New Hampshire is a
state
State may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State
* ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States
* ''Our S ...
in the
New England
New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
region of the
northeastern United States
The Northeastern United States, also referred to as the Northeast, the East Coast, or the American Northeast, is a geographic region of the United States. It is located on the Atlantic coast of North America, with Canada to its north, the Southe ...
. It is bordered by
to the south,
Vermont
Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...
to the west,
Maine
Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...
and the
Gulf of Maine
The Gulf of Maine is a large gulf of the Atlantic Ocean on the east coast of North America. It is bounded by Cape Cod at the eastern tip of Massachusetts in the southwest and by Cape Sable Island at the southern tip of Nova Scotia in the northeast ...
to the east, and the Canadian province of
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
to the north. Of the 50 U.S. states, New Hampshire is the
fifth smallest by area and the
tenth least populous, with slightly more than 1.3 million residents.
Concord
Concord may refer to:
Meaning "agreement"
* Pact or treaty, frequently between nations (indicating a condition of harmony)
* Harmony, in music
* Agreement (linguistics), a change in the form of a word depending on grammatical features of other ...
is the state capital, while
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
is the largest city. New Hampshire's
motto
A motto (derived from the Latin , 'mutter', by way of Italian , 'word' or 'sentence') is a sentence or phrase expressing a belief or purpose, or the general motivation or intention of an individual, family, social group, or organisation. Mot ...
, "
Live Free or Die
"Live Free or Die" is the official motto of the U.S. state of New Hampshire, adopted by the state in 1945. It is possibly the best-known of all state mottos, partly because it conveys an assertive independence historically found in American po ...
", reflects its role in the
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
; its
nickname
A nickname is a substitute for the proper name of a familiar person, place or thing. Commonly used to express affection, a form of endearment, and sometimes amusement, it can also be used to express defamation of character. As a concept, it is ...
, "The
Granite
Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...
State", refers to its extensive granite formations and
quarries
A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to reduce their environ ...
. It is well known nationwide for holding
the first primary (after the
Iowa caucus
The Iowa caucuses are biennial electoral events for members of the Democratic and Republican parties in the U.S. state of Iowa. Unlike primary elections in most other U.S. states, where registered voters go to polling places to cast ballot ...
) in the
U.S. presidential election cycle, and for its resulting influence on American electoral politics, leading the adage "As New Hampshire goes, so goes the nation".
New Hampshire was inhabited for thousands of years by
Algonquian-speaking peoples such as the
Abenaki
The Abenaki (Abenaki: ''Wαpánahki'') are an Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands of Canada and the United States. They are an Algonquian-speaking people and part of the Wabanaki Confederacy. The Eastern Abenaki language was predom ...
. Europeans arrived in the early 17th century, with the English establishing some of the earliest non-indigenous settlements. The
Province of New Hampshire
The Province of New Hampshire was a colony of England and later a British province in North America. The name was first given in 1629 to the territory between the Merrimack and Piscataqua rivers on the eastern coast of North America, and was nam ...
was established in 1629, named after the
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
county
A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...
of
Hampshire
Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...
. Following mounting tensions between
the British colonies and the crown during the 1760s, New Hampshire saw one of the earliest overt acts of rebellion, with the seizing of Fort William and Mary from the British in 1774. In January 1776, it became the first of the British North American
colonies
In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the '' metropolitan state'' ...
to establish an independent government and state constitution; six months later, it signed the
United States Declaration of Independence
The United States Declaration of Independence, formally The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen States of America, is the pronouncement and founding document adopted by the Second Continental Congress meeting at Pennsylvania State House ...
and
contributed troops, ships, and supplies in the war against
Britain
Britain most often refers to:
* The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands
* Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...
. In June 1788, it was the ninth state to ratify the
U.S. Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven articles, it delineates the natio ...
, bringing that document into effect.
Through the mid-19th century, New Hampshire was an active center of
abolitionism
Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people.
The Britis ...
, and fielded close to 32,000 men for the Union during the
U.S. Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states t ...
. After the war, the state saw rapid industrialization and population growth, becoming a center of
textile manufacturing
Textile Manufacturing or Textile Engineering is a major industry. It is largely based on the conversion of fibre into yarn, then yarn into fabric. These are then dyed or printed, fabricated into cloth which is then converted into useful goods ...
,
shoemaking
Shoemaking is the process of making footwear.
Originally, shoes were made one at a time by hand, often by groups of shoemakers, or cobblers (also known as '' cordwainers''). In the 18th century, dozens or even hundreds of masters, journeymen ...
, and
papermaking
Papermaking is the manufacture of paper and cardboard, which are used widely for printing, writing, and packaging, among many other purposes. Today almost all paper is made using industrial machinery, while handmade paper survives as a speciali ...
; the
Amoskeag Manufacturing Company
The Amoskeag Manufacturing Company was a textile industry, textile manufacturer which founded Manchester, New Hampshire, United States. From modest beginnings it grew throughout the 19th century into the largest cotton textile plant in the world. ...
in Manchester was at one time the largest cotton textile plant in the world. The
Merrimack and
Connecticut
Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...
rivers were lined with industrial mills, most of which employed workers from Canada and Europe;
French Canadian
French Canadians (referred to as Canadiens mainly before the twentieth century; french: Canadiens français, ; feminine form: , ), or Franco-Canadians (french: Franco-Canadiens), refers to either an ethnic group who trace their ancestry to Fren ...
s formed the most significant influx of immigrants, and today roughly a quarter of all New Hampshire residents claim
French American
French Americans or Franco-Americans (french: Franco-Américains), are citizens or nationals of the United States who identify themselves with having full or partial French or French-Canadian heritage, ethnicity and/or ancestral ties. ...
ancestry, second only to Maine.
Reflecting a nationwide trend, New Hampshire's industrial sector declined after the Second World War. Since 1950, its economy has heavily diversified to include financial and professional services, real estate, education, and transportation, with manufacturing still higher than the national average. Beginning in the 1980s, its population surged as major highways connected it to the
Greater Boston
Greater Boston is the metropolitan region of New England encompassing the municipality of Boston (the capital of the U.S. state of Massachusetts and the most populous city in New England) and its surrounding areas. The region forms the northern ar ...
and led to more
bedroom communities
A commuter town is a populated area that is primarily residential rather than commercial or industrial. Routine travel from home to work and back is called commuting, which is where the term comes from. A commuter town may be called by many o ...
. In the 21st century, New Hampshire is among the wealthiest states in the U.S., with the seventh-highest median household income and some of the lowest rates of poverty, unemployment, and crime. It is one of only nine states without an income tax, and has no taxes on sales, capital gains, or inheritance; consequently, its overall tax burden is the lowest in the U.S. after Florida. New Hampshire ranks among the top ten states in metrics such as governance, healthcare, socioeconomic opportunity, and fiscal stability.
With its mountainous and heavily forested terrain, New Hampshire has a growing tourism sector centered on outdoor recreation. It has some of the
highest ski mountains on the East Coast and is a major destination for winter sports;
Mount Monadnock
Mount Monadnock, or Grand Monadnock, is a mountain in the towns of Jaffrey and Dublin, New Hampshire. It is the most prominent mountain peak in southern New Hampshire and is the highest point in Cheshire County. It lies southwest of Concord a ...
is among the most climbed mountains in the U.S. Other activities include
observing the fall foliage, summer cottages along many lakes and the seacoast, motorsports at the
New Hampshire Motor Speedway
New Hampshire Motor Speedway is a Oval track racing, oval speedway located in Loudon, New Hampshire, which has hosted NASCAR racing annually since 1990, as well as the longest-running motorcycle race in North America, the Loudon Classic. Nickna ...
, and
Motorcycle Week, a popular motorcycle rally held in
Weirs Beach in
Laconia
Laconia or Lakonia ( el, Λακωνία, , ) is a historical and administrative region of Greece located on the southeastern part of the Peloponnese peninsula. Its administrative capital is Sparta. The word ''laconic''—to speak in a blunt, c ...
. 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 ...
links the Vermont and Maine portions of 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 ...
, and has the
Mount Washington Auto Road
The Mount Washington Auto Road—originally the Mount Washington Carriage Road—is a toll road in southern Coos County, New Hampshire that extends from New Hampshire Route 16 in Green's Grant, just north of Pinkham Notch, westward across Pink ...
, where visitors may drive to the top of
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, ...
.
History
![New Hampshire state coat of arms (illustrated, 1876)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/New_Hampshire_state_coat_of_arms_%28illustrated%2C_1876%29.jpg)
Various
Algonquian-speaking
Abenaki
The Abenaki (Abenaki: ''Wαpánahki'') are an Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands of Canada and the United States. They are an Algonquian-speaking people and part of the Wabanaki Confederacy. The Eastern Abenaki language was predom ...
tribes, largely divided between the
Androscoggin and
Pennacook
The Pennacook, also known by the names Penacook and Pennacock, were an Algonquian-speaking Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands who lived in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and southern Maine. They were not a united tribe but a netwo ...
nations, inhabited the area before European settlement. Despite the similar language, they had a very different culture and religion from other Algonquian peoples. English and French explorers visited New Hampshire in 1600–1605, and
David Thompson settled at
Odiorne's Point in present-day
Rye in 1623. The first permanent settlement was at Hilton's Point (present-day
Dover
Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maidstone ...
). By 1631, the Upper Plantation comprised modern-day Dover,
Durham Durham most commonly refers to:
*Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham
*County Durham, an English county
* Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States
*Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...
and
Stratham; in 1679, it became the "
Royal Province".
Father Rale's War
Dummer's War (1722–1725) is also known as Father Rale's War, Lovewell's War, Greylock's War, the Three Years War, the Wabanaki-New England War, or the Fourth Anglo-Abenaki War. It was a series of battles between the New England Colonies and the ...
was fought between the colonists and the
Wabanaki Confederacy
The Wabanaki Confederacy (''Wabenaki, Wobanaki'', translated to "People of the Dawn" or "Easterner") is a North American First Nations and Native American confederation of four principal Eastern Algonquian nations: the Miꞌkmaq, Maliseet ( ...
throughout New Hampshire.
New Hampshire was one of the
thirteen colonies
The Thirteen Colonies, also known as the Thirteen British Colonies, the Thirteen American Colonies, or later as the United Colonies, were a group of Kingdom of Great Britain, British Colony, colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America. Fo ...
that rebelled against British rule during the
American Revolution
The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...
. By the time of the American Revolution, New Hampshire was a divided province. The economic and social life of the Seacoast region revolved around sawmills, shipyards, merchants' warehouses, and established village and town centers. Wealthy merchants built substantial homes, furnished them with the finest luxuries, and invested their capital in trade and land speculation. At the other end of the social scale, there developed a permanent class of day laborers, mariners, indentured servants and even slaves.
]The only battle fought in New Hampshire was the raid on
Fort William and Mary
Fort William and Mary was a colonial fortification in Britain's worldwide system of defenses, defended by soldiers of the Province of New Hampshire who reported directly to the royal governor. The fort, originally known as "The Castle," was situ ...
, December 14, 1774, in
Portsmouth Harbor
The Piscataqua River (Abenaki: ''Pskehtekwis'') is a tidal river forming the boundary of the U.S. states of New Hampshire and Maine from its origin at the confluence of the Salmon Falls River and Cochecho River. The drainage basin of the riv ...
, which netted the rebellion sizable quantities of gunpowder, small arms, and cannon over the course of two nights. (
General Sullivan, leader of the raid, described it as "remainder of the powder, the small arms, bayonets, and cartouche-boxes, together with the cannon and ordnance stores".) This raid was preceded by a warning to local patriots the previous day, by
Paul Revere
Paul Revere (; December 21, 1734 O.S. (January 1, 1735 N.S.)May 10, 1818) was an American silversmith, engraver, early industrialist, Sons of Liberty member, and Patriot and Founding Father. He is best known for his midnight ride to ale ...
on December 13, 1774, that the fort was to be reinforced by troops sailing from Boston. According to unverified accounts, the gunpowder was later used at the Battle of Bunker Hill, transported there by Major Demerit, who was one of several New Hampshire patriots who stored the powder in their homes until it was transported elsewhere for use in revolutionary activities. During the raid, the British soldiers fired upon the rebels with cannon and muskets. Although there were apparently no casualties, these were among the first shots in the American Revolutionary period, occurring approximately five months before the
Battles of Lexington and Concord
The Battles of Lexington and Concord were the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War. The battles were fought on April 19, 1775, in Middlesex County, Province of Massachusetts Bay, within the towns of Lexington, Concord ...
