Rye's 400th anniversary is in 2023: Here's what to expect, including a Dan Brown event.

RYE -- Plans are underway for an array of events designed to celebrate the town's 400th anniversary in 2023. The goal is to educate residents about town history, too.

Rye 400th committee chair Andy Stecher said all are welcome to take part, residents, town boards and commissions, and civic groups. Everyone can contribute.

Rye was founded in 1623 when European David Thompson set foot on shore at what is now Odiorne Point, Stecher said. He said it was actually the beginnings of Rye, New Castle and Portsmouth, all now separate communities and all celebrating their 400th anniversaries in 2023, as is nearby Dover.

"We will celebrate Rye as a first settlement, and also when we became a parish, 100 years later," said Stecher. "There is the European settlement, but there were Indigenous people hundreds of years before that and we will celebrate that as well."

The main Indigenous group in the Seacoast area was the Abenaki. Stecher said there were also subsets, the Penacook and Cowasuck people.

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Stecher, Deb Toohey and Lew Karabatsos, the three lead organizers of the 400th, are all members of the Rye Historical Society, the town board spearheading the celebration events.

"We are serving as the umbrella to represent all the groups who want to be involved," said Stecher. "We're planning a series of events, the first to take place this year and then events every month throughout 2023."

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The first event, in 2022, will be on Dec. 4, the date of the town's annual Christmas parade. The parade will begin at 3 p.m. at Webster at Rye on Washington Road and conclude at Rye Junior High.

"It will be Rye Vintage Christmas," said Stecher. "We will have a candlelight stroll, the parade, carolers and hot chocolate. It will focus on the town center and the new park where the Parsonage used to be."

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Karabatsos said the Congregational Church choir will dress in Dickensian style clothing for the night.

"Rev. Ron Lavoie is leaving the church, after seven years," said Stecher. "He will be this year's parade grand marshal."

A recent town project added plaques to mark historic homes and they will be part of the stroll. Karabatsos said the Historic District Commission is aiding in that project with Tate and Foss as sponsor, according to Karabatsos.

What to expect for Rye 400th in 2023

Among the events being planned for 2023 is a special charter trip to the Isles of Shoals, including stops at Star and Appledore islands.

Karabatsos said all the events keep history front and center, including lectures, scavenger hunts, trolley tours and walking tours.

Two local author events are planned for September. World-famous Rye resident and author Dan Brown ("The DaVinci Code" and many more) will speak. The finalized date and details on this event haven't been announced.

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Also J. Dennis Robinson, local author and historian, will unveil his new book, based on early European settlements.

"We are going to have a founding families event," said Stecher. "We have many longtime Rye settler families, among them, but not all, being the Rand, Philbrick, Seavey and Locke families."

Rye Day 2023 is planned all day July 1 at Parsons Field with a 400th anniversary theme along with the traditional games and bands playing.

One of the amazing prizes already secured for a silent auction Sept. 7 at The Atlantic Grill will allow someone to spend the night at the newly renovated Wood Island lifesaving station in Kittery, Maine.

Toohey said the 400th committee has involved Rye schools, which will offer special programming, involving curriculum and the arts. She said from January through March, the library will do a One Town Reads program, encouraging the entire town's residents to read and discuss the same book.

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Century walks, one for each of the years from 2016 through 2020 are planned exploring the history of Odiorne Point, how the town center became what it is, the Rye hotel period, pulpit rock tower and its role during WWII, and another on the natural environment that makes Rye special.

"We will have a juried art exhibit in March," said Karabatsos. "We are opening that to adults and to children."

To learn more about the events planned and updates, visit ryenh400.org and follow the 400th committee on Instagram, @Ryenh400.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Rye NH to celebrate 400th anniversary in 2023: What to expect