We have spent most of our 20-year history located in downtown Portsmouth at the historic Governor Langdon House, owned by Historic New England. Historic New England has been a wonderful host, but we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to relocate to a waterfront space!
We are thrilled to announce that we are moving our offices to Carey Cottage at Creek Farm in Portsmouth. This is a gorgeous location along Sagamore Creek, near the end of Little Harbor Road. Carey Cottage was once threatened with demolition, but has been beautifully restored by Chinburg Builders with the support of an anonymous family foundation. We have already begun transitioning to the new space, and are excited to share our progress with you!
This move fulfills a dream we’ve had for a long time – to have an office with plenty of meeting and programming space that also has access to the Gulf of Maine. The Gulf is a short boat ride away down Sagamore Creek and through Little Harbor.
The Fascinating History of Carey Cottage and Creek Farm
Creek Farm is a 35-acre forest reservation in Portsmouth, NH. It is operated by the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire forests. The land was once part of the 18th-century farm of royal Governor Benning Wentworth.
The main house and grounds were created beginning in 1888 for Arthur Astor Carey, who purchased 40 acres of land for a summer home that was designed by Alexander Wadsworth Longfellow. The site became a popular gathering place for artists. In 1905, Creek Farm hosted delegates to the Portsmouth Peace Treaty, which ended the Russo-Japanese War.
In 1957, Lillian and Chester Noel purchased the property from the Carey family. Lillian “Billie” Noel
conveyed the entire property to the Forest Society in 2000, with the intent that it remain as a conservation area in perpetuity.
After a controversial proposed demolition, Carey Cottage was refurbished and will be used to house GoodWork (a nonprofit) and Blue Ocean Society as anchor tenants, along with several other nonprofits.
Our Neighbors at Carey Cottage – Partnership and Inspiration
Thanks to the generosity of an anonymous foundation, we are able to rent our 600-square foot office suite at below-market rates. GoodWork is a non-profit organization whose mission is to support, develop and strengthen greater Seacoast nonprofits by maximizing their capacity to deliver services. Indeed, we would have loved to have an organization like GoodWork around 20 years ago when our co-founder Dianna and I decided to “just start a nonprofit!”
In addition, other nonprofits will be housed in the space. We’re excited to collaborate with, learn from and share experiences with our fellow non-profit neighbors in the years to come.
Expanding Our Work with New Facilities
Collaboration is great, but one thing we’re REALLY excited about is the abundance of space at Carey Cottage! We’ve never had access to our own large meeting space. This move solves that problem. Carey Cottage has several meeting rooms, plus a large front porch(!) for outdoor gatherings and functions, and the beautifully-restored Music Room, which was built in 1892 and will be turned into a programming space that will hold 30-40 people.
In addition, we have a shared kitchen, which will allow for catered events, once it is safe to do so.
Planning Amid the Pandemic
Yes, there’s a pandemic happening and that means we can’t use this space to its full capacity just yet. But this temporary pause will allow us some time to settle in and plan for the future. And we’re excited about this future. After 20 years, we are still as excited about our mission as the day we founded the organization. These past several months, we’ve assessed, we’ve adapted, and we’re driven to keep going. The need for marine research, education and conservation work is greater now more than ever.
A HUGE THANK YOU
This move would not possible without you. Your support and the assistance of thousands of ocean enthusiasts, volunteers, staff members, interns and partners over the past 20 years has allowed us to get to this place. Thanks to you, we’ve been able to continue our whale research and education programs and adapt rapidly during the pandemic. We look toward the next 20+ years with an eye to expanding our reach, disseminating our research results and partnering with the community to protect marine life in the Gulf of Maine and beyond. Thank you for sticking by us!
Video Tour
Here’s a quick video tour of our unfurnished space!
So excited for you !! Nancy Isaacson
Thank you, Nancy!! We look forward to seeing all our fans there at some point in the future!