. On January 5, 1776, New Hampshire became the first colony to declare independence from Great Britain, almost six months before the Declaration of Independence was signed by the Continental Congress.
The
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the Supremacy Clause, supreme law of the United States, United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven ar ...
was ratified by New Hampshire on June 21, 1788, when New Hampshire became the ninth state to do so.
New Hampshire was a Jacksonian stronghold; the state sent
Franklin Pierce
Franklin Pierce (November 23, 1804October 8, 1869) was the 14th president of the United States, serving from 1853 to 1857. He was a northern Democrat who believed that the abolitionist movement was a fundamental threat to the nation's unity ...
to the White House in the election of 1852. Industrialization took the form of numerous textile mills, which in turn attracted large flows of
immigrants
Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...
from Quebec (the "French Canadians") and
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
. The northern parts of the state produced lumber, and the mountains provided tourist attractions. After 1960, the textile industry collapsed, but the economy rebounded as a center of high technology and as a service provider.
![Detail of Fort William and Mary, 1705](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5f/Detail_of_Fort_William_and_Mary%2C_1705.jpg)
Starting in 1952, New Hampshire gained national and international attention for its
presidential primary
The presidential primary elections and caucuses held in the various U.S. state, states, the Washington, D.C., District of Columbia, and territories of the United States form part of the nominating process of candidates for United States preside ...
held early in every presidential election year. It immediately became the most important testing ground for candidates for the Republican and Democratic nominations. The media gave New Hampshire and
Iowa
Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...
about half of all the attention paid to all states in the primary process, magnifying the state's decision powers and spurring repeated efforts by out-of-state politicians to change the rules.
Geography
![Lake Winnipesaukee and the Ossipee Mountains](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8d/Lake_Winnipesaukee_and_the_Ossipee_Mountains.jpg)
New Hampshire is part of the six-state New England region of the
Northeastern United States
The Northeastern United States, also referred to as the Northeast, the East Coast, or the American Northeast, is a geographic region of the United States. It is located on the Atlantic coast of North America, with Canada to its north, the Southe ...
. It is bounded by Quebec, Canada, to the north and northwest; Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east; Massachusetts to the south; and Vermont to the west. New Hampshire's major regions are the
Great North Woods, the
White Mountains, the
Lakes Region, the
Seacoast, the
Merrimack Valley
The Merrimack Valley is a bi-state region along the Merrimack River in the U.S. states of New Hampshire and Massachusetts. The Merrimack is one of the larger waterways in New England and has helped to define the livelihood and culture of those l ...
, the
Monadnock Region
The Monadnock Region is a region in southwestern New Hampshire. It is named after Mount Monadnock, a 3,165 foot isolated mountain, which is the dominant geographic landmark in the region. Although it has no specific borders, the Monadnock Region i ...
, and the
Dartmouth-Lake Sunapee area. New Hampshire has the shortest ocean coastline of any U.S. coastal state, with a length of , sometimes measured as only .
The
White Mountains range in New Hampshire spans the north-central portion of the state. The range includes
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, ...
, the tallest in the northeastern U.S.—site of the second-highest wind speed ever recorded— as well as
Mount Adams and
Mount Jefferson. With hurricane-force winds every third day on average, more than a hundred recorded deaths among visitors, and conspicuous
krumholtz (dwarf, matted trees much like a carpet of
bonsai
Bonsai ( ja, 盆栽, , tray planting, ) is the Japanese art of growing and training miniature trees in pots, developed from the traditional Chinese art form of ''penjing''. Unlike ''penjing'', which utilizes traditional techniques to produce ...
trees), the climate on the upper reaches of Mount Washington has inspired the weather observatory on the peak to claim that the area has the "World's Worst Weather". The White Mountains were home to the rock formation called the
Old Man of the Mountain
The Old Man of the Mountain, also called the Great Stone Face and the Profile, was a series of five granite cliff ledges on Cannon Mountain in Franconia, New Hampshire, United States, that appeared to be the jagged profile of a human face when ...
, a face-like profile in
Franconia Notch
Franconia Notch (elev. ) is a major mountain pass through the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Dominated by Cannon Mountain to the west and Mount Lafayette to the east, it lies principally within Franconia Notch State Park and is traversed by ...
, until the formation disintegrated in May 2003. Even after its loss, the Old Man remains an enduring symbol for the state, seen on state highway signs, automobile license plates, and many government and private entities around New Hampshire.
In the flatter southwest corner of New Hampshire, the landmark
Mount Monadnock
Mount Monadnock, or Grand Monadnock, is a mountain in the towns of Jaffrey and Dublin, New Hampshire. It is the most prominent mountain peak in southern New Hampshire and is the highest point in Cheshire County. It lies southwest of Concord a ...
has given its name to a class of earth-forms—a ''
monadnock
An inselberg or monadnock () is an isolated rock hill, knob, ridge, or small mountain that rises abruptly from a gently sloping or virtually level surrounding plain.
In Southern Africa a similar formation of granite is known as a koppie, a ...
''—signifying, in geomorphology, any isolated resistant peak rising from a less resistant eroded plain.
Major rivers include 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 Mas ...
, which bisects the lower half of the state north–south before passing into Massachusetts and reaching the sea in
Newburyport
Newburyport is a coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, northeast of Boston. The population was 18,289 at the 2020 census. A historic seaport with vibrant tourism industry, Newburyport includes part of Plum Island. The mo ...
. Its tributaries include the
Contoocook River
The Contoocook River () is a river in New Hampshire. It flows from Contoocook Lake on the Jaffrey/ Rindge border to Penacook (just north of Concord), where it empties into the Merrimack River. It is one of only a few rivers in New Hampshire that ...
,
Pemigewasset River
The Pemigewasset River , known locally as "The Pemi", is a river in the state of New Hampshire, the United States. It is in length and (with its tributaries) drains approximately . The name "Pemigewasset" comes from the Abenaki word ''bemijijoase ...
, and
Winnipesaukee River
The Winnipesaukee River is a river that connects Lake Winnipesaukee with the Pemigewasset and Merrimack rivers in Franklin, New Hampshire. The river is in the Lakes Region of central New Hampshire. The river's drainage area is approximately .
...
. The
Connecticut River
The Connecticut River is the longest river in the New England region of the United States, flowing roughly southward for through four states. It rises 300 yards (270 m) south of the U.S. border with Quebec, Canada, and discharges at Long Island ...
, which starts at New Hampshire's
Connecticut Lakes
The Connecticut Lakes are a group of lakes in Coos County, northern New Hampshire, United States, situated along the headwaters of the Connecticut River. They are accessed via the northernmost segment of U.S. Route 3, between the village of Pitt ...
and flows south to
Connecticut
Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...
, defines the western border with Vermont. The state border is not in the center of that river, as is usually the case, but at the low-water mark on the Vermont side; meaning the entire river along the Vermont border (save for areas where the water level has been raised by a dam) lies within New Hampshire. Only one town—
Pittsburg—shares a land border with the state of Vermont. The "northwesternmost headwaters" of the Connecticut also define the part of Canada–U.S. border.
The
Piscataqua River
The Piscataqua River (Abenaki: ''Pskehtekwis'') is a tidal river forming the boundary of the U.S. states of New Hampshire and Maine from its origin at the confluence of the Salmon Falls River and Cochecho River. The drainage basin of the river ...
and its several
tributaries
A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage b ...
form the state's only significant ocean port where they flow into the Atlantic at
Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council.
Portsmouth is the most dens ...
. The
Salmon Falls River
The Salmon Falls River is a tributary of the Piscataqua River in the U.S. states of Maine and New Hampshire. It rises at Great East Lake, Newichawannock Canal, and Horn Pond and flows south-southeast for approximately , forming the border between ...
and the Piscataqua define the southern portion of the border with Maine. The Piscataqua River boundary was the subject of a
border dispute
A territorial dispute or boundary dispute is a disagreement over the possession or control of land between two or more political entities.
Context and definitions
Territorial disputes are often related to the possession of natural resources su ...
between New Hampshire and Maine in 2001, with New Hampshire claiming dominion over several islands (primarily
Seavey's Island
Seavey's Island, site of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, is located in the Piscataqua River in Kittery, Maine, opposite Portsmouth, New Hampshire. It encompasses .
History
What is today called Seavey's Island was originally five separate islands c ...
) that include the
Portsmouth Naval Shipyard
The Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, often called the Portsmouth Navy Yard, is a United States Navy shipyard in Kittery on the southern boundary of Maine near the city of Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
Founded in 1800, PNS is U.S. Navy's oldest continuo ...
. The
U.S. Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
dismissed the case in 2002, leaving ownership of the island with Maine. New Hampshire still claims sovereignty of the base, however.
The largest of
New Hampshire's lakes is
Lake Winnipesaukee
Lake Winnipesaukee () is the largest lake in the U.S. state of New Hampshire, located in the Lakes Region at the foothills of the White Mountains. It is approximately long (northwest-southeast) and from wide (northeast-southwest), covering & ...
, which covers in the east-central part of New Hampshire.
Umbagog Lake
Umbagog Lake is a wilderness lake located in Coös County, New Hampshire, and Oxford County, Maine. It is one of the most pristine lakes in the state of New Hampshire. It lies in the towns of Errol, New Hampshire, and Upton, Maine, as well as the ...
along the Maine border, approximately , is a distant second.
Squam Lake
Squam Lake is a lake located in the Lakes Region of central New Hampshire, United States, south of the White Mountains, straddling the borders of Grafton, Carroll, and Belknap counties. The largest town center on the lake is Holderness. The l ...
is the second largest lake entirely in New Hampshire.
New Hampshire has the
shortest ocean coastline of any state in the United States, approximately long.
Hampton Beach is a popular local summer destination. About offshore are the
Isles of Shoals
The Isles of Shoals are a group of small islands and tidal ledges situated approximately off the east coast of the United States, straddling the border of the states of Maine and New Hampshire.
They have been occupied for more than 400 years, fi ...
, nine small islands (four of which are in New Hampshire) known as the site of a 19th-century art colony founded by poet
Celia Thaxter
Celia Thaxter (née Laighton; June 29, 1835 – August 25, 1894) was an American writer of poetry and stories. For most of her life, she lived with her father on the Isles of Shoals at his Appledore Hotel. How she grew up to become a writer is d ...
, and the alleged location of one of the buried treasures of the pirate
Blackbeard
Edward Teach (alternatively spelled Edward Thatch, – 22 November 1718), better known as Blackbeard, was an English Piracy, pirate who operated around the West Indies and the eastern coast of Britain's Thirteen Colonies, North American colon ...
.
![State of New Hampshire](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/State_of_New_Hampshire.JPG)
It is the state with the highest percentage of timberland area in the country. New Hampshire is in the
temperate broadleaf and mixed forests
Temperate broadleaf and mixed forest is a temperate climate terrestrial habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature, with broadleaf tree ecoregions, and with conifer and broadleaf tree mixed coniferous forest ecoregions.
These fo ...
biome
A biome () is a biogeographical unit consisting of a biological community that has formed in response to the physical environment in which they are found and a shared regional climate. Biomes may span more than one continent. Biome is a broader ...
. Much of the state, in particular the White Mountains, is covered by the
conifer
Conifers are a group of conifer cone, cone-bearing Spermatophyte, seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the phylum, division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single ...
s and
northern hardwoods of the
New England-Acadian forests
New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created.
New or NEW may refer to:
Music
* New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz
Albums and EPs
* ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013
* ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...
. The southeast corner of the state and parts of the Connecticut River along the Vermont border are covered by the mixed
oaks of the
Northeastern coastal forests
The Northeastern coastal forests are a temperate broadleaf and mixed forests ecoregion of the northeast and middle Atlantic region of the United States. The ecoregion covers an area of 34,630 sq miles (89,691 km2) encompassing the Piedmont a ...
.
The state's numerous forests are popular among autumnal
leaf peepers seeking the brilliant foliage of the numerous
deciduous tree
In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, afte ...
s.
The northern third of the state is locally referred to as the "north country" or "north of the notches", in reference to the White Mountain
passes that channel traffic. It contains less than 5% of the state's population, suffers relatively high poverty, and is steadily losing population as the logging and paper industries decline. However, the tourist industry, in particular visitors who go to northern New Hampshire to
ski
A ski is a narrow strip of semi-rigid material worn underfoot to glide over snow. Substantially longer than wide and characteristically employed in pairs, skis are attached to ski boots with ski bindings, with either a free, lockable, or partial ...
