Bethlehem is a hillside town in
Grafton County,
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a 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 to the nor ...
, United States. The population was 2,484 at the 2020 census.
It is home to Cushman and Strawberry Hill state forests. The eastern half of the town is 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 alre ...
. 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 ...
crosses a small portion of the town in the south.
The main village of the town, where 826 people resided at the 2020 census, is defined as the
Bethlehem census-designated place (CDP), and is located at the junction of
U.S. Route 302 with
New Hampshire Route 142. The town also includes the villages of Maplewood and Pierce Bridge.
History
Granted as "Lloyd's Hills" in 1774 by
colonial
Colonial or The Colonial may refer to:
* Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology)
Architecture
* American colonial architecture
* French Colonial
* Spanish Colonial architecture
Automobiles
* Colonial (1920 au ...
Governor
John Wentworth, the town was named for James Lloyd of
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
. It was the last of the provincial grants in New Hampshire. In the aftermath of the
Revolutionary War, the original grant could not be found. Lack of documentation deterred settlement until 1787, when the first permanent houses were built. Dropping its homage to Lloyd, a
Loyalist, the town was incorporated as "Bethlehem" on December 27, 1799, the name having been selected on
Christmas
Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...
Day. There were just 33 families, with
agriculture
Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people t ...
the only industry.
By 1850, the population had grown to 950, and the town contained a
gristmill
A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that has been separat ...
, five large
sawmill
A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes (dimensi ...
s, and two
starch factories. In 1867, the
railroad
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...
came to Bethlehem Junction. With it traveled tourists from Boston,
New York and elsewhere, many to avoid respiratory ailments in the low
pollen count environment of "the highest town in New Hampshire" (as claimed on a present-day sign in the village). Others were attracted by the paintings of the
White Mountain art
White Mountain art is the body of work created during the 19th century by over four hundred artists who painted landscape scenes of the White Mountains of New Hampshire in order to promote the region and, consequently, sell their works of art.
I ...
ists. Conveniently located near
Mount Washington
Mount Washington is the highest peak in the Northeastern United States at and the most topographically prominent mountain east of the Mississippi River.
The mountain is notorious for its erratic weather. On the afternoon of April 12, 1934 ...
and other attractions of the
White Mountains, Bethlehem developed into a
Gilded Age
In United States history, the Gilded Age was an era extending roughly from 1877 to 1900, which was sandwiched between the Reconstruction era and the Progressive Era. It was a time of rapid economic growth, especially in the Northern and Wes ...
resort for the rich and famous.
In 1873, at the beginning of a building boom, Governor
Henry Howard of
Rhode Island
Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area and the seventh-least populous, with slightly fewer than 1.1 million residents as of 2020, but it ...
built Howard House. Eventually, over 30 hotels would line Bethlehem's streets. Seven trains arrived daily, some direct from
Grand Central Terminal, stopping at Bethlehem's five depots. Patrons included Presidents
Grant
Grant or Grants may refer to:
Places
*Grant County (disambiguation)
Australia
* Grant, Queensland, a locality in the Barcaldine Region, Queensland, Australia
United Kingdom
* Castle Grant
United States
* Grant, Alabama
* Grant, Inyo County, ...
,
Hayes,
Roosevelt
Roosevelt may refer to:
*Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919), 26th U.S. president
* Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945), 32nd U.S. president
Businesses and organisations
* Roosevelt Hotel (disambiguation)
* Roosevelt & Son, a merchant bank
* Rooseve ...
,
Taft and
Harding, as well as author
Thornton Burgess and poet
Robert Frost. Entertainments included strolling Main Street on a two and a half mile raised
boardwalk
A boardwalk (alternatively board walk, boarded path, or promenade) is an elevated footpath, walkway, or causeway built with wooden planks that enables pedestrians to cross wet, fragile, or marshy land. They are also in effect a low type of brid ...
,
carriage rides in the countryside,
croquet
Croquet ( or ; french: croquet) is a sport that involves hitting wooden or plastic balls with a mallet through hoops (often called "wickets" in the United States) embedded in a grass playing court.
