Greenland: Great Bay, Nature and History

Greenland brings together the landscapes of Great Bay and insights into nature and local history. The town borders the bay to the northwest; at the Greenland Campus, upland forest areas, freshwater wetlands, and extensive salt marshes come together. The Great Bay Discovery Center adds exhibitions about the bay and research there. This gives you a choice of different focuses for your stay: the habitats at the campus, the topics explored in the visitor center, or the history of Great Bay.

Discover Great Bay at the Visitor Center

The Great Bay Discovery Center visitor center offers interpretive exhibits about Great Bay, plankton, tides, and research on the bay. The topics range from the bay as a landscape to tiny organisms and changes in the water. The center also serves as the education headquarters and interpretation center of the Great Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve. If you’re traveling with children, the Discovery Tank offers a particularly hands-on experience: children can touch animals from the estuary, such as horseshoe crabs, oysters, and mud snails. This complements the exhibits with a direct encounter with these animals.

Forests, Wetlands, and Trails at the Greenland Campus

The Greenland Campus covers a 50-acre site. Its landscapes include mixed forest with upland forest areas, freshwater wetlands, and extensive salt marshes. The different habitats offer a clear variety of natural settings: forest, wetland, and marsh sit side by side, so you don’t have to limit your visit to just one type of landscape. The campus also has a boardwalk and several trails. There is also a boat launch. The site therefore includes both trails and a boardwalk, as well as a designated place for launching boats.

The Weeks-brick-house trails are among the conservation easements held by the town of Greenland. If you’re interested in hiking and protected areas, this is another point of reference for exploring the natural side of the town.

History at Great Bay

The history of the bay is also represented at the Great Bay Discovery Center. The lower level of the Hugh Gregg Coastal Conservation Center houses a special exhibit on the history of hunting, fishing, and trapping at Great Bay. It focuses on activities associated with using the bay. The Great Bay Discovery Campus is also home to a replica of a 19th-century gundalow. You can view this replica as a historical feature in its own right, alongside the exhibits.

Another link to Greenland’s history is Weeks House. The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. The town thus offers different ways to explore the past: an exhibit on hunting, fishing, and trapping at Great Bay, a 19th-century gundalow replica, and a house listed on the National Register.

Choose Greenland as a Vacation Destination

To decide whether Greenland is right for your trip, you can weigh your own interests: Great Bay and its habitats are the main focus for nature, while the exhibits, the gundalow replica, and Weeks House offer other ways to explore local history. Families with children can also consider adding the Discovery Tank to their plans. If these offerings fit the kind of stay you’re looking for, search specifically for a vacation rental or vacation home in Greenland.

Explore more places: Hampton, Portsmouth, Northwood, Exeter, Candia, Seabrook, Londonderry, Hampton Falls.

For the broader travel overview: Rockingham.