,
snowboard
Snowboards are boards where the user places both feet, usually secured, to the same board. The board itself is wider than most skis, with the ability to glide on snow."snowboarding." Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. 17 Mar ...
,
hike and
mountain bike
A mountain bike (MTB) or mountain bicycle is a bicycle designed for off-road cycling. Mountain bikes share some similarities with other bicycles, but incorporate features designed to enhance durability and performance in rough terrain, which ...
, has helped offset economic losses from mill closures.
By the 1950s concern with protecting the environment became a factor, emerging as an active politicized movement by the 1970s. Activists defeated a proposal to build an oil refinery along the coast and one to widen an interstate highway through
Franconia Notch
Franconia Notch (elev. ) is a major mountain pass through the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Dominated by Cannon Mountain to the west and Mount Lafayette to the east, it lies principally within Franconia Notch State Park and is traversed by ...
.
Winter season lengths are projected to decline at ski areas across New Hampshire due to the
effects of climate change
The effects of climate change impact the physical environment, ecosystems and human societies. The environmental effects of climate change are broad and far-reaching. They affect the water cycle, oceans, sea and land ice (glaciers), sea level ...
, which is likely to continue the historic contraction and consolidation of the ski industry and threaten individual ski businesses and communities that rely on ski tourism.
Climate
![New hampshire in autumn](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/be/New_hampshire_in_autumn.jpg)
New Hampshire experiences a
humid continental climate
A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freezing ...
(
Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...
''Dfa'' in some southern areas, ''Dfb'' in most of the state, and ''Dfc'' subarctic in some northern highland areas), with warm, humid summers, and long, cold, and snowy winters. Precipitation is fairly evenly distributed all year. The climate of the southeastern portion is moderated by the
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...
and averages relatively milder winters (for New Hampshire), while the northern and interior portions experience colder temperatures and lower humidity. Winters are cold and snowy throughout the state, and especially severe in the northern and mountainous areas. Average annual snowfall ranges from to over across the state.
Average daytime highs are in the mid 70s°F to low 80s°F (24–28 °C) throughout the state in July, with overnight lows in the mid 50s°F to low 60s°F (13–15 °C). January temperatures range from an average high of on the coast to overnight lows below in the far north and at high elevations. Average annual precipitation statewide is roughly with some variation occurring in the
White Mountains due to differences in elevation and annual snowfall. New Hampshire's highest recorded temperature was in
Nashua Nashua may refer to:
* Nashaway people, Native American tribe living in 17th-century New England
Places
In Australia:
* Nashua, New South Wales
In the United States:
* Nashua, California
* Nashua, Iowa
* Nashua, Minnesota
* Nashua, Kansas City ...
on July 4, 1911, while the lowest recorded temperature was atop
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, ...
on January 29, 1934. Mount Washington also saw an unofficial reading on January 22, 1885, which, if made official, would tie the record low for New England (also at
Big Black River, Maine, on January 16, 2009, and
Bloomfield, Vermont
Bloomfield is a town in Essex County, Vermont, United States. The population was 217 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Berlin, NH–VT Micropolitan Statistical Area.
History
In 1830, an act from the state General Assembly changed t ...
on December 30, 1933).
![Köppen Climate Types New Hampshire](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dd/K%C3%B6ppen_Climate_Types_New_Hampshire.png)
Extreme snow is often associated with a
nor'easter
A nor'easter (also northeaster; see below), or an East Coast low is a synoptic-scale extratropical cyclone in the western North Atlantic Ocean. The name derives from the direction of the winds that blow from the northeast. The original use o ...
, such as the
Blizzard of '78 and the
Blizzard of 1993
The 1993 Storm of the Century (also known as the 93 Superstorm, The No Name Storm, or the Great Blizzard of '93/1993) was a cyclonic storm that formed over the Gulf of Mexico on March 12, 1993. The cold weather, heavy snowfall, high winds and st ...
, when several feet accumulated across portions of the state over 24 to 48 hours. Lighter snowfalls of several inches occur frequently throughout winter, often associated with an
Alberta Clipper
An Alberta clipper, also known as an Alberta low, Alberta cyclone, Alberta lee cyclone, Canadian clipper, or simply clipper, is a fast-moving low-pressure system that originates in or near the Canadian province of Alberta just east of the Rock ...
.
New Hampshire, on occasion, is affected by
hurricanes
A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...
and tropical storms although by the time they reach the state they are often
extratropical
Extratropical cyclones, sometimes called mid-latitude cyclones or wave cyclones, are low-pressure areas which, along with the anticyclones of high-pressure areas, drive the weather over much of the Earth. Extratropical cyclones are capable of p ...
, with most storms striking the southern New England coastline and moving inland or passing by offshore in the
Gulf of Maine
The Gulf of Maine is a large gulf of the Atlantic Ocean on the east coast of North America. It is bounded by Cape Cod at the eastern tip of Massachusetts in the southwest and by Cape Sable Island at the southern tip of Nova Scotia in the northeast ...
. Most of New Hampshire averages fewer than 20 days of thunderstorms per year and an average of two tornadoes occur annually statewide.
The
National Arbor Day Foundation plant
hardiness zone
A hardiness zone is a geographic area defined as having a certain average annual minimum temperature, a factor relevant to the survival of many plants. In some systems other statistics are included in the calculations. The original and most wide ...
map depicts zones 3, 4, 5, and6 occurring throughout the state
and indicates the transition from a relatively cooler to warmer climate as one travels southward across New Hampshire. The 1990
USDA
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of com ...
plant
hardiness zone
A hardiness zone is a geographic area defined as having a certain average annual minimum temperature, a factor relevant to the survival of many plants. In some systems other statistics are included in the calculations. The original and most wide ...
s for New Hampshire range from zone 3b in the north to zone 5b in the south.
Metropolitan areas
![Nashua NH Main Street 50](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6b/Nashua_NH_Main_Street_50.JPG)
Metropolitan areas in the New England region are defined by the
U.S. 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 ...
as
New England City and Town Area A New England city and town area (NECTA) is a geographic and statistical entity defined by the U.S. federal government for use in the six-state New England region of the United States. NECTAs are analogous to metropolitan statistical areas and micr ...
s (NECTAs). The following is a list of NECTAs fully or partially in New Hampshire:
*
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 ...
*
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 ...
–
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
–
Nashua Nashua may refer to:
* Nashaway people, Native American tribe living in 17th-century New England
Places
In Australia:
* Nashua, New South Wales
In the United States:
* Nashua, California
* Nashua, Iowa
* Nashua, Minnesota
* Nashua, Kansas City ...
**
Haverhill–
Newburyport
Newburyport is a coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, northeast of Boston. The population was 18,289 at the 2020 census. A historic seaport with vibrant tourism industry, Newburyport includes part of Plum Island. The mo ...
–
Amesbury Town NECTA Division
**
Lawrence
Lawrence may refer to:
Education Colleges and universities
* Lawrence Technological University, a university in Southfield, Michigan, United States
* Lawrence University, a liberal arts university in Appleton, Wisconsin, United States
Preparator ...
–
Methuen Town–
Salem NECTA Division
**
Lowell–
Billerica
Billerica (, ) is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 42,119 according to the 2020 census. It takes its name from the town of Billericay in Essex, England.
History
In the early 1630s, a Praying India ...
–
Chelmsford
Chelmsford () is a city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Southend-on-Sea and Colchester. It is located north-east of London a ...
NECTA Division
**
Nashua Nashua may refer to:
* Nashaway people, Native American tribe living in 17th-century New England
Places
In Australia:
* Nashua, New South Wales
In the United States:
* Nashua, California
* Nashua, Iowa
* Nashua, Minnesota
* Nashua, Kansas City ...
NECTA Division
*
Claremont
*
Concord
Concord may refer to:
Meaning "agreement"
* Pact or treaty, frequently between nations (indicating a condition of harmony)
* Harmony, in music
* Agreement (linguistics), a change in the form of a word depending on grammatical features of other ...
*
Dover
Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maidstone ...
–
Durham Durham most commonly refers to:
*Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham
*County Durham, an English county
* Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States
*Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...
*
Franklin
Franklin may refer to:
People
* Franklin (given name)
* Franklin (surname)
* Franklin (class), a member of a historical English social class
Places Australia
* Franklin, Tasmania, a township
* Division of Franklin, federal electoral d ...
*
Keene
*
Laconia
Laconia or Lakonia ( el, Λακωνία, , ) is a historical and administrative region of Greece located on the southeastern part of the Peloponnese peninsula. Its administrative capital is Sparta. The word ''laconic''—to speak in a blunt, c ...
*
Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...
*
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
*
Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council.
Portsmouth is the most dens ...
Demographics
Population
![New Hampshire population map](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/85/New_Hampshire_population_map.png)
As of the
2020 census, the resident population of New Hampshire was 1,377,529,
a 4.6% increase since the
2010 United States Census
The United States census of 2010 was the twenty-third United States national census. National Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2010. The census was taken via mail-in citizen self-reporting, with enumerators servin ...
. The
center of population
In demographics, the center of population (or population center) of a region is a geographical point that describes a centerpoint of the region's population. There are several ways of defining such a "center point", leading to different geogr ...
of New Hampshire is in
Merrimack County, in the town of
Pembroke. The center of population has moved south since 1950, a reflection of the fact that the state's fastest growth has been along its southern border, which is within commuting range of Boston and other Massachusetts cities.
The most densely populated areas generally lie within of the Massachusetts border, and are concentrated in two areas: along the
Merrimack River Valley
The Merrimack Valley is a bi-state region along the Merrimack River in the U.S. states of New Hampshire and Massachusetts. The Merrimack is one of the larger waterways in New England and has helped to define the livelihood and culture of those ...
running from
Concord
Concord may refer to:
Meaning "agreement"
* Pact or treaty, frequently between nations (indicating a condition of harmony)
* Harmony, in music
* Agreement (linguistics), a change in the form of a word depending on grammatical features of other ...
to
Nashua Nashua may refer to:
* Nashaway people, Native American tribe living in 17th-century New England
Places
In Australia:
* Nashua, New South Wales
In the United States:
* Nashua, California
* Nashua, Iowa
* Nashua, Minnesota
* Nashua, Kansas City ...
, and in the
Seacoast Region along an axis stretching from
Rochester
Rochester may refer to:
Places Australia
* Rochester, Victoria
Canada
* Rochester, Alberta
United Kingdom
*Rochester, Kent
** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area
** History of Rochester, Kent
** HM Prison ...
to
Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council.
Portsmouth is the most dens ...
. Outside of those two regions, only one community, the city of
Keene, has a population of over 20,000. The four counties covering these two areas account for 72% of the state population, and one (
Hillsborough) has nearly 30% of the state population, as well as the two most populous communities, Manchester and Nashua. The northern portion of the state is very sparsely populated: the largest county by area,
Coos, covers the northern one-fourth of the state and has only around 31,000 people, about a third of whom live in a single community (
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 ...
). The trends over the past several decades have been for the population to shift southward, as many northern communities lack the economic base to maintain their populations, while southern communities have been absorbed by the
Greater Boston
Greater Boston is the metropolitan region of New England encompassing the municipality of Boston (the capital of the U.S. state of Massachusetts and the most populous city in New England) and its surrounding areas. The region forms the northern ar ...
metropolis.
![NH ancestry](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/28/NH_ancestry.png)
As of the
2010 census, the population of New Hampshire was 1,316,470. The gender makeup of the state at that time was 49.3% male and 50.7% female. 21.8% of the population were under the age of 18; 64.6% were between the ages of 18 and 64; and 13.5% were 65 years of age or older.
Additionally, about 57.3% of the population was born out of state.
Hispanic or Latino
''Hispanic'' and '' Latino'' are ethnonyms used to refer collectively to the inhabitants of the United States who are of Spanish or Latin American ancestry (). While the terms are sometimes used interchangeably, for example, by the United States ...
of any race were 2.8% of the population in 2010: 0.6% were of
Mexican, 0.9%
Puerto Rican, 0.1%
Cuban
Cuban may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Cuba, a country in the Caribbean
* Cubans, people from Cuba, or of Cuban descent
** Cuban exile, a person who left Cuba for political reasons, or a descendant thereof
* Cuban citizen, a perso ...
, and 1.2% other Hispanic or Latino origin. As of 2019, the
Hispanic or Latino
''Hispanic'' and '' Latino'' are ethnonyms used to refer collectively to the inhabitants of the United States who are of Spanish or Latin American ancestry (). While the terms are sometimes used interchangeably, for example, by the United States ...
population was estimated at 4.0%.
