake Winnipesaukee, which it connects to. Amenities are simple, with picnic tables, flush toilets, and a group-use area, which makes it a good pick on a summer weekend when the bigger Lakes Region beaches are full with the seasonal crowds. No pets.

Where to hit the beach

New Hampshire’s ocean coastline is the shortest of any non-landlocked state. But there are still 16 beaches and a separate NHDES program monitoring them for the same bacteria that show up in the state’s lakes. Smagula’s title covers fresh water, but she’s monitoring the coastal side while the state looks for a new beach program coordinator.

She says the calculus for salt water isn’t much different: Watch for crowds and waterfowl congregating on the sand, since both can signal higher bacteria levels, check the mapper, and run the same self-risk assessment.

Hampton Beach State Park 160 Ocean Blvd., Hampton / 227-8722 Hours: Parking area 8 a.m.–midnight; lifeguards on duty 9 a.m.–5:30 p.m. (10:15 a.m.–4:45 p.m. Sept. 2–Oct. 5).

New Hampshire’s best-known coastal attraction, it’s also been recognized by the Natural Resources Defense Council as a “Superstar Beach” for consistently clean water. It pairs a mile of wide sand with a boardwalk full of arcades, ice cream stands, restaurants and shops. In other words, it’s a festive, resort-town beach rather than a quiet escape. Beach amenities include a bath house and food vendors, with metered parking.

Jenness State Beach 2280 Ocean Blvd, Rye / 227-8722 Hours: Parking area 8 a.m.–midnight; lifeguards on duty 10:15 a.m.–4:45 p.m. daily through late August.

A half-mile stretch of sand in Rye, Jenness is a favorite among surfers and local families who prefer it to Hampton’s larger crowds. The beach has a small bathhouse with restrooms and outdoor showers, plus a snack bar in season. Its consistent wave breaks make it one of the seacoast’s more popular surf spots outside of lifeguard hours. Street-side metered parking lines Route 1A. It offers a more laid-back, neighborhood feel while still being fully equipped for a day at the shore.

North Beach 920 Ocean Blvd, Hampton / 227-8722 Hours: Parking meters active 8 a.m.–10 p.m.; lifeguards on duty 10 a.m.–5 p.m. daily through mid-to-late August.

The northern end of Hampton Beach State Park along Ocean Boulevard, North Beach is quieter than the Main Beach strip a mile south, with fewer commercial distractions. It’s a favored spot for surfers and long-boarders thanks to its more open swell. Parking is metered street-side along the seawall, with head-in-only spaces from 6th to 19th Street and no overnight parking. Facilities are limited compared to Main Beach, making it better suited to visitors who want sand and surf without the boardwalk scene.

North Hampton State Beach 27 Ocean Blvd., North Hampton / 227-8722 Hours: Parking area 8 a.m.–midnight; lifeguards on duty 10:15 a.m.–4:45 p.m. daily thru late August.

A small, low-key beach in North Hampton, this spot draws mainly local residents and surfers rather than tourists. It has minimal amenities — no boardwalk, concessions or bath house — just sand, surf, and roadside parking along Ocean Boulevard. Pets are prohibited here year-round, unlike most other state beaches. Its modest size and quieter crowds make it a good choice for visitors seeking a simpler, less commercial beach day on the seacoast.

Odiorne Point State Park (Rye) 570 Ocean Blvd, Rye / 436-7406 Hours: Typically 8 a.m.–8 p.m. in summer, shorter in spring and fall; check current schedule before visiting.

The largest stretch of undeveloped shoreline on the New Hampshire coast, Odiorne Point offers tide pools, salt marsh, and a mostly rocky and pebble shoreline rather than open sand. Swimming is allowed in a designated area but unguarded, so it’s swim-at-your-own-risk. The park includes walking trails, picnic areas, WWII-era bunker remnants, and the Seacoast Science Center. It’s better suited to exploring tide pools, birdwatching and picnicking than traditional beach lounging, appealing to visitors who want nature and history alongside ocean views.

