Oyster River (New Hampshire)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Old Mill & Dam on the Oyster River in 1908, Durham, NH
Old Mill & Dam on the Oyster River in 1908, Durham, NH

The Oyster River is about 17 miles (27.5 km) long and located in Strafford County, southeastern New Hampshire, United States. It rises in Barrington, flows southeast to Lee, then east-southeast in a serpentine course past Durham to meet the entrance of Great Bay into Little Bay. The bays are tidal inlets of the Atlantic Ocean, to which they are connected by a tidal estuary, the Piscataqua River.

The Oyster River reaches tidewater at the base of a dam in the center of Durham, just west of the river's crossing by NH Route 108. Due to siltation, the river is only fully accessible to motorized boats west of the Durham Water Plant for approximately 3 hours on either side of high tide. Boaters have noticed the increasing effect of siltation on navigation since 1998.