According to the 2012–2017
American Community Survey
The American Community Survey (ACS) is a demographics survey program conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. It regularly gathers information previously contained only in the long form of the decennial census, such as ancestry, citizenship, educati ...
, the largest ancestry groups in the state were
Irish
Irish may refer to:
Common meanings
* Someone or something of, from, or related to:
** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe
***Éire, Irish language name for the isle
** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
(20.6%),
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
(16.5%),
French (14.0%),
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
(10.4%),
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
(9.1%),
French Canadian
French Canadians (referred to as Canadiens mainly before the twentieth century; french: Canadiens français, ; feminine form: , ), or Franco-Canadians (french: Franco-Canadiens), refers to either an ethnic group who trace their ancestry to Fren ...
(8.9%), and
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
(4.8%).
New Hampshire has the highest percentage (22.9%) of residents with French/French-Canadian/Acadian ancestry of any U.S. state.
According to the Census Bureau's
American Community Survey
The American Community Survey (ACS) is a demographics survey program conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. It regularly gathers information previously contained only in the long form of the decennial census, such as ancestry, citizenship, educati ...
estimates from 2017, 2.1% of the population aged5 and older speak
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
at home, while 1.8% speak
French. In
Coos County, 9.6% of the population speaks French at home, down from 16% in 2000.
Birth data
''Note: Percentages in the table do not add up to 100, because Hispanics are counted both by their ethnicity and by their race, giving a higher overall number.''
* Since 2016, data for births of
White Hispanic
White Latin Americans, or European Latin Americans, are Latin Americans who are considered white, typically due to European descent. Latin American countries have often tolerated intermarriage between different ethnic groups since the beginning ...
origin are not collected, but included in one ''Hispanic'' group; persons of Hispanic origin may be of any race.
Religion
A Pew survey in 2014 showed that the religious affiliations of the people of New Hampshire was as follows:
nonreligious
Irreligion or nonreligion is the absence or rejection of religion, or indifference to it. Irreligion takes many forms, ranging from the casual and unaware to full-fledged philosophies such as atheism and agnosticism, secular humanism and ...
36%,
Protestant
Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
30%,
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
26%, Jehovah's Witness 2%,
LDS
LDS may refer to:
Organizations
* LDS Hospital, Salt Lake City, Utah, US Religion
* Latter Day Saint movement (LDS movement), a collection of independent church groups
**The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the largest group within t ...
(
Mormon
Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...
) 1%, and Jewish 1%.
A survey suggests people in New Hampshire and Vermont are less likely than other Americans to attend weekly services and only 54% say they are "absolutely certain there is a God" compared to 71% in the rest of the nation. New Hampshire and Vermont are also at the lowest levels among states in religious commitment. In 2012, 23% of New Hampshire residents in a Gallup poll considered themselves "very religious", while 52% considered themselves "non-religious". According to the
Association of Religion Data Archives The Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA) is a free source of online information related to American and international religion. One of the primary goals of the archive is to democratize access to academic information on religion by making th ...
(ARDA) in 2010, the largest denominations were the
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
with 311,028 members; the
United Church of Christ
The United Church of Christ (UCC) is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination based in the United States, with historical and confessional roots in the Congregational, Calvinist, Lutheran, and Anabaptist traditions, and with approximately 4 ...
with 26,321 members; and the
United Methodist Church
The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was a leader in evangelical ...
with 18,029 members.
In 2016, a Gallup Poll found that New Hampshire was the least religious state in the United States. Only 20% of respondents in New Hampshire categorized themselves as "very religious", while the nationwide average was 40%.
According to the 2020
Public Religion Research Institute
The Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) is an American nonprofit, nonpartisan research and education organization that conducts public opinion polls on a variety of topics, specializing in the quantitative and qualitative study of political ...
study, 64% of the population was Christian, dominated by Roman Catholicism and
evangelical Protestantism
Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "born again", in which an individual experi ...
. In contrast with varying studies of estimated irreligiosity, the Public Religion Research Institute reported that irreligion declined from 36% at the separate 2014 Pew survey to 25% of the population in 2020.
Economy
![Mack's Apples in October 2021 7](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/be/Mack%27s_Apples_in_October_2021_7.jpg)
* Total employment (2016): 594,243
* Number of employer establishments: 37,868
The
Bureau of Economic Analysis
The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) of the United States Department of Commerce is a U.S. government agency that provides official economy of the United States, macroeconomic and industry statistics, most notably reports about the gross domestic ...
estimates that New Hampshire's
total state product in 2018 was $86billion, ranking 40th in the United States.
Median household income
The median income is the income amount that divides a population into two equal groups, half having an income above that amount, and half having an income below that amount. It may differ from the mean (or average) income. Both of these are ways of ...
in 2017 was $74,801, the fourth highest in the country (including
Washington, DC
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...
). Its agricultural outputs are dairy products, nursery stock, cattle, apples and eggs. Its industrial outputs are machinery, electric equipment, rubber and plastic products, and tourism is a major component of the economy.
New Hampshire experienced a major shift in its economic base during the 20th century. Historically, the base was composed of traditional New England textiles, shoemaking, and small machine shops, drawing upon low-wage labor from nearby small farms and parts of Quebec. Today, of the state's total manufacturing dollar value, these sectors contribute only two percent for textiles, two percent for leather goods, and nine percent for machining. They experienced a sharp decline due to obsolete plants and the lure of cheaper wages in the
Southern United States
The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...
.
New Hampshire today has a broad-based and growing economy, with a state GDP growth rate of 2.2% in 2018.
The state's largest economic sectors in 2018, based on contribution to GDP, are: 15% real estate and rental and leasing; 13%
professional business services; 12% manufacturing; 10% government and government services; and 9% health care and social services.
The state's
budget
A budget is a calculation play, usually but not always financial, for a defined period, often one year or a month. A budget may include anticipated sales volumes and revenues, resource quantities including time, costs and expenses, environmenta ...
in FY2018 was $5.97billion, including $1.79billion in federal funds. The issue of taxation is controversial in New Hampshire, which has a
property tax
A property tax or millage rate is an ad valorem tax on the value of a property.In the OECD classification scheme, tax on property includes "taxes on immovable property or net wealth, taxes on the change of ownership of property through inheri ...
(subject to municipal control) but no broad
sales tax
A sales tax is a tax paid to a governing body for the sales of certain goods and services. Usually laws allow the seller to collect funds for the tax from the consumer at the point of purchase. When a tax on goods or services is paid to a govern ...
or income tax. The state does have narrower taxes on meals, lodging, vehicles, business and investment income, and tolls on state roads.
According to the
Energy Information Administration
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System responsible for collecting, analyzing, and disseminating energy information to promote sound policymaking, efficient markets, and publ ...
, New Hampshire's energy consumption and per capita energy consumption are among the lowest in the country. The
Seabrook Station Nuclear Power Plant
The Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant, more commonly known as Seabrook Station, is a nuclear power plant located in Seabrook, New Hampshire, United States, approximately north of Boston and south of Portsmouth. It has operated since 1990. With its ...
, near Portsmouth, is the largest nuclear reactor in New England and provided 57% of New Hampshire's electricity generation and 27% of its electricity consumption in 2017. In 2016 and 2017, New Hampshire obtained more of its electricity generation from wind power than from coal-fired power plants. Approximately 32% of New Hampshire's electricity consumption came from renewable resources (including
nuclear
Nuclear may refer to:
Physics
Relating to the nucleus of the atom:
* Nuclear engineering
*Nuclear physics
*Nuclear power
*Nuclear reactor
*Nuclear weapon
*Nuclear medicine
*Radiation therapy
*Nuclear warfare
Mathematics
*Nuclear space
*Nuclear ...
,
hydroelectric
Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and ...
,
wind
Wind is the natural movement of air or other gases relative to a planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heating of land surfaces and lasting a few hou ...
, and other
renewable resources
A renewable resource, also known as a flow resource, is a natural resource which will replenish to replace the portion depleted by usage and consumption, either through natural reproduction or other recurring processes in a finite amount of ti ...
). New Hampshire was a net exporter of electricity, exporting .
New Hampshire's residential electricity use is low compared with the national average, in part because demand for air conditioning is low during the generally mild summer months and because few households use electricity as their primary energy source for home heating. Nearly half of New Hampshire households use
fuel oil
Fuel oil is any of various fractions obtained from the distillation of petroleum (crude oil). Such oils include distillates (the lighter fractions) and residues (the heavier fractions). Fuel oils include heavy fuel oil, marine fuel oil (MFO), bun ...
for winter heating, which is one of the largest shares in the United States. New Hampshire has potential for renewable energies like wind power, hydroelectricity, and
wood fuel
Wood fuel (or fuelwood) is a fuel such as firewood, charcoal, chips, sheets, pellets, and sawdust. The particular form used depends upon factors such as source, quantity, quality and application. In many areas, wood is the most easily availabl ...
.
The state has no general sales tax and no personal
state income tax
In addition to federal income tax collected by the United States, most individual U.S. states collect a state income tax. Some local governments also impose an income tax, often based on state income tax calculations. Forty-two states and many ...
(the state currently does tax, at a five percent rate, income from dividends and interest, but this tax is set to expire in 2027.
)
New Hampshire's lack of a broad-based tax system has resulted in the state's local jurisdictions having the 8th-highest property taxes as of a 2019 ranking by the
Tax Foundation
The Tax Foundation is an American think tank based in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1937 by a group of businessmen in order to "monitor the tax and spending policies of government agencies". The Tax Foundation collects data and publishes ...
. However, the state's overall tax burden is relatively low; in 2010 New Hampshire ranked 8th-lowest among states in combined average state and local tax burden.
The (preliminary) seasonally
unemployment rate
Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for work during the referen ...
in April 2019 was 2.4% based on a 767,500 person civilian workforce with 749,000 people in employment. New Hampshire's workforce is 90% in nonfarm employment, with 18% employed in trade, transportation, and utilities; 17% in education and health care; 12% in government; 11% in professional and business services; and 10% in leisure and hospitality.
Largest employers
In March 2018, 86% of New Hampshire's workforce were employed by the private sector, with 53% of those workers being employed by firms with fewer than 100 employees. About 14% of private-sector employees are employed by firms with more than 1,000 employees.
According to community surveys by the Economic & Labor Market Information Bureau of NH Employment Security, the following are the largest private employers in the state:
New Hampshire's state government employs approximately 6,100 people. Additionally, the
U.S. Department of State
The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government responsible for the country's fore ...
employs approximately 1,600 people at the
National Visa Center The National Visa Center (NVC) is a center that is part of the U.S. Department of State that plays the role of holding United States immigrant visa petitions (as well as Form I-129F petitions for K visa, K-1/K-3 visas) approved by the United States ...
in Portsmouth, which processes
United States immigrant visa petitions.
Law and government
![Concord New Hampshire state house 20041229](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b9/Concord_New_Hampshire_state_house_20041229.jpg)
The governor of New Hampshire, since January 5, 2017, is
Chris Sununu
Christopher Thomas Sununu ( ; born November 5, 1974) is an American politician and engineer who has served as the 82nd governor of New Hampshire since 2017. A member of the Republican Party, Sununu was a member of the New Hampshire Executive Co ...
(Republican). New Hampshire's two U.S. senators are
Jeanne Shaheen
Cynthia Jeanne Shaheen ( ; née Bowers, born January 28, 1947) is an American retired educator and politician serving as the senior United States senator from New Hampshire since 2009. A member of the Democratic Party, Shaheen served as the 78th ...
and
Maggie Hassan
Margaret Coldwell Hassan (; née Wood; born February 27, 1958) is an American politician and attorney serving as the junior United States senator from New Hampshire. A Democrat, Hassan was elected to the Senate in 2016 while serving as the 81st ...
(both Democrats), both of whom are former governors. New Hampshire's two U.S. representatives as of January 2019 are
Chris Pappas and
Ann McLane Kuster
Ann L. McLane Kuster (born September 5, 1956) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the U.S. representative for since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously worked as a lobbyist.
Early life and education
Kuster was b ...
(both Democrats).
New Hampshire is an
alcoholic beverage control state
Alcoholic beverage control states, generally called control states, less often ABC states, are 17 states in the United States that, as of 2016, have state monopoly over the wholesaling or retailing of some or all categories of alcoholic beverage ...
, and through the
State Liquor Commission takes in $100million from the sale and distribution of liquor.