Its international governing body is the W ...
games, or simply lounging about the hotels' sweeping
piazza
A town square (or square, plaza, public square, city square, urban square, or ''piazza'') is an open public space, commonly found in the heart of a traditional town but not necessarily a true geometric square, used for community gatherings. ...
s.
On the hills and thoroughfares were built large summer "cottages", including that of the
Woolworth family. Beginning in 1887, an annual Coaching Parade was held, with prizes awarded for lavishly decorated horse-drawn carriages. Ornamentations cost as much as $5,000, prompting visitor
Phineas T. Barnum
Phineas Taylor Barnum (; July 5, 1810 – April 7, 1891) was an American showman, businessman, and politician, remembered for promoting celebrated hoaxes and founding the Barnum & Bailey Circus (1871–2017) with James Anthony Bailey. He was ...
to proclaim it "the ''Second'' Greatest Show on Earth."
But the rise of the
automobile
A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods.
The year 1886 is regarde ...
would bring the decline of grand hotels. Tourists could now explore regions beyond the limits of rail service. Beginning about 1916,
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
families began arriving in town, often seeking relief from
hay fever symptoms. In fact, an organization named the Hebrew Hay Fever Relief Association, which was organized in the 1920s, existed in Bethlehem for many years.
[The Bethlehem Landfill Controversy WhiteMountainNews.com June 20, 2010]
/ref> For a town in northern New Hampshire, contemporary Bethlehem has a sizeable Jewish community (and a number of synagogues), a legacy of its hay-fever-relief experience.
It was at Bethlehem that the National Hay Fever Relief Association was founded. World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
gave the hotels a second life, as tourists avoided war-ravaged Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
and stayed closer to home. By the 1950s, however, hotel attendance had dwindled. Many would close and be demolished. Today, the town is known for its special Christmas postal cancellation stamp. Every year, people from all over the world send Christmas card
A Christmas card is a greeting card sent as part of the traditional celebration of Christmas in order to convey between people a range of sentiments related to Christmastide and the holiday season. Christmas cards are usually exchanged during ...
s to the Bethlehem post office
A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional ser ...
to have them postmarked. In 2000, it handled 56,000 Christmas cards.
Bethlehem has experienced a continuing controversy, beginning in the 1980s. Casella Waste Systems of Rutland, Vermont, through its subsidiary North Country Environmental Services, purchased the town dump and created a landfill. The company has made efforts to expand the landfill. Town residents have tried to terminate the landfill, but Casella has repeatedly challenged the residents in court.[
Image:Railway Station, Bethlehem, NH.jpg, Railway Station
Image:View of Main Street, Bethlehem, NH.jpg, Main Street in 1919
Image:Mount Agassiz, Bethlehem, NH.jpg, Mount Agassiz in 1906
Image:Bethlehem, NH from Mount Agassiz.jpg, Bird's-eye view in 1909
Image:Horse Trolley, Bethlehem, NH.jpg
]
Geography and climate
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 t ...
, the town has a total area of , of which are land and are water, comprising 0.39% of the town. Bethlehem is drained by the Ammonoosuc, Gale
A gale is a strong wind; the word is typically used as a descriptor in nautical contexts. The U.S. National Weather Service defines a gale as sustained surface winds moving at a speed of between 34 and 47 knots (, or ).[Zealand
Zealand ( da, Sjælland ) at 7,031 km2 is the largest and most populous island in Denmark proper (thus excluding Greenland and Disko Island, which are larger in size). Zealand had a population of 2,319,705 on 1 January 2020.
It is the 1 ...]
and Little rivers, together with Tuttle, Baker and Haystack brooks. Mount Cleveland, elevation , and Mount Agassiz, , rise to the south of the center of town. Town boundaries contain several of the famous 4,000-footers of New Hampshire: North Twin Mountain (the highest point in Bethlehem at ), Mount Hale, Mount Tom, Mount Field, and Mount Willey
Mount Willey is a mountain located in Grafton County, New Hampshire. The mountain is named after Samuel Willey, Jr. (1766–1826) and his family, who in 1825 moved into a house in Crawford Notch. The family was killed a year later in August 18 ...
