Bean's Purchase is a

township A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Ca ...

in Coös County,

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The purchase lies entirely within the

White Mountain National Forest The White Mountain National Forest (WMNF) is a federally managed forest contained within the White Mountains in the northeastern United States. It was established in 1918 as a result of the Weeks Act of 1911; federal acquisition of land had alrea ...

. The population was zero as of the 2020 census. In New Hampshire, locations, grants, townships (which are different from towns), and purchases are unincorporated portions of a county which are not part of any town and have limited self-government (if any, as many are uninhabited).

History

In 1851 the New Hampshire state legislature authorized the governor and council to appoint a land commissioner to sell the public lands, and James Willey of Conway was appointed to that office. Bean's Purchase was made by Commissioner Willey to Alpheus Bean of Bartlett in 1812 for $1,025 and contained about .

Geography

According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...

, the purchase has a total area of , of which , or 0.16%, are water. The center of the purchase is within the valley of the

Wild River A wild river (United States, Australia, & New Zealand) or heritage river (Canada) is a :river or a river system designated by a government to be protected and kept "relatively untouched by development and are therefore in near natural conditio ...

, with a large portion of it within the Wild River Wilderness. The western side of the purchase is dominated by the ridgeline of Wildcat Mountain, the Carter mountains, and

Mount Moriah Moriah is a mountain identified in the Book of Genesis; believed in Judaism, Christianity and Islam to be associated with the sacrifice of Abraham's son. It may also be the Temple Mount. Moriah may also refer to: Places In Australia: *Moriah Colle ...

. The highest point in Bean's Purchase is the summit of

Carter Dome Carter Dome, or simply The Dome, is a mountain located in Coos County, New Hampshire. The mountain is part of the Carter-Moriah Range of the White Mountains, which runs along the northern east side of Pinkham Notch. Carter Dome is flanked to t ...

, at above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardised g ...

. The

Appalachian Trail The Appalachian Trail (also called the A.T.), is a hiking trail in the Eastern United States, extending almost between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine, and passing through 14 states.Gailey, Chris (2006)"Appalachian Tr ...

crosses the purchase, following the crest of the Wildcat-Carter-Moriah ridge. The west side of the ridgeline drains to the

Peabody River The Peabody River is a river in the White Mountains of New Hampshire in the United States. It is a tributary of the Androscoggin River, which flows south and east into Maine, joining the Kennebec River near the Atlantic Ocean. The Peabody River ...

. The Peabody and Wild rivers are both northeast-flowing tributaries of the

Androscoggin River The Androscoggin River (Abenaki: ''Aləssíkαntekʷ'') is a river in the U.S. states of Maine and New Hampshire, in northern New England. It is U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, ...

. The summits of

North Baldface North Baldface is a mountain in the township of Bean's Purchase, New Hampshire in the eastern White Mountains. It gets its name from its steep barren southeast face. Along with the neighboring summit South Baldface, it is a popular hiking desti ...

, Mount Meader, and West Royce form a line along the eastern edge of Bean's Purchase, and the eastern slopes of those mountains are part of the

Saco River The Saco River (Abenaki language, Abenaki: ''Sαkóhki'') is a river in northeastern New Hampshire and southwestern Maine in the United States. It drains a rural area of of forests and farmlands west and southwest of Portland, Maine, Portland ...

watershed.

Demographics

As of the 2020 census, the population of the township was zero. Bean's Purchase is part of the

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, NH– VT Micropolitan Statistical Area.

References

{{authority control Townships in Coös County, New Hampshire Berlin, New Hampshire micropolitan area Townships in New Hampshire