New Hampshire is the only state in the U.S. that does not require adults to wear seat belts in their vehicles. It is one of three states that have no mandatory helmet law.
Governing documents
The
New Hampshire State Constitution of 1783 is the supreme law of the state, followed by the
New Hampshire Revised Statutes Annotated The New Hampshire Revised Statutes Annotated (RSA) forms the codified law of the state subordinate to the New Hampshire State Constitution.
History
The RSA is a set of law books published by Thomson West. The work of updating the previous codif ...
and the
New Hampshire Code of Administrative Rules. These are roughly analogous to the federal
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the Supremacy Clause, supreme law of the United States, United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven ar ...
,
United States Code
In the law of the United States, the Code of Laws of the United States of America (variously abbreviated to Code of Laws of the United States, United States Code, U.S. Code, U.S.C., or USC) is the official compilation and codification of the ...
and
Code of Federal Regulations
In the law of the United States, the ''Code of Federal Regulations'' (''CFR'') is the codification of the general and permanent regulations promulgated by the executive departments and agencies of the federal government of the United States. ...
respectively.
Branches of government
New Hampshire has a bifurcated executive branch, consisting of the governor and a five-member
executive council which votes on state contracts worth more than $5,000 and "advises and consents" to the governor's nominations to major state positions such as department heads and all judgeships and
pardon
A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the ju ...
requests. New Hampshire does not have a
lieutenant governor
A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...
; the Senate president serves as "acting governor" whenever the governor is unable to perform the duties.
The legislature is called the
General Court. It consists of the
House of Representatives
House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...
and the
Senate
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
. There are 400 representatives, making it one of the largest elected bodies in the English-speaking world, and 24 senators. Legislators are paid a nominal salary of $200 per two-year term plus travel costs, the lowest in the U.S. by far. Thus most are effectively volunteers, nearly half of whom are
retirees
A pensioner is a person who receives a pension, most commonly because of retirement from the workforce. This is a term typically used in the United Kingdom (along with OAP, initialism of old-age pensioner), Ireland and Australia where someone of p ...
. (For details, see the article on
Government of New Hampshire
The State of New Hampshire has a republican form of government modeled after the Government of the United States, with three branches: the executive, consisting of the Governor of New Hampshire and the other elected constitutional officers; the ...
.)
The state's sole appellate court is the
New Hampshire Supreme Court
The New Hampshire Supreme Court is the supreme court of the U. S. state of New Hampshire and sole appellate court of the state. The Supreme Court is seated in the state capital, Concord. The Court is composed of a Chief Justice and four Associate ...
. The
Superior Court
In common law systems, a superior court is a court of general jurisdiction over civil and criminal legal cases. A superior court is "superior" in relation to a court with limited jurisdiction (see small claims court), which is restricted to civil ...
is the court of general jurisdiction and the only court which provides for jury trials in
civil
Civil may refer to:
*Civic virtue, or civility
*Civil action, or lawsuit
* Civil affairs
*Civil and political rights
*Civil disobedience
*Civil engineering
*Civil (journalism), a platform for independent journalism
*Civilian, someone not a membe ...
or
criminal
In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Can ...
cases. The other state courts are the
Probate Court
A probate court (sometimes called a surrogate court) is a court that has competence in a jurisdiction to deal with matters of probate and the Administration of an estate on death, administration of estates. In some jurisdictions, such courts ma ...
,
District Court, and the
Family Division
The High Court of Justice in London, known properly as His Majesty's High Court of Justice in England, together with the Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, are the Senior Courts of England and Wales. Its name is abbreviated as EWHC (England ...
.
Local government
New Hampshire has
10 counties and
234 cities and towns.
New Hampshire is a
"Dillon Rule" state, meaning the state retains all powers not specifically granted to municipalities. Even so, the legislature strongly favors local control, particularly concerning land use regulations. New Hampshire municipalities are classified as
towns
A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world.
Origin and use
The word "town" shares an ori ...
or cities, which differ primarily by the form of government. Most towns generally operate on the
town meeting
Town meeting is a form of local government in which most or all of the members of a community are eligible to legislate policy and budgets for local government. It is a town- or city-level meeting in which decisions are made, in contrast with ...
form of government, where the registered voters in the town act as the town legislature, and a
board of selectmen acts as the executive of the town. Larger towns and the state's thirteen cities operate either on a
council–manager or
council–mayor form of government. There is no difference, from the state government's point of view, between towns and cities besides the form of government. All state-level statutes treat all municipalities identically.
New Hampshire has a small number of
unincorporated area
An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...
s that are titled as grants, locations, purchases, or townships. These locations have limited to no self-government, and services are generally provided for them by neighboring towns or the county or state where needed. As of the 2000 census, there were 25 of these left in New Hampshire, accounting for a total population of 173 people (); several were entirely depopulated. All but two of these unincorporated areas are in
Coos County.
Politics
New Hampshire is socially liberal like the rest of
New England
New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
, and is the
least religious state in the Union as of a 2016 Gallup poll.
Yet the
Live Free or Die
"Live Free or Die" is the official motto of the U.S. state of New Hampshire, adopted by the state in 1945. It is possibly the best-known of all state mottos, partly because it conveys an assertive independence historically found in American po ...
state has also long had a great disdain for state taxation and state
bureaucracy
The term bureaucracy () refers to a body of non-elected governing officials as well as to an administrative policy-making group. Historically, a bureaucracy was a government administration managed by departments staffed with non-elected offi ...
. As of 2021, New Hampshire has a Republican Governor (
Chris Sununu
Christopher Thomas Sununu ( ; born November 5, 1974) is an American politician and engineer who has served as the 82nd governor of New Hampshire since 2017. A member of the Republican Party, Sununu was a member of the New Hampshire Executive Co ...
), a Republican
New Hampshire Senate
The New Hampshire Senate has been meeting since 1784. It is the upper house of the New Hampshire General Court, alongside the lower New Hampshire House of Representatives. It consists of 24 members representing Senate districts based on population ...
and a Republican
New Hampshire House of Representatives
The New Hampshire House of Representatives is the lower house in the New Hampshire General Court, the bicameral legislature of the state of New Hampshire. The House of Representatives consists of 400 members coming from 204 legislative district ...
, and is one of nine states (the only one of the
American Northeast
The Northeastern United States, also referred to as the Northeast, the East Coast, or the American Northeast, is a geographic region of the United States. It is located on the Atlantic coast of North America, with Canada to its north, the Southe ...
) to have no general
state income tax
In addition to federal income tax collected by the United States, most individual U.S. states collect a state income tax. Some local governments also impose an income tax, often based on state income tax calculations. Forty-two states and many ...
imposed on individuals.
The
Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to:
*Democratic Party (United States)
Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to:
Active parties Africa
*Botswana Democratic Party
*Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea
*Gabonese Democratic Party
*Demo ...
and the
Republican Party, in that order, are the two largest parties in the state. A plurality of voters are registered as undeclared, and can choose either ballot in the primary and then regain their undeclared status after voting. The
Libertarian Party
Active parties by country
Defunct parties by country
Organizations associated with Libertarian parties
See also
* Liberal parties by country
* List of libertarian organizations
* Lists of political parties
Lists of political part ...
had official party status from 1990 to 1996 and from 2016 to 2018. A movement known as the
Free State Project
The Free State Project (FSP) is an American political migration movement founded in 2001 to recruit at least 20,000 libertarians to move to a single low-population state (New Hampshire was selected in 2003) in order to make the state a stronghold ...
suggests libertarians move to the state to concentrate their power. As of February 1, 2022, there were 869,339 registered voters, of whom 327,365 (37.66%) did not declare a political party affiliation, 276,206 (31.77%) were Democratic, and 265,768 (30.57%) were Republican.
New Hampshire primary
![Alumni Hall 1889 Sun](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/60/Alumni_Hall_1889_Sun.jpg)
New Hampshire is internationally known for the
New Hampshire primary
The New Hampshire presidential primary is the first in a series of nationwide party primary elections and the second party contest (the first being the Iowa caucuses) held in the United States every four years as part of the process of choosi ...
, the first
primary
Primary or primaries may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels
* Primary (band), from Australia
* Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea
* Primary Music, Israeli record label
Works
* ...
in the quadrennial American presidential election cycle. State law requires that the Secretary of State schedule this election at least one week before any "similar event". While the
Iowa caucus
The Iowa caucuses are biennial electoral events for members of the Democratic and Republican parties in the U.S. state of Iowa. Unlike primary elections in most other U.S. states, where registered voters go to polling places to cast ballot ...
precedes the New Hampshire primary, the New Hampshire election is the nation's first contest that uses the same procedure as the general election, draws more attention than those in other states, and has been decisive in shaping the national contest.
State law permits a town with fewer than 100 residents to open its polls at midnight and close when all registered citizens have cast their ballots. As such, the communities of
Dixville Notch Dixville may refer to:
*Dixville, New Hampshire
Dixville is a township in Coös County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 4 as of the 2020 census, down from 12 at the 2010 census. In New Hampshire, locations, grants, townships ( ...
in
Coos County and
Hart's Location in
Carroll County, among others, have chosen to implement these provisions. Dixville Notch and Hart's Location are traditionally the first places in both New Hampshire and the U.S. to vote in presidential primaries and elections.
Nominations for all other partisan offices are decided in a separate
primary election
Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the ...
. In Presidential election cycles, this is the second primary election held in New Hampshire.
Saint Anselm College
Saint Anselm College is a private Benedictine liberal arts college in Goffstown, New Hampshire. Founded in 1889, it is the third-oldest Catholic college in New England. Named for Saint Anselm of Canterbury (Archbishop of Canterbury from 1093 to ...
in
Goffstown has become a popular campaign spot for politicians as well as several national presidential debates because of its proximity to
Manchester-Boston Regional Airport.
Elections
![Dartmouth College campus - Democratic Presidential Candidates Debate 51](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fc/Dartmouth_College_campus_-_Democratic_Presidential_Candidates_Debate_51.jpg)
In the past, New Hampshire has often voted Republican. Between 1856 and 1988, New Hampshire cast its electoral votes for the Democratic presidential ticket six times:
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of ...
(twice),
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
(three times), and
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...
(once).
Beginning in 1992, New Hampshire became a
swing state
In American politics, the term swing state (also known as battleground state or purple state) refers to any state that could reasonably be won by either the Democratic or Republican candidate in a statewide election, most often referring to pre ...
in national and local elections, and in that time has supported Democrats in all presidential elections except 2000. It was the only state in the country to switch from supporting Republican
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
in the
2000 election to supporting his Democratic challenger in the
2004 election, when
John Kerry
John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician and diplomat who currently serves as the first United States special presidential envoy for climate. A member of the Forbes family and the Democratic Party (Unite ...
, a senator from neighboring Massachusetts, won the state.
The Democrats dominated elections in New Hampshire in 2006 and 2008. In 2006, Democrats won both congressional seats (electing
Carol Shea-Porter in the first district and
Paul Hodes
Paul William Hodes (born March 21, 1951) is an American lawyer, musician, and former U.S. Representative for , serving from 2007 to 2011. He is a member of the Democratic Party, and was New Hampshire's first Jewish representative.
Hodes was an u ...
in the second), re-elected Governor
John Lynch, and gained a majority on the Executive Council and in both houses for the first time since 1911. Democrats had not held both the legislature and the governorship since 1874. Neither U.S. Senate seat was up for a vote in 2006. In 2008, Democrats retained their majorities, governorship, and Congressional seats; and former governor
Jeanne Shaheen
Cynthia Jeanne Shaheen ( ; née Bowers, born January 28, 1947) is an American retired educator and politician serving as the senior United States senator from New Hampshire since 2009. A member of the Democratic Party, Shaheen served as the 78th ...
defeated incumbent Republican
John E. Sununu for the U.S. Senate in a rematch of the 2002 contest.
The 2008 elections resulted in women holding a majority, 13 of the 24 seats, in the New Hampshire Senate, a first for any legislative body in the United States.
In the 2010 midterm elections, Republicans made historic gains in New Hampshire, capturing veto-proof majorities in the state legislature, taking all five seats in the Executive Council, electing a new U.S. senator,
Kelly Ayotte
Kelly Ann Ayotte ( ; born June 27, 1968) is an American attorney and politician who served as a United States senator from New Hampshire from 2011 to 2017. A member of the Republican Party, Ayotte served as New Hampshire Attorney General from ...
, winning both U.S. House seats, and reducing the margin of victory of incumbent Governor
John Lynch compared to his 2006 and 2008 landslide wins.
