Rye Historical Society - NH

10/11/2026

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In honor of Veteran's Day the Pulpit Rock Tower will be open to visitors! Please join us!!

10/11/2026

Indigenous Peoples Day

10/10/2026

What a wonderful evening for Rye!

On Thursday, Oct. 8, the Rye NH Historical Society celebrated 50 years since its founding in 1976, surrounded by friends, members, volunteers, former leaders, and supporters who have helped carry the Society forward across five decades.

It was especially meaningful to have three of our original founding members - Becky Marden, Alex Herlihy, and Ralph Morang III - with us in person. Their presence was a powerful reminder that the Society we know today was built by people who cared deeply about preserving Rye’s stories, places, records, and traditions.

We are grateful to everyone who has served on the Board, volunteered at the museum, researched and archived Rye’s history, led programs and tours, donated artifacts and funds, and simply showed up over the years to support this work, especially now during Rye’s very first “Rye History Month”.

As current President of the Rye NH Historical Society, Chair of the Board of Directors (Lew Karabatsos, Ginna Macdonald, Victor Azzi, Steve Cash, Jennifer Stevens, Mike Berry, Dave Caswell, Edie LaFrance Brindamour and Andy Stecher), I am deeply proud to help lead the Society into its next 50 years. Our responsibility now is to honor the work of those who came before us while continuing to make Rye history accessible, relevant, and engaging for future generations.

With the support of our community, we will keep preserving our collections, expanding exhibits and programs, telling the many stories that make Rye unique, and strengthening the connection between our past, present, and future.

Thank you to everyone who celebrated with us and to all who continue to support the Rye Historical Society - here’s to the next 50 years!

Andy Stecher, Board of Directors RHS

10/08/2026

10/04/2026

📌 Want to get pinned?

Rye history — we care deeply about it — and you can wear a little piece representing your support, too!

The Rye Historical Society is celebrating 50 years of preserving Rye’s past and inspiring its future with a limited-edition 50th Anniversary pin. 🎉

Want one? You can pick up your very own 50th Anniversary pin for $10 when you attend the Rye Historical Society Annual Meeting this Thursday, 5 to 8 p.m. at Atlantic Grill, 5 Pioneer Road, Rye (please register here: https://www.ryenhhistoricalsociety.org/events/rye-historical-society-annual-meeting-followed-by-celebrations )

📌 Attend the Annual Meeting, get pinned, and help us celebrate 50 years of keeping Rye history alive! 𝑴𝒆𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒖𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆!

Five decades. One pretty great little-ish pin.

10/03/2026

Got a little Saturday morning time? Come poke around some Rye history. 👀

The Rye Historical Society Museum will be open 10 a.m. to noon this Saturday, Oct. 3 — a perfect time to stop in, browse the collections, learn something you didn’t know about Rye, and maybe hear a good story or two.

Whether you’re a longtime Rye resident, a newer neighbor or just curious about the place we call home, come on by!

📍 10 Olde Parish Road, Rye
🕙 Saturday, 10 a.m.–noon

History is better when you can walk right into it.

10/01/2026

In March 2026, the voters of Rye made a lasting commitment to our town’s heritage by designating October of every year as “Rye History Month.”🍁

The warrant article was intended to create an annual opportunity for community engagement, education, and events that highlight Rye’s history and strengthen awareness of our shared past. It is a symbolic designation, but an important one: a reminder that history is not confined to books, archives, or museum walls. It belongs to the entire community.

Rye History Month is meant to be something all of us can help shape.

Our schools can explore local stories with students; churches can reflect on their own long histories; businesses and civic organizations can celebrate the people and traditions that helped build the town; families can visit historic places, share old photographs, record memories, or simply learn something new about the place we call home.

October, with its beautiful New England setting, is a particularly fitting time to look around us and recognize how much of Rye’s past remains visible in its roads, stone walls, farms, shoreline, historic buildings, cemeteries, and community institutions.

And there is much to remember.

Rye’s recorded colonial history reaches back more than 400 years, while the human story of this region stretches back thousands of years before European settlement through the Indigenous peoples who lived on, traveled through, and cared for this land and coastline.

Rye History Month gives us the opportunity not only to celebrate accomplishments, but also to understand the many generations, experiences, challenges, and changes that shaped our community. Each October, we hope every resident will find a way to participate - because preserving Rye’s history is ultimately about understanding where we came from, appreciating what we have inherited, and helping shape what we pass on to those who come after us.

𝑨𝒏𝒅𝒚 𝑺𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒓, 𝑷𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒕
𝑹𝒚𝒆 𝑵𝑯 𝑯𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝑺𝒐𝒄𝒊𝒆𝒕𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑻𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝑴𝒖𝒔𝒆𝒖𝒎

09/21/2026

📚 SAVE THE DATE! Meet the Author — Oct. 24

Join us Saturday, Oct. 24, at 11:30 a.m. at the Rye Public Library for an interview and book signing with Lew Karabatsos, author of Rye Through the Lens.

Featuring more than 160 photographs from the Rye Historical Society’s collection dating from 1880 to 1985, the book offers a wonderful look at everyday life in Rye — from fishermen at work and farmers in the fields to schoolchildren, family gatherings, Rye Harbor, lifesaving stations, and familiar Rye families including the Parsons, Caswells, Philbricks, and Fosses.

Published by Arcadia Publishing as part of its Images of America series, Rye Through the Lens is a fascinating photographic journey through a century of Rye history.

Pre-order your copy for $24.99:
https://www.ryenhhistoricalsociety.org

📸 Also on display: A selection of contemporary photographs of Rye by local photographers will be exhibited in conjunction with the program and remain on view through Nov. 28.

Come see Rye through the lens of yesterday — and today!