. Bethlehem lies almost fully within the Connecticut River watershed, though a tiny portion of the southeast corner of the town is in the Merrimack River
The Merrimack River (or Merrimac River, an occasional earlier spelling) is a river in the northeastern United States. It rises at the confluence of the Pemigewasset and Winnipesaukee rivers in Franklin, New Hampshire, flows southward into M ...
watershed, and an even smaller portion on the east side of the Willey Range is in the Saco River
The Saco River (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, emptying into the Atlantic Ocean ...
watershed.
Demographics
As of the census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses in ...
of 2010, there were 2,526 people, 1,103 households, and 698 families residing in the town. There were 1,517 housing units, of which 414, or 27.3%, were vacant. 305 of the vacant units were for seasonal or recreational use. The racial makeup of the town was 97.2% white
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White o ...
, 0.1% African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
, 0.5% Native American, 0.6% Asia
Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...
n, 0.04% Native Hawaiian
Native Hawaiians (also known as Indigenous Hawaiians, Kānaka Maoli, Aboriginal Hawaiians, First Hawaiians, or simply Hawaiians) ( haw, kānaka, , , and ), are the indigenous ethnic group of Polynesian people of the Hawaiian Islands.
Hawa ...
or Pacific Islander, 0.2% some other race, and 1.3% from two or more races. 1.7% of the population were Hispanic
The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad.
The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties forme ...
or Latino
Latino or Latinos most often refers to:
* Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America
* Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States
* The people or cultures of Latin America;
** Latin A ...
of any race.
Of the 1,103 households, 27.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.0% were headed by married couples living together, 9.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.7% were non-families. 30.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.4% were someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.27, and the average family size was 2.77.
In the town, 20.9% of the population were under the age of 18, 6.1% were from 18 to 24, 22.2% from 25 to 44, 37.5% from 45 to 64, and 13.4% were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 45.5 years. For every 100 females, there were 102.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 102.1 males.
For the period 2011–2015, the estimated median annual income for a household was $49,329, and the median income for a family was $56,458. Male full-time workers had a median income of $43,447 versus $41,563 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population.
Per capita i ...
for the town was $27,853. 19.7% of the population and 15.1% of families were below the poverty line. 29.7% of the population under the age of 18 and 12.0% of those 65 or older were living in poverty.
Sites of interest
* Bethlehem Heritage Society Museum
* The Colonial Theatre
* The Rocks Estate
Footnotes
Further reading
* Kathleen C. Beales, ''Early Families of Bethlehem, New Hampshire.'' Bradford, NH: K.C. Beals, 2009.
* Bethlehem Heritage Society, ''A Guide to the Mt. Washington Cemetery: Bethlehem, New Hampshire, 1795–1933.'' Bethlehem, NH: Bethlehem Heritage Society, 2010.
* Simeon Bolles, ''The Early History of the Town of Bethlehem, New Hampshire.'' Woodsville, NH: Enterprise Printing House, 1883.
* Priscilla Hammond, ''Vital Records of Bethlehem, New Hampshire: Compiled from the Town's Original Record Books, 1791–1838.'' Concord, NH: P. Hammond, 1937.
* John D. Mangan, ''Inventory of the Records of the Town of Bethlehem, New Hampshire, 1845–1975.'' Plymouth, NH: Plymouth State College, 1976.
* Hattie Whitcomb Taylor, ''Early History of the Town of Bethlehem, NH.'' Bethlehem, NH: Hattie W. Taylor, 1960.
* Elizabeth Anne Ward, ''Bethlehem.'' Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2000.
* Henry Victor Wilcox, ''The History of the Development of Public Education in Bethlehem, New Hampshire.'' Masters thesis. University of Maine, 1949.
* Gregory C. Wilson and Mike Dickerman, ''Bethlehem, New Hampshire: A Bicentennial History.'' Littleton, NH: Bondcliff Books, 1999.
External links
*
Bethlehem Chamber of Commerce
{{authority control
Towns in Grafton County, New Hampshire
Towns in New Hampshire