In the 2012 state legislative elections, Democrats took back the
New Hampshire House of Representatives
The New Hampshire House of Representatives is the lower house in the New Hampshire General Court, the bicameral legislature of the state of New Hampshire. The House of Representatives consists of 400 members coming from 204 legislative district ...
and narrowed the Republican majority in the
New Hampshire Senate
The New Hampshire Senate has been meeting since 1784. It is the upper house of the New Hampshire General Court, alongside the lower New Hampshire House of Representatives. It consists of 24 members representing Senate districts based on population ...
to 13–11. In 2012, New Hampshire became the first state in U.S. history to elect an all-female federal delegation: Democratic Congresswomen
Carol Shea-Porter of
Congressional District 1 and
Ann McLane Kuster
Ann L. McLane Kuster (born September 5, 1956) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the U.S. representative for since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously worked as a lobbyist.
Early life and education
Kuster was b ...
of
Congressional District 2 accompanied U.S. Senators
Jeanne Shaheen
Cynthia Jeanne Shaheen ( ; née Bowers, born January 28, 1947) is an American retired educator and politician serving as the senior United States senator from New Hampshire since 2009. A member of the Democratic Party, Shaheen served as the 78th ...
and
Kelly Ayotte
Kelly Ann Ayotte ( ; born June 27, 1968) is an American attorney and politician who served as a United States senator from New Hampshire from 2011 to 2017. A member of the Republican Party, Ayotte served as New Hampshire Attorney General from ...
in 2013. Further, the state elected its second female governor: Democrat
Maggie Hassan
Margaret Coldwell Hassan (; née Wood; born February 27, 1958) is an American politician and attorney serving as the junior United States senator from New Hampshire. A Democrat, Hassan was elected to the Senate in 2016 while serving as the 81st ...
.
In the 2014 elections, Republicans retook the
New Hampshire House of Representatives
The New Hampshire House of Representatives is the lower house in the New Hampshire General Court, the bicameral legislature of the state of New Hampshire. The House of Representatives consists of 400 members coming from 204 legislative district ...
with a 239–160 majority and expanded their majority in the
New Hampshire Senate
The New Hampshire Senate has been meeting since 1784. It is the upper house of the New Hampshire General Court, alongside the lower New Hampshire House of Representatives. It consists of 24 members representing Senate districts based on population ...
to 14 of the Senate's 24 seats. On the national level, incumbent Democratic Senator
Jeanne Shaheen
Cynthia Jeanne Shaheen ( ; née Bowers, born January 28, 1947) is an American retired educator and politician serving as the senior United States senator from New Hampshire since 2009. A member of the Democratic Party, Shaheen served as the 78th ...
defeated her Republican challenger, former Massachusetts senator
Scott Brown Scott Brown may refer to:
Sportsmen
*Scott Brown (American football), American college football coach of Kentucky State
* Scott Brown (baseball) (born 1956), former Major League Baseball pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds
*Scott Brown (footballer, bor ...
. New Hampshire also elected
Frank Guinta
Frank Christopher Guinta (born September 26, 1970) is an American businessman and politician who represented New Hampshire's 1st congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 2011 to 2013 and 2015 to 2017. A member of t ...
(R) for its First Congressional District representative and
Ann Kuster (D) for its Second Congressional District representative.
In the 2016 elections, Republicans held the
New Hampshire House of Representatives
The New Hampshire House of Representatives is the lower house in the New Hampshire General Court, the bicameral legislature of the state of New Hampshire. The House of Representatives consists of 400 members coming from 204 legislative district ...
with a majority of 220–175 and held onto their 14 seats in the
New Hampshire Senate
The New Hampshire Senate has been meeting since 1784. It is the upper house of the New Hampshire General Court, alongside the lower New Hampshire House of Representatives. It consists of 24 members representing Senate districts based on population ...
. In the gubernatorial race, retiring Governor
Maggie Hassan
Margaret Coldwell Hassan (; née Wood; born February 27, 1958) is an American politician and attorney serving as the junior United States senator from New Hampshire. A Democrat, Hassan was elected to the Senate in 2016 while serving as the 81st ...
was succeeded by Republican
Chris Sununu
Christopher Thomas Sununu ( ; born November 5, 1974) is an American politician and engineer who has served as the 82nd governor of New Hampshire since 2017. A member of the Republican Party, Sununu was a member of the New Hampshire Executive Co ...
, who defeated Democratic nominee
Colin Van Ostern
Colin Van Ostern (born Kevin Colin O’Loughlin; February 14, 1979), is an American businessman and politician who served on the New Hampshire Executive Council from 2013 to 2017, where he represented the state's second district. He is a member o ...
. Sununu became the state's first Republican governor since
, who left office in 2005 following defeat by
John Lynch. Republicans control the governor's office and both chambers of the state legislature, a governing trifecta in which the Republicans have full governing power. In the presidential race, the state voted for the Democratic nominee, former
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...
over the Republican nominee, Donald Trump, by a margin of 2,736 votes, or 0.3%, one of the closest results the state has ever seen in a presidential race, while Libertarian nominee
Gary Johnson
Gary Earl Johnson (born January 1, 1953) is an American businessman, author, and politician. He served as the 29th governor of New Mexico from 1995 to 2003 as a member of the Republican Party. He was the Libertarian Party nominee for Presid ...
received 4.12% of the vote. The Democrats also won a competitive race in the Second Congressional District, as well as a competitive senate race. New Hampshire's congressional delegation currently consists of exclusively Democrats. In the
116th United States Congress
The 116th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the Senate and the House of Representatives. It convened in Washington, D.C., on January 3, 2019, and ended on Januar ...
, it is one of only seven states with an entirely Democratic delegation, five of which are in New England (the others are Delaware and Hawaii).
Free State Project
The
Free State Project
The Free State Project (FSP) is an American political migration movement founded in 2001 to recruit at least 20,000 libertarians to move to a single low-population state (New Hampshire was selected in 2003) in order to make the state a stronghold ...
(FSP) is a movement founded in 2001 to recruit at least 20,000 libertarians to move to a single low-population state (New Hampshire, was selected in 2003), in order to concentrate
libertarian
Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's e ...
activism around a single region. The Free State Project emphasizes decentralized decision making, encouraging new movers and prior residents of New Hampshire to participate in a way the individual mover deems most appropriate. For example, as of 2017, there were 17 so called "Free Staters" elected to the New Hampshire House of Representatives, and in 2021, the
New Hampshire Liberty Alliance, which ranks bills and elected representatives based on their adherence to what they see as libertarian principles, scored 150 representatives as "A-" or above rated representatives. Participants also engage with other like-minded activist groups such as Rebuild New Hampshire,
Young Americans for Liberty
Young Americans for Liberty (YAL) is a libertarian, classical liberal and Conservatism in the United States, conservative student activism organization headquartered in Austin, Texas. Formed in 2008 in the aftermath of the Ron Paul 2008 presiden ...
, and
Americans for Prosperity
Americans for Prosperity (AFP), founded in 2004, is a libertarian conservative political advocacy group in the United States funded by Charles Koch and formerly his brother David. As the Koch brothers' primary political advocacy group, it is one ...
. As of April 2022, approximately 6,232 participants have moved to New Hampshire for the Free State Project.
Transportation
Highways
New Hampshire has a well-maintained, well-signed network of
Interstate highways
The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly known as the Interstate Highway System, is a network of controlled-access highways that forms part of the National Highway System in the United States. Th ...
, U.S. highways, and state highways. State highway markers still depict the
Old Man of the Mountain
The Old Man of the Mountain, also called the Great Stone Face and the Profile, was a series of five granite cliff ledges on Cannon Mountain in Franconia, New Hampshire, United States, that appeared to be the jagged profile of a human face when ...
despite that rock formation's demise in 2003. Several route numbers align with the same route numbers in neighboring states. State highway numbering is arbitrary, with no overall system as with U.S. and Interstate systems. Major routes include:
*
Interstate 89
Interstate 89 (I-89) is an Interstate Highway in the New England region of the United States traveling from Bow, New Hampshire, to the Canadian border between Highgate Springs, Vermont, and Saint-Armand, Quebec. As with all odd-numbered ...
runs northwest from near
Concord
Concord may refer to:
Meaning "agreement"
* Pact or treaty, frequently between nations (indicating a condition of harmony)
* Harmony, in music
* Agreement (linguistics), a change in the form of a word depending on grammatical features of other ...
to
Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...
on the
Vermont
Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...
border.
*
Interstate 93
Interstate 93 (I-93) is an Interstate Highway in the New England states of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont in the United States. Spanning approximately along a north–south axis, it is one of three primary Interstate Highways ...
is the main Interstate highway in New Hampshire and runs north from
Salem (on the Massachusetts border) to
Littleton (on the Vermont border). I-93 connects the more densely populated southern part of the state to the Lakes Region and the White Mountains further to the north.
*
Interstate 95
Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from U.S. Route 1, US Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Miami, Florida, to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between M ...
runs north–south briefly along New Hampshire's seacoast to serve the city of
Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council.
Portsmouth is the most dens ...
, before entering
Maine
Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...
*
U.S. Route 1
U.S. Route 1 or U.S. Highway 1 (US 1) is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway that serves the East Coast of the United States. It runs from Key West, Florida, north to Fort Kent, Maine, at the Canadian border, making i ...
runs north–south briefly along New Hampshire's seacoast to the east of and paralleling I-95.
*
U.S. Route 2
U.S. Route 2 or U.S. Highway 2 (US 2) is an east–west United States Numbered Highways, U.S. Highway spanning across the northern continental United States. US 2 consists of two segments connected by various roadways in southern ...
runs east–west through
Coos County from Maine, intersecting
Route 16, skirting 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 ...
passing through
Jefferson Jefferson may refer to:
Names
* Jefferson (surname)
* Jefferson (given name)
People
* Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826), third president of the United States
* Jefferson (footballer, born 1970), full name Jefferson Tomaz de Souza, Brazilian foo ...
and into Vermont.
*
U.S. Route 3
U.S. Route 3 (US 3) is a United States highway running from Cambridge, Massachusetts, through New Hampshire, to the Canada–US border near Third Connecticut Lake, where it connects to Quebec Route 257.
Massachusetts Route 3 connects to ...
is the longest numbered route in the state, and the only one to run completely through the state from the Massachusetts border to the Canada–U.S. border. It generally parallels
Interstate 93
Interstate 93 (I-93) is an Interstate Highway in the New England states of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont in the United States. Spanning approximately along a north–south axis, it is one of three primary Interstate Highways ...
. South of Manchester, it takes a more westerly route through
Nashua Nashua may refer to:
* Nashaway people, Native American tribe living in 17th-century New England
Places
In Australia:
* Nashua, New South Wales
In the United States:
* Nashua, California
* Nashua, Iowa
* Nashua, Minnesota
* Nashua, Kansas City ...
. North of Franconia Notch, U.S.3 takes a more easterly route, before terminating at the Canada–U.S. border.
*
U.S. Route 4
U.S. Route 4 (US 4) is a long United States highway that runs from East Greenbush, New York, in the west to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in the east, traversing Vermont.
In New York, US 4 is signed North-South to reflect its alignment in the s ...
terminates at the
Portsmouth Traffic Circle
The Portsmouth Traffic Circle is a four-point rotary in the city of Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
Description
The southern exit of the circle provides access to Interstate 95 north and south, although only northbound I-95 traffic enters here. The e ...
and runs east–west across the southern part of the state connecting
Durham Durham most commonly refers to:
*Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham
*County Durham, an English county
* Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States
*Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...
, Concord,
Boscawen, and Lebanon.
*
New Hampshire Route 16
New Hampshire Route 16 (NH 16) is a , north–south state highway in New Hampshire, United States, the main road connecting the Seacoast region to the Lakes Region and the White Mountains. Much of its length is close to the border with Maine. ...
is a major north–south highway in the eastern part of the state that generally parallels the border with
Maine
Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...
, eventually entering Maine as Maine Route 16. The southernmost portion of NH 16 is a four-lane freeway, co-signed with U.S. Route4.
*
New Hampshire Route 101
New Hampshire Route 101 (NH 101) is a state-maintained highway in southern New Hampshire extending from Keene to Hampton Beach. It is the major east–west highway in the southern portion of the state.
The western terminus of NH 101 is in Keene ...
is a major east–west highway in the southern part of the state that connects
Keene with
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
and the Seacoast region. East of Manchester, NH 101 is a four-lane, limited-access highway that runs to
Hampton Beach and I-95.
