What is the Rye 400?
1623: European Settlers Arrive
The first settlement in New Hampshire, originally named Pannaway Plantation, was established in 1623 by a group of fishermen led by David Thompson. The area now known as Odiorne Point is part of Rye Township today and a NH State Park. David Thomson (also Thompson) and a small party of fishermen landed their ship Jonathan near what is now Odiorne Point in Rye in early spring of 1623. His wife of 10 years, Amias Cole Thomson, may have arrived with him, or soon after the first fortified house was built on a promontory overlooking the sea.
Some sources suggest their son, John Thomson, was New Hampshire’s first non-native child.
400 Years Later
As of the census of 2010, there were 5,298 people, 2,252 households, and 1,531 families residing in the town. There were 2,852 housing units, of which 600, or 21.0%, were vacant. 471 of the vacant units were for seasonal or vacation use.
Of the 2,252 households, 26.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, the average household size was 2.34, and the average family size was 2.80.
The Town of Rye has the longest stretch of coastline of any New Hampshire coastal town and also contains four of the nine islands known as the Isles of Shoals, which lie approximately ten miles off the Rye shores.