Rye Harbor State Park (Rye) 1730 Ocean Blvd, Rye / 227-8722Hours: Parking area open 8 a.m.–8 p.m. daily.

Rye Harbor is more working harbor than swimming beach, with a boat ramp, commercial wharf, and public dock alongside picnic tables and salt-water fishing access. Whale-watching and deep-sea fishing charters depart nearby. There’s no lifeguarded swimming area, so it’s best for anglers, boaters, and anyone wanting harbor views and sea breeze rather than sand time. Its small size and working-harbor character make it a quick, scenic stop rather than a full beach-day destination.

Seabrook Beach (Seabrook) Runs along Ocean Boulevard/Route 1A in Seabrook Beach village. Call 474-3252.Hours: Open year-round; no official gate hours, though parking is restricted seasonally.

New Hampshire’s southernmost coastal beach, Seabrook Beach sits in a quiet, largely residential beach town backed by protected dunes. From Memorial Day weekend through mid-September, beachfront parking is limited to residents with a permit, so most visitors park along Route 1A and walk to public access points. The vibe is low-key and cottage-community rather than commercial, with fewer amenities than Hampton just to the north. It suits visitors looking for open sand and a quieter, small-town coastal feel.

Wallis Sands State Park 1050 Ocean Blvd., Rye / 436-9404 Hours:Parking area open 8 a.m.–midnight; lifeguards on duty 10 a.m.–5 p.m. daily, June 1–September 1.

Wallis Sands offers a 700-foot sandy beach that widens to about 150 feet at high tide, making it one of the more spacious swimming spots on the seacoast. It has a full bathhouse with showers and restrooms, a snack bar, a playground, and lifeguard coverage through the summer. Day-use parking reservations are available online, which helps manage the popular summer crowds. Its combination of amenities and swimmable sand makes it a solid family-friendly choice between the busier Hampton Beach and quieter Jenness Beach.

Into the Earth: NH’s caves

If checking a bacteria map before swimming sounds like too much homework for a beach day, here’s a pivot: New Hampshire has three genuinely excellent cave systems, all of them naturally, permanently, gloriously cold, no water-quality mapper needed.

All three cave systems are, geologically speaking, cousins — talus caves formed when retreating glaciers left massive granite boulders stacked against each other roughly 10,000 to 20,000 years ago. According to Dr. Simon Pendleton of Plymouth State University, a few factors keep these caves cold through summer. One is thermal mass.

“It takes them a long time to heat up or cool down, so the boulders themselves act like cold packs well after the cold winter temperatures have gone,” he wrote in an email. “The boulders also insulate the cold air pockets below them very well from the warm air temperatures.”

In nearby Polar Caves Park, boulders and trees also minimize solar radiation, which keeps the talus field shaded, he continued. “Also, the air in these boulder pockets is cold coming out of the winter and this cold air is denser than the warm summer air above it, which prevents mixing and keeps cold air trapped … in the voids between boulders.”

Asked about the effects of climate change on these geological marvels, Pendleton said warmer air will affect cold boulder pockets, “but due to all the factors keeping them cool, the impact will be muted.”

Polar Caves Park (705 Route 25, Rumney, 536-1888, polarcaves.com) is the state’s original cave attraction. Family-owned since 1922, it’s unmistakably built around a single selling point: cold. Nine glacially formed granite boulder caves sit beneath Hawk’s Cliff in the Baker River Valley, linked by a network of boardwalks and stairs.

The deepest of them, aptly named the Ice Cave, holds frozen water even while temperatures rise outside. The others have self-explanatory names like Fat Man’s Misery, Lemon Squeeze, Orange Crush and Polar Pinch. Bypass routes exist at every cave for anyone who’d rather not squeeze through granite. Wear closed-toe shoes with real traction, and bring a light layer even on a 90-degree day — the cold air is the entire point.