Air
![Manchester-Boston Regional Airport Aerial Photograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f5/Manchester-Boston_Regional_Airport_Aerial_Photograph.jpg)
New Hampshire has 25 public-use airports, three with some scheduled commercial passenger service. The busiest airport by number of passengers handled is
Manchester-Boston Regional Airport in Manchester and
Londonderry, which serves the
Greater Boston
Greater Boston is the metropolitan region of New England encompassing the municipality of Boston (the capital of the U.S. state of Massachusetts and the most populous city in New England) and its surrounding areas. The region forms the northern ar ...
metropolitan area.
Public transportation
Long-distance intercity passenger rail service is provided by
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...
's ''
Vermonter
Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the n ...
'' and ''
Downeaster'' lines.
Greyhound
The English Greyhound, or simply the Greyhound, is a breed of dog, a sighthound which has been bred for coursing, greyhound racing and hunting. Since the rise in large-scale adoption of retired racing Greyhounds, the breed has seen a resurge ...
,
Concord Coach
The Concord coach is a type of horse-drawn Coach (carriage), coach, often used as stagecoaches, mailcoaches, and hotel coaches. The term was first used for the coaches built by coach-builder J. Stephen Abbot and wheelwright Lewis Downing of the A ...
,
Vermont Translines
Vermont Translines is an intercity bus company founded by its parent company, charter bus company Premier Coach, in 2013. The bus company mainly serves the US Route 7 in Vermont, US Route 7 and US Route 4 in Vermont, US Route 4 corridors in the N ...
, and Dartmouth Coach all provide intercity bus connections to and from points in New Hampshire and to long-distance points beyond and in between.
, Boston-centered
MBTA Commuter Rail
The MBTA Commuter Rail system serves as the commuter rail arm of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority's transportation coverage of Greater Boston in the United States. Trains run over of track to 141 different stations, with 58 statio ...
services reach only as far as northern Massachusetts. The
New Hampshire Rail Transit Authority is working to extend "Capital Corridor" service from
Lowell, Massachusetts
Lowell () is a city in Massachusetts, in the United States. Alongside Cambridge, It is one of two traditional seats of Middlesex County. With an estimated population of 115,554 in 2020, it was the fifth most populous city in Massachusetts as of ...
, to Nashua, Concord, and Manchester, including
Manchester-Boston Regional Airport; and "Coastal Corridor" service from
Haverhill, Massachusetts
Haverhill ( ) is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. Haverhill is located 35 miles north of Boston on the New Hampshire border and about 17 miles from the Atlantic Ocean. The population was 67,787 at the 2020 United States Cen ...
, to
Plaistow, New Hampshire
Plaistow (, ) is a town in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 7,830 at the 2020 census.
History
Plaistow was officially established as a town in 1749 after the 1739 resolution ...
. Legislation in 2007 created the
New Hampshire Rail Transit Authority (NHRTA) with the goal of overseeing the development of commuter rail in the state of New Hampshire. In 2011, Governor John Lynch vetoed HB 218, a bill passed by Republican lawmakers, which would have drastically curtailed the powers and responsibilities of NHRTA. The I-93 Corridor transit study suggested a rail alternative along the
Manchester and Lawrence branch line which could provide freight and passenger service. This rail corridor would also have access to Manchester-Boston Regional Airport.
Eleven public transit authorities operate local and regional bus services around the state, and eight private carriers operate express bus services which link with the national intercity bus network.
The
New Hampshire Department of Transportation
The New Hampshire Department of Transportation (NHDOT) is a government agency of the U.S. state of New Hampshire. The Commissioner of NHDOT is Victoria Sheehan. The main office of the NHDOT is located in the J. O. Morton Building in Concord.
F ...
operates a statewide ride-sharing match service, in addition to independent ride matching and guaranteed ride home programs.
Tourist railroad
A heritage railway or heritage railroad (US usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) i ...
s include the
Conway Scenic Railroad
The Conway Scenic Railroad is a heritage railroad in North Conway, New Hampshire, United States, owned by Profile Mountain Holdings Corp. The railroad operates over two historic railway routes: a line from North Conway to Conway that was for ...
,
Hobo-Winnipesaukee Railroad
The Plymouth & Lincoln Railroad is a class III shortline railroad operating on the Concord- Lincoln rail line in central New Hampshire, United States. The railroad consists of two distinct passenger operations, the Hobo Railroad, which offers pa ...
, and the
Mount Washington Cog Railway
The Mount Washington Cog Railway, also known as the Cog, is the world's first mountain-climbing Rack railway, cog railway (rack-and-pinion railway). The railway climbs Mount Washington in New Hampshire, United States. It uses a Rack railway#Mars ...
.
Freight railways
Freight railways in New Hampshire include
Claremont & Concord Railroad (CCRR),
Pan Am Railways
Pan Am Railways, Inc. (PAR) is a subsidiary of CSX Corporation that operates Class II regional railroads covering northern New England from Mattawamkeag, Maine, to Rotterdam Junction, New York. Pan Am Railways is primarily made up of former Clas ...
via subsidiary Springfield Terminal Railway (ST), the
New England Central Railroad
The New England Central Railroad is a regional railroad in the New England region of the United States. It began operations in 1995, as the successor of the Central Vermont Railway (CV). The company was originally a subsidiary of holding compa ...
(NHCR), the
St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad
The St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad , known as St-Laurent et Atlantique Quebec in Canada, is a short-line railway operating between Portland, Maine, on the Atlantic Ocean, and Montreal, Quebec, on the St. Lawrence River. It crosses the C ...
(SLR), and
New Hampshire Northcoast Corporation
The New Hampshire Northcoast Corporation is a Class III railroad owned by Boston Sand & Gravel and offering freight service in parts of New Hampshire and Massachusetts in the United States. The company owns of the former Boston and Maine Cor ...
(NHN).
Education
High schools
The first public high schools in the state were the Boys' High School and the Girls' High School of
Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council.
Portsmouth is the most dens ...
, established either in 1827 or 1830 depending on the source.
New Hampshire has more than 80 public high schools, many of which serve more than one town. The largest is
Pinkerton Academy
Pinkerton Academy is a secondary school in Derry, New Hampshire, United States. It serves roughly 3,269 students, making it by far the largest high school in New Hampshire, more than 1,300 students greater than the next largest high school. Pi ...
in
Derry
Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern Irish: ) meaning 'oak grove'. The ...
, which is owned by a private non-profit organization and serves as the public high school of several neighboring towns. There are at least 30 private high schools in the state.
New Hampshire is also the home of several prestigious
university-preparatory
A college-preparatory school (usually shortened to preparatory school or prep school) is a type of secondary school. The term refers to public, private independent or parochial schools primarily designed to prepare students for higher education ...
schools, such as
Phillips Exeter Academy
(not for oneself) la, Finis Origine Pendet (The End Depends Upon the Beginning) gr, Χάριτι Θεοῦ (By the Grace of God)
, location = 20 Main Street
, city = Exeter, New Hampshire
, zipcode ...
,
St. Paul's School,
Proctor Academy
Proctor Academy is a coeducational, independent preparatory boarding school for grades 9–12 located on in Andover, New Hampshire. There are about 370 students.
History
Origin
Proctor Academy first began as Andover Academy, established in 1 ...
,
Brewster Academy
)
, established =
, type = Independent boarding school
, gender = Co-educational
, head_name = Head of School
, head = Kristy Kerin
, chair_label = Chair of Trustees
, chair = R C Ballentine Esq
, city = ...
, and
Kimball Union Academy
Kimball Union Academy is a private boarding school located in New Hampshire. Founded in 1813, it is the 22nd oldest boarding school in the United States. The academy's mission is to "create a deep sense of belonging for every member of our commu ...
.
In 2008 the state tied with Massachusetts as having the highest scores on the SAT and ACT standardized tests given to high school students.
Colleges and universities
*
Antioch University New England
Antioch University New England is a private graduate school located in Keene, New Hampshire, United States. It is part of the Antioch University system, a private, non-profit, 501(c)(3) institution that includes campuses in Seattle, Washington; L ...
*
Colby-Sawyer College
*
Community College System of New Hampshire
The Community College System of New Hampshire (previously New Hampshire Community Technical Colleges (NHCTC) and prior to that New Hampshire Vocational Technical Colleges (NHVTC)) is an organization of seven public community colleges located thro ...
:
**
Great Bay Community College
Great Bay Community College (GBCC) is a public community college in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. It is part of the Community College System of New Hampshire and is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education. The main campus is in ...
**
Lakes Region Community College
Lakes Region Community College (LRCC) is a public community college in Laconia, New Hampshire. It is part of the Community College System of New Hampshire.
Academics
The college offers 29 associate degree programs in fields such as Nursing, Fir ...
**
Manchester Community College
**
Nashua Community College
Nashua Community College (NCC) is a public community college in Nashua, New Hampshire. It is part of the Community College System of New Hampshire. Enrollment was 2,422 students in 2013 and 1,798 students in 2017, most of them part-time.
History ...
**
NHTI, Concord's Community College
**
River Valley Community College
River Valley Community College (RVCC) is a public community college with campuses in Claremont, Keene, and Lebanon, New Hampshire. It is part of the Community College System of New Hampshire and is accredited by the New England Commission of Hi ...
**
White Mountains Community College
White Mountains Community College (WMCC) is a public community college with its main campus in Berlin, New Hampshire, and academic centers in Littleton and North Conway. It is part of the Community College System of New Hampshire.
History
The ...
*
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...
**
Tuck School of Business
The Tuck School of Business (also known as Tuck, and formally known as the Amos Tuck School of Administration and Finance) is the graduate business school of Dartmouth College, a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire.
Founded in ...
**
Geisel School of Medicine
The Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth is the graduate medical school of Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. The fourth oldest medical school in the United States, it was founded in 1797 by New England physician Nathan Smith. It is o ...
**
Thayer School of Engineering
Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth (Dartmouth Engineering) offers graduate and undergraduate education in engineering sciences at Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The school was established in 1867 with funds from C ...
*
Franklin Pierce University
Franklin Pierce University is a private university in Rindge, New Hampshire. It was founded as Franklin Pierce College in 1962, combining a liberal arts foundation with coursework for professional development, professional preparation.
The scho ...
*
Hellenic American University
The Hellenic American University was founded in 2004 in Manchester, New Hampshire, United States as a private degree-granting institution of higher education by an act of the New Hampshire State Legislature. The university has instructional loc ...
*
Magdalen College of the Liberal Arts
Magdalen College of the Liberal Arts (formerly Northeast Catholic College, The College of Saint Mary Magdalen, and simply Magdalen College), is a private Catholic liberal arts college in Warner, New Hampshire. It is recognized as a Catholic ...
*
MCPHS University
Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (MCPHS) is a private university focused on medical and health-related science programs and located in Boston, Massachusetts. The university provides traditional and accelerated programs of s ...
*
New England College
New England College (NEC) is a private liberal arts college in Henniker, New Hampshire. As of Fall 2020 New England College's enrollment was 4,327 students (1,776 undergraduate and 2,551 graduate). The college is regionally accredited by the Ne ...
*
New Hampshire Institute of Art
The New Hampshire Institute of Art (NHIA) was a private art school in Manchester, New Hampshire. It was accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD) and the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) a ...
*
Rivier University
Rivier University is a private Catholic liberal arts university in Nashua, New Hampshire. Rivier is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education and approved by the New Hampshire Department of Education.
History
Rivier Universit ...
*
Saint Anselm College
Saint Anselm College is a private Benedictine liberal arts college in Goffstown, New Hampshire. Founded in 1889, it is the third-oldest Catholic college in New England. Named for Saint Anselm of Canterbury (Archbishop of Canterbury from 1093 to ...
*
Southern New Hampshire University
Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) is a private university between Manchester and Hooksett, New Hampshire. The university is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education, along with national accreditation for some hospitali ...
*
Thomas More College of Liberal Arts
The Thomas More College of Liberal Arts is a Private college, private Catholic Church, Roman Catholic liberal arts college in Merrimack, New Hampshire. It emphasizes Classical education movement, classical education in the Catholic intellectual t ...
*
University System of New Hampshire:
**
University of New Hampshire
The University of New Hampshire (UNH) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Durham, New Hampshire. It was founded and incorporated in 1866 as a land grant college in Hanover in connection with Dartmouth College, mo ...
***
University of New Hampshire School of Law
The University of New Hampshire Franklin Pierce School of Law is a public law school in Concord, New Hampshire, associated with the University of New Hampshire. It is the only law school in the state and was founded in 1973 by Robert H. Rines ...
