Rye Harbor State Park
— — the harbour the lobster boats come home to.
Not only on a wall.
“A small working harbour on Ragged Neck, halfway down the eighteen miles of New Hampshire coast. The granite jetty holds against the Atlantic; the lobster boats moor inside it and the whale-watch boats run out past the Isles of Shoals on summer mornings. The state park sits on the seaward point, with picnic tables along the rocks and a view east to nothing but water. from the studio
Rye Harbor State Park, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
Rye Harbor State Park occupies the seaward tip of Ragged Neck in Rye, New Hampshire, about halfway down the state's eighteen-mile Atlantic coastline. The park covers about fifty acres and includes the granite jetty that shelters the working harbour. Whale-watch and charter fishing boats run from the inner dock; the lobster fleet moors against the south pier. The Isles of Shoals lie about six miles offshore, visible on clear days. The site is operated by the New Hampshire Division of Parks and Recreation, with day-use parking and a small picnic area on the point.
The Gulf of Maine reaches the New Hampshire coast cold all year, running about fifty degrees Fahrenheit in summer and below forty in winter. Rye Harbor opens directly east into the open ocean, with the granite jetty built in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps to shelter the inner basin. The lobster fishery works the inshore grounds out to Jeffreys Ledge, about twenty miles east. The Isles of Shoals sit six miles offshore: nine small granite islands split between New Hampshire and Maine, visible from the jetty on clear days and lit at night by the Star Island light.
The park is open year-round during daylight hours, with a seasonal day-use fee from Memorial Day through Columbus Day. The whale-watch and deep-sea fishing fleet runs from the inner dock from late May through October; the lobster fleet works year-round, with traps out from spring through late autumn. Picnic tables sit along the seaward edge with grills and shelter. The site is small, with parking for about forty cars; weekends in summer fill by mid-morning. The granite jetty is walkable in calm conditions but exposed in any northeast weather.