Publisher's Synopsis
This is a local history book with attitude. It surveys the resort history of oceanside Rye Beach, New Hampshire, U.S.A., only to discover that people across America came here from 1830 on because it is so finitely beautiful and perfect. Marshland on one side, foaming ocean by a walkway on the other, and blue sky above, all loaded with history. Entrepreneurs, inventors, artists, and political figures came east to Rye Beach each summer to shake city dust off their souls. They made sure to bring all their friends; it seems the entire city of St. Louis, Missouri, was here each summer, so, who was running St. Louis! The book keys on Missouri governor David Francis, who ran the 1904 world's fair and olympics and was ambassador to Russia during the Russian Revolution, and also keys on Massachusetts governor Alvan Fuller, who built a famous mansion, garden, and horse/cattle farm at the coast. Fuller's son, Peter, won the Kentucky Derby, only to have it taken from him on charges of drugging. It is also a time when women rapidly gained rights and interests. In the 1890s at Rye Beach, they were pinning up their dresses to go on exciting bike rides, playing golf and tennis, watching boys play baseball, and yelling to them in baseball slang! Girls were even on college water polo teams. A girls' prep school arrived at Rye Beach in the 1920s, which was transformed into a women's college at Rye in the 1930s. Girls were encouraged to think, become expert horseback riders, and travel. One student even accompanied a writer on a thrilling and creative floating expedition through the Himalayas! This book challenges the reader to look with amazement at new inventions, as summer travelers came here by railroad bringing horse teams, bicycles, then automobiles. Shipwrecks, near-drownings, Coast Guard rescues, plays at the Farragut Playhouse in the 1930s, trolley rides, and horse shows are discussed in detail. Far better than summer fireworks, the state's Coastal Artillery unit under beams from searchlights practiced machingun and big 3-inch gun shooting for two weeks each summer at the beach. Famous Portsmouth Navy Yard was 8 miles north of Rye Beach, and the submarine Squalus was built here, only to sink off the coast with deaths. Great towns/cities of Portsmouth, Newburyport, and Exeter were next door, as was Phillips Exeter. Even World War II is discussed as local boys go off to battle. For a fascinating slice of American resort history at oceanside, with hotels and mansions over a period from 1865 to 1945, get this book and dream of olden days when things seemed so much slower and better.
