June 20, 2023 I got up early to proof the Breezes newsletter as its editor and get it back to the publisher. Bob slept in. I watched the two retro campers and this really cool RV toy-hauler leave this morning. The guy loaded his motorcycle into the back. I love the graphics on it.
The temp when I woke up was 60 and the skies had some weird clouds overhead. While we had breakfast, it rained for awhile. We decided to wait a bit to let the rain stop before we headed out to explore Salisbury.
It stopped around 10:30, so we were off. Our first stop was Salisbury Beach via Beach Rd.
Salisbury Beach overlooks the point at which the Merrimack River feeds the Atlantic Ocean. From the parking lot, we could see the Plum Island Lighthouse just over the treetops. We could also see the green light working from where we were. We moved to another location and got a less obstructed view of the lighthouse.
Adjacent to Salisbury Beach is the Salisbury Beach State Reservation which extends 3.8 miles from south to north along the Atlantic Ocean from the Merrimack River to the New Hampshire border.
It also contains a 484-site campground which we checked out. From the campground, we could see the Butler Toothpick located at the shoreline cross from Plum Island Lighthouse. Ben Butler’s Toothpick, named after a Civil War general, is a wood, stick-framed, pyramid-shaped navigational marker dating from the late 19th century. It provided warning to boats approaching from the Atlantic Ocean to the Merrimack River and is a well-known reference to boaters, known simply as “the Toothpick”.
Looking out at the Newburyport Harbor, we could see many boats docked there.
The entrance to the harbor is lined by the jetty, but it was closed to pedestrians.
We drove towards “downtown” Salisbury and continued on Highway 1A along the coast. We found a beach-access path and I walked up the path to see the beach. It was not really a “beach day” so there weren’t any people around. You could see clearly in both directions down the beach. The beach is wide, but it looks like there is some erosion going on of the coastline.
We crossed the border into New Hampshire by mistake. It was a surprise when we saw the sign.
We drove a short distance through Seabrook, over the Hampton Bridge to Hampton Beach and the State Park.
We wanted to check out the campground that had sites right on the water. It was pretty full with RVs and wasn’t anything special EXCEPT that it was right on the Hampton Harbor inlet. That was a plus! From there, we could see across the inlet.
We left New Hampshire after our short visit and headed back toward Salisbury. We passed the Eastman’s Dock Fishing Fleet docked offshore in Seabrook and had to take a look.
There were a lot of beach rentals along the coast and other unusual homes in the area.
This Catholic Church, Star of the Sea, caught our eye with some unique architecture.
We left Salisbury to take the short drive to Ipswich and have some famous Ipswich clams at the Clam Box for lunch. The Clam Box has been family owned and operated by the same family since 1984.
It was about 12:30, but the place wasn’t too busy. We enjoyed our lunch inside since it was still a little cloudy and cool outside.
We placed our order to share a fried clam platter with fries and cole slaw.
It was a large order to share and we even brought some home to eat later for dinner. They were delicious and done perfectly.
We got back to the campground about 1:30 and it was still kind of cool. Two hours later, the sun was out and the skies were clear. The temp had risen to 70 degrees. We sat outside with Auggie to enjoy the rest of the afternoon and made a few phone calls to touch base with friends. We ate our leftover clams and fries and took Auggie for his walk. Tomorrow we have a short drive to Old Orchard Beach for our 5-day stay.