Open daily from mid-June through Labor Day weekend (Wednesday through Sunday in the shoulder seasons); tickets run about $24.50 for adults and $15.50 for youth ages 4-11 when booked online, with kids 3 and under free.

Lost River Gorge and Boulder Caves (1712 Lost River Road, North Woodstock) offers a different flavor of the same phenomenon: a place where a river literally disappears underground. A one-mile wooden boardwalk winds through Kinsman Notch past nearly a dozen glacially formed boulder caves, including Lemon Squeezer and Bear Crawl, along with cascading waterfalls and towering rock walls.

Plan on 1.5 to 2 hours to enjoy a shaded gorge and dark cave interiors that create a genuine micro-climate much cooler than the surrounding forest. The site is only closed during lightning,. Thanks to bypass routes throughout, most of the trail can be walked without entering a cave — but why skip chilling? Gemstone panning, a nature garden, a gift shop and café round things out.

Open daily through October, though the current schedule runs Monday and Thursday through Sunday (closed Tuesday and Wednesday); tickets run $25 online, $29 walk-up, with kids 3 and under free.

Loon Mountain’s Glacial Caves (60 Loon Mountain Road, Lincoln, 745-8111) Ride the White Mountain Express, New Hampshire’s longest enclosed gondola, up to the summit of Loon Peak, then walk a short distance to explore boulder caves formed by the same Ice Age geology as Polar Caves and Lost River. Cave access is included with a Skyride ticket, making this a genuine two-for-one — mountain views and underground chill in a single trip.

Athletic footwear is required, and the caves can close temporarily during or after wet weather when the rocks get slick, so check the Loon Mountain Report before heading out. The gondola can accommodate folded wheelchairs, walkers and strollers. One practical note: Missing the last gondola means a hike down, so keep an eye on the clock.

Open daily from late May through mid-October, with the gondola typically running from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Window tickets are about $45 for adults (ages 13–64), purchase online a day early to drop the price to $35.

Top 10 things to keep in mind

  1. Do a risk assessment, every time. Before wading in the water, look at the beach for animal or waterfowl waste, and check the water for scum, film or flecks that resemble a shaken snow globe.
  2. New Hampshire’s water is genuinely excellent. The state consistently ranks in the top three to five in the country for water clarity and quality.
  3. It’s not all watched. New Hampshire has roughly 950 lakes and ponds and 11,000 miles of rivers and streams; the state actively monitors about 70 freshwater beaches and 16 coastal beaches. Exercise good judgment for the rest.
  4. The Healthy Swimming Mapper (des.nh.gov/water/healthy-swimming/healthy-swimming-mapper) is invaluable and is updated at least once daily for bacteria and multiple times a day during active cyanobacteria sampling.
  5. Cyanobacteria are normal until they’re not. There are trace amounts almost everywhere. The concern is when they bloom and cross the state’s safety threshold of 70,000 cells per milliliter. Then toxins become a real possibility.
  6. Blooms float and can move around. Within hours, wind can push a bloom from open water onto a beach, or clear a beach by blowing it elsewhere. Most blooms last from an hour to a few days; the worst last 90 to 120 days.
  7. If you swim into a bloom, get out immediately, move away quickly and then shower without delay — dogs too. Watch for skin rashes, gastrointestinal upset, headache, dizziness or fatigue. Seek medical attention if symptoms escalate.
  8. Rivers aren’t exempt — look below. They rarely get water-column blooms, but benthic cyanobacteria mats — fuzzy, dark green or blackish carpets on the river bottom — are a growing concern, and they can produce the same toxins.
  9. Be part of the monitoring system. NHDES’s Look, Check, Report campaign relies on the public, so anyone who spots a suspected bloom can fill out a report and trigger an inspection.
  10. Hold off after heavy rain. Bacteria can survive outside a human or animal for about 24 hours. Waste, runoff and sewage overflow wash downhill into the nearest body of water during a storm.

