Immersive Experiences

Hands-On Activities At The Living Shores Aquarium

Large salt-water tank at the Living Shores Aquarium presents a fascinating and ever-changing underwater scene. (Tom Caldwell Photo)

Presenting a chance to touch stingrays, allow “nibble fish” to clean the hands, and play in a multi-colored sandbox, the Living Shores Aquarium in Glen is an attraction that often sees return visitors, some coming so frequently they know the animals’ names. To offer more variety, Living Shores is converting its aviary into a reptile room with American alligators.

“Now that we’re on our five-year mark, we have started to switch out some of the exhibits, to bring in some fresh new exhibits,” explained General Manager Chris Kearsing, who also manages Story Land, the theme park next door.

Bob and Ruth Morrell created Story Land, with its colorful buildings and characters from children’s books, in the 1950s, and their son, Stoney, built Heritage New Hampshire, a historical attraction, on adjacent land. Heritage New Hampshire closed in 2006, remaining vacant until a global attractions company based in Madrid, Spain, purchased both attractions, operating Story Land and converting the empty building into the Living Shores Aquarium.

“We own a variety of attractions worldwide, some of them being aquariums, and very successful aquariums,” Chris said, “so they thought, given the year-round tourism nature of the area, that an indoor, year-round attraction such as an aquarium would do well, combined with the parent company’s expertise in these types of attractions.”

Chris said they expect to have the greatest number of reptile species in the Northeast once the reptile room is finished. Meanwhile, they have replaced a central exhibit of Asian small-clawed otters with exhibits featuring turtles, tortoise, fish, and a tegu lizard.

“We thought it was time to switch that one out, because sometimes the otters can be hard to see when they’re swimming,” he explained.

“It’s really about the overall experience,” Chris continued. “I like to call it a boutique experience, where, depending on how many people you’re with and whether you have small children or not, it’s not a full-day commitment, but, you know, it’s an hour or two out of your day, so there’s a wide variety of exhibits.