***
University of New Hampshire at Manchester
The University of New Hampshire at Manchester (UNH Manchester) is the urban campus of the public University of New Hampshire and is located in Manchester, New Hampshire. It was established in 1985 as the sixth college of the University of New Ham ...
**
Granite State College
Granite State College was a public college in Concord, New Hampshire. It was part of the University System of New Hampshire.
In 2023, it merged into the University of New Hampshire as the University of New Hampshire at Manchester, College of Pro ...
**
Keene State College
Keene State College is a public liberal arts college in Keene, New Hampshire. It is part of the University System of New Hampshire and the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges. Founded in 1909 as a teacher's college (originally, Keene Norma ...
**
Plymouth State University
Plymouth State University (PSU), formerly Plymouth State College, is a public university in the towns of Plymouth and Holderness, New Hampshire. As of fall 2020, Plymouth State University enrolls 4,491 students (3,739 undergraduate students an ...
Media
Daily newspapers
* ''
Berlin Daily Sun''
* ''
Concord Monitor
The ''Concord Monitor'' is the daily newspaper for Concord, the state capital of New Hampshire. It also covers surrounding towns in Merrimack County, most of Belknap County, as well as portions of Grafton, Rockingham and Hillsborough counties ...
''
* ''
Conway Daily Sun''
* ''
The Dartmouth
''The Dartmouth'' is the daily student newspaper at Dartmouth College and America's oldest college newspaper. Originally named the ''Dartmouth Gazette'', the first issue was published on August 27, 1799, under the motto "Here range the world—e ...
'' of
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...
/Hanover
* ''
Eagle Times
The ''Eagle Times'' is a daily newspaper based in Claremont, New Hampshire, US, serving the Connecticut River Valley in New Hampshire and Vermont. It was published from the 1970s. It closed on July 10, 2009, and resumed publishing on October 12, ...
'' of
Claremont
* ''
Eagle Tribune'' (
Lawrence, Massachusetts
Lawrence is a city located in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, on the Merrimack River. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 89,143. Surrounding communities include Methuen to the north, Andover to the southwest, and Nort ...
area, including parts of southern New Hampshire)
* ''
Foster's Daily Democrat
''Foster's Daily Democrat'' is a six-day (Monday–Saturday) morning broadsheet newspaper published in Dover, New Hampshire, United States, covering southeast New Hampshire and southwest Maine.
In addition to its Dover headquarters, ''Foster's'' ...
'' of
Dover
Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maidstone ...
* ''
Keene Sentinel''
* ''
Laconia Citizen''
* ''
Laconia Daily Sun
''The Laconia Daily Sun'' is a five-day (Tuesday through Saturday) free morning daily newspaper published in the city of Laconia, New Hampshire, United States, covering Belknap County and the Lakes Region. Each publication day, 18,000 copies of ...
''
* ''
New Hampshire Union Leader
The ''New Hampshire Union Leader'' is a daily newspaper from Manchester, the largest city in the U.S. state of New Hampshire. On Sundays, it publishes as the ''New Hampshire Sunday News.''
Founded in 1863, the paper was best known for the conse ...
'' of
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
, formerly known as the ''Manchester Union-Leader''
* ''
The Portsmouth Herald
''The Portsmouth Herald'' (and ''Seacoast Weekend'') is a six-day daily newspaper serving greater Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Its coverage area also includes the municipalities of Greenland, New Castle, Newington and Rye, New Hampshire; and El ...
''
* ''
The Telegraph
''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include:
Australia
* ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...
'' of
Nashua Nashua may refer to:
* Nashaway people, Native American tribe living in 17th-century New England
Places
In Australia:
* Nashua, New South Wales
In the United States:
* Nashua, California
* Nashua, Iowa
* Nashua, Minnesota
* Nashua, Kansas City ...
* ''
The Sun'' (
Lowell, Massachusetts
Lowell () is a city in Massachusetts, in the United States. Alongside Cambridge, It is one of two traditional seats of Middlesex County. With an estimated population of 115,554 in 2020, it was the fifth most populous city in Massachusetts as of ...
area, including parts of southern New Hampshire)
* ''
Valley News
The ''Valley News'' (and ''Sunday Valley News'') is a seven-day morning daily newspaper based in Lebanon, New Hampshire, covering the Upper Valley region of New Hampshire and Vermont, in the United States.
Although the newspaper's offices are i ...
'' of
Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...
Other publications
* ''
Area News Group''
* ''Business New Hampshire Magazine''
* ''The Cabinet Press''
**
Milford Cabinet
The ''Milford Cabinet'' is the commonly used name for the weekly newspaper ''The Cabinet'', published in Milford, New Hampshire since 1802.
The Cabinet was published for many decades by members of the Rotch family. In 2005, ''The Telegraph'' of ...
** Bedford Journal
** Hollis/Brookline Journal
** Merrimack Journal
* ''Carriage Towne News'' (covering
Kingston and surrounding towns)
* ''
The Exeter News-Letter Seacoast Media Group is a unit of Local Media Group. Seacoast publishes five weekly newspapers and one daily, ''The Portsmouth Herald'', along the coasts of New Hampshire and York County, Maine, United States.
The group publisher is John Tabor; i ...
''
* ''
Free Keene
Keene is a city in, and the seat of Cheshire County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 23,047 at the 2020 census, down from 23,409 at the 2010 census.
Keene is home to Keene State College and Antioch University New England. It ...
''
* ''
The Hampton Union Seacoast Media Group is a unit of Local Media Group. Seacoast publishes five weekly newspapers and one daily, ''The Portsmouth Herald'', along the coasts of New Hampshire and York County, Maine, United States.
The group publisher is John Tabor; it ...
''
* ''
Hippo Press
HippoPress is the publisher of the free weekly newspaper ''Hippo'', based in Manchester, New Hampshire. ''Hippo'', which is independently owned by Jody Reese, Jeff Rapsis and Dan Szczesny, started in January 2001. In 2004 it launched a second ed ...
'' (covering Manchester, Nashua, and Concord)
* ''
Manchester Express The ''Manchester Express'' was a free newspaper serving Manchester, New Hampshire, United States. The paper began publication as ''The Manchester Daily Express'' on May 22, 2006, and was published five days a week until February 27, 2008. The paper ...
''
* ''Manchester Ink Link''
* ''
The New Hampshire
''The New Hampshire'' (commonly known as ''TNH'') is the student-run news of the University of New Hampshire (UNH) since 1911. ''TNH'' operates from its headquarters in the Memorial Union Building, covering student life and doings for the colle ...
'' (University of New Hampshire student newspaper)
* ''
New Hampshire Business Review
''New Hampshire Business Review'' is a bi-monthly publication, published on newsprint and based in Manchester, covering business-related issues in New Hampshire.
''New Hampshire Business Review'' started in 1978, and was purchased from the Madde ...
''
* ''
New Hampshire Free Press''
* ''
The New Hampshire Gazette'' (Portsmouth alternative biweekly)
* ''NH Living Magazine''
*
NH Rocks'
*
NH Roots'
* ''Salmon Press Newspapers'' (family of weekly newspapers covering Lakes Region & North Country)
* ''
The Liberty Block
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
''
Radio stations
Television stations
*
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
affiliate
WMUR, Channel 9, Manchester
*
PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...
affiliate Channel 11, Durham (
New Hampshire Public Television
New Hampshire PBS (NHPBS), known as New Hampshire Public Television (NHPTV) prior to October 1, 2017, is a Public Broadcasting Service ( PBS) member network serving the U.S. state of New Hampshire. It is operated by New Hampshire Public Broadcas ...
); repeater stations in Keene and Littleton
*
True Crime Network
True Crime Network (formerly Justice Network) is an American digital multicast television network that is operated by True Crime Network, LLC, a limited liability company, which is owned by Tegna Inc. The network specializes in true crime, in ...
affiliate
WWJE, Channel 50, Derry/Manchester
*
Ion Television
Ion Television is an American broadcast television network owned by the Katz Broadcasting subsidiary of the E. W. Scripps Company. The network first began broadcasting on August 31, 1998, as Pax TV, focusing primarily on family-oriented enter ...
station
WPXG, Channel 21, Concord (satellite of
WBPX
WBPX-TV (channel 68) is a television station in Boston, Boston, Massachusetts, United States, airing programming from the Ion Television network. It is owned by the Ion Media subsidiary of the E. W. Scripps Company, which also owns Woburn, Mas ...
in Boston)
Sports
The following sports teams are based in New Hampshire:
The
New Hampshire Motor Speedway
New Hampshire Motor Speedway is a Oval track racing, oval speedway located in Loudon, New Hampshire, which has hosted NASCAR racing annually since 1990, as well as the longest-running motorcycle race in North America, the Loudon Classic. Nickna ...
in
Loudon is an oval track and road course that has been visited by national motorsport championship series such as the
NASCAR Cup Series
The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and from 1950 to 1970 it was known as the Grand National Division. In 1971, ...
, the NASCAR
Xfinity Series
The NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) is a stock car racing series organized by NASCAR. It is promoted as NASCAR's second-tier circuit to the organization's top level Cup Series. NXS events are frequently held as a support race on the day prior to a ...
, the NASCAR
Camping World Truck Series
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is a pickup truck racing series owned and operated by the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, and is the only series in NASCAR to race production pickup truck based stock cars. The series is one of th ...
, NASCAR
Whelen Modified Tour
The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour (NWMT) (previously the NASCAR Winston Modified Tour and NASCAR Featherlite Modified Series from 1985 until 2005) is a modified stock car racing series owned and operated by NASCAR in the Modified Division. The Mod ...
, American Canadian Tour (ACT), the Champ Car and the IndyCar Series. Other motor racing venues include Star Speedway and New England Dragway in Epping, New Hampshire, Epping, Lee USA Speedway in Lee, New Hampshire, Lee, Twin State Speedway in
Claremont, Monadnock Speedway in Winchester, New Hampshire, Winchester and Canaan Motor Club, Canaan Fair Speedway in Canaan, New Hampshire, Canaan.
New Hampshire has two universities competing at the NCAA Division I in all collegiate sports: the Dartmouth Big Green (Ivy League) and the New Hampshire Wildcats (America East Conference), as well as three NCAA Division II teams: Franklin Pierce Ravens, Saint Anselm Hawks, and Southern New Hampshire Penmen (Northeast-10 Conference). Most other schools compete in NCAA Division III or the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, NAIA.
Annually since 2002, high-school statewide all-stars compete against Vermont in 10 sports during "Twin State" playoffs.
Culture
In the spring, New Hampshire's many sugar house, sap houses hold sugaring-off open houses. In summer and early autumn, New Hampshire is home to many fair, county fairs, the largest being the Hopkinton State Fair, in Contoocook, New Hampshire, Contoocook. New Hampshire's
Lakes Region is home to many summer camps, especially around
Lake Winnipesaukee
Lake Winnipesaukee () is the largest lake in the U.S. state of New Hampshire, located in the Lakes Region at the foothills of the White Mountains. It is approximately long (northwest-southeast) and from wide (northeast-southwest), covering & ...
, and is a popular tourist destination. The Peterborough Players have performed every summer in Peterborough, New Hampshire, Peterborough since 1933. The Barnstormers Theatre in Tamworth, New Hampshire, Tamworth, founded in 1931, is one of the longest-running professional summer theaters in the United States.
In September, New Hampshire is host to the New Hampshire Highland Games. New Hampshire has also registered an official tartan with the proper authorities in Scotland, used to make kilts worn by the Lincoln, New Hampshire, Lincoln Police Department while its officers serve during the games. The autumn leaf color, fall foliage peaks in mid-October. In the winter, List of ski areas and resorts in the United States#New Hampshire, New Hampshire's ski areas and snowmobile trails attract visitors from a wide area. After the lakes freeze over they become dotted with ice fishing ice houses, known locally as bobhouses.
Funspot Family Fun Center, Funspot, the world's largest video arcade
(now termed a museum), is in
Laconia
Laconia or Lakonia ( el, Λακωνία, , ) is a historical and administrative region of Greece located on the southeastern part of the Peloponnese peninsula. Its administrative capital is Sparta. The word ''laconic''—to speak in a blunt, c ...
.
In fiction
Theater
* The fictional New Hampshire town of Grover's Corners serves as the setting of the Thornton Wilder play ''Our Town''. Grover's Corners is based, in part, on the real town of Peterborough, New Hampshire, Peterborough. Several local landmarks and nearby towns are mentioned in the