This Week 26/07/30

Thursday, July 30

The Nashua Silver Knights have a packed schedule of games at Holman Stadium in Nashua for the next few days. Catch them tonight at 6:03 p.m. against the Norwich Sea Unicorns. They will play next on Saturday, Aug. 1, at 6:03 p.m. against the Vermont Lake Monsters. On Sunday, Aug. 2, gametime is 3 p.m. when the Silver Knights will play the Westfield Starfires. Then on Monday, Aug. 3, the Norwich Sea Unicorns return for a 6:03 p.m. game before the final two games of the regular season on Thursday, Aug. 6, and Friday, Aug. 7. See nashuasilverknights.com

Saturday, Aug 1

Pizzastock 10, a fundraiser put on by the Jason R Flood Memorial featuring 12 bands on two stages, will take place today from noon to 6 p.m. at Pinkerton Academy in Derry (near the football field), according to a post on the Jason R Flood Memorial Facebook page and pizzastock.org. Band include “Punching Pedestrians, Spectrum, Paradox, The Hand Me Downs, Rite of Passage, Tumbletoads, Neverless, Sucker Punch, Echo Avenue” and more according to the website. The event is geared toward all ages with games including wiffleball and cornhole, activities for little kids, community organizations with information available, pizza slices from Kendall Pond Pizza as well as other food offerings, raffles and merch, the post said. See pizzastock.org for more on the event and organization.

Sunday, Aug. 2

Antiques Week in New Hampshire gets going with a Granite State Antique Show today from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Granite Town Plaza, 185 Elm St. in Milford, according to gsashows.com. The event will feature 50+ exhibitors in antiques and collectables “with a concentration of Americana and fine art” as well as free parking and coffee and baked goods for sale, according to antiquesweeknh.com.

Monday, Aug. 3

The Deerfield Antique Show takes place today from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Deerfield Fairgrounds, 34 Stage Road in Deerfield, according to antiquesweeknh.com. The show features 85 exhibitors of fine antiques, Americana and decorative accessories, the website said. See gurleyantiqueshows.com for more on this event.

Tuesday, Aug. 4

The Concord Antique Show will run today from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Douglas Everett Arena, 15 Loudon Road in Concord, featuring 60 exhibitors, according to petermavrisantiqueshows.net, where you can see a dealer list.

Tuesday, Aug. 4

The New Hampshire Fisher Cats begin a six-game stretch against the Portland Sea Dogs tonight at 6:03 p.m., when the F-Cats will take the field as the Manchester Chicken Tenders, according to milb.com/new-hampshire, where you can find ticket information. The game on Wednesday, Aug. 5, takes place at 12:05 p.m.

Wednesday, Aug. 5

The Collector’s Fair held by Disaia Management will take place today and tomorrow, Aug. 6, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Sullivan Arena at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, according to a press release. The entry fee is $15, the release said.

Save the Date! Thursday, Aug 6
The New Hampshire Antiques Show, hosted by the New Hampshire Antique Dealers Association, returns to the DoubleTree by Hilton Manchester Downtown (700 Elm St., Manchester) Thursday, Aug. 6, through Saturday, Aug. 8, featuring 59 antiques dealers, according to nhada.org, where you can find details on tickets, parking and more. The show starts at 10 a.m. and runs until 7 p.m. on Thursday and Friday and 4 p.m. on Saturday, according to a press release.

Featured image: Pizzastock.

Trade deadline arrives

The Big Story – Red Sox Shift Trade Deadline Plans: The idea of their being sellers went out the window thanks to the 15-game winning streak. So they shifted plans to make the Aug. 1 trade deadline come early with (take your pick) the surprising/stunning/shocking news of their sending their second promising young lefty pitcher away since March. This time it’s 25-year-old lefty Connelly Early to the Nationals for third baseman/DH Curtis Mead.

Mead likely will DH, maybe as the platoon right-handed bat. His 17 homers are by far his most homers in any season in minors or majors as the once Top 50 prospect has never lived up to that initial evaluation.

At least, the Breslow AC is hoping, not yet.

Sports 101: Who’s the only player to have 50 doubles and 50 homers in the same season?

News Item – Baseball Enters the Final 2 Months:

• Red Sox: Their chances of making the wild card playoff game are better than you think. At 54-49 they’re 1.5 games up for the fourth wild card spot, and all of the teams not currently holding a wild card berth are under .500.

• Chicago White Sox: Two years ago they set the record for most lost games in a season at 41-121. Fast forward to July 26, where amazingly at 55-49 they have the best record in the AL Central. The previous worst record holder, the 40-120 expansion NY Mets of 1962, went 53-109 in 1964, 50-111 in 1965 and didn’t even finish a season near .500 until they morphed into the Miracle Mets of 1969 and beat Baltimore in the World Series.

• Kyle Schwarber: It should still rankle Red Sox fans that for idiotic stat geek reasons Chaim Bloom let him walk after 2021 over the same $18 million per Bloom gift-wrapped to Masataka Yoshida. With Schwarber on pace to hit 50+ homers (51) for a second straight season, that’ll give him about 240 in five seasons for Philly. Meanwhile Yoshida has hit 33 in his four Boston seasons.

News Item – Trade Grade: ESPN gave the Sox a C for the deal and the Nationals an A-. The grade favors pitching-needy Washington getting a promising young lefty under contractual control for years.

But given their pitching depth, especially if Garrett Crochet comes back from the IL this century, the success for Boston lies in if Mead is a late bloomer finally playing well, or it’s just a hot streak that will make sending Early away for a needed (cheap) right-handed bat a big mistake.

Politics and Sports Intersection of the Week: A first of its kind battle where former NFL kicker Jay Feely and physician Amish Shah will square off for an Arizona congressional seat in November after being part of the Jets organization together in the 2000s when Feely was the kicker and Sha on the medical team.

The Numbers:

5 – homers by Wilyer Abreu during Boston’s 15-game winning streak.

391 – career saves reached by Aroldis Chapman to move past Dennis Eckersley into ninth place all-time.

38.1 – million World Cup Final viewers was the largest TV audience for soccer in U.S. history.

… Of the Week Awards

Thumbs Up – Manager John Schneider: Holy cow! A 21st-century manager actually let an unhittable pitcher complete the game. In this case, when Blue Jays hurler Dylan Cease one-hit the Sox Saturday while striking out 12 in a 6-0 shutout. Most amazing was Schneider’s allowing Cease to throw 120 pitches to do it!

Thumbs Down – Argentina World Cup Team: The crybabies get it for boycotting media responsibilities after losing the World Cup to Spain. Like it was the media’s fault the team didn’t get even one shot on goal in regulation.

You laid the egg, fellas, not them.

What a Stupid I Yam Award – Me: Regular reader/math major Glenn De Noble points out my math in last week’s mention of Roger Bannister breaking the 4-minute mile was like what Rodney Dangerfield heard when asking for directions — “you’re way off.”

I said Bannister would’ve been 46 yards behind Josh Kerr when he set the new 3:42 mile record. In fact it would be an astonishing 123 yards behind Kerr.

Now you know why I had to go to summer school in 10th grade to retake geometry.

Sports 101 Answer: Albert Belle is the only 50 doubles and 50 homers player, which came for Cleveland in 1995.

Final Thought – Who Cares Moment of the Week – LeBron James: Class would have been going back to Cleveland or even Miami, as other greats like Babe Ruth, Willie Mays and Hank Aaron once did to finish off the final seasons of their great careers playing for fans who knew them first. Instead, his moving to Philly last week cements LeBron’s legacy of glomming on to someone else’s title run instead of staying and earning one with the team he started with like Magic, Larry, Michael, Kobe, Jerry West and other true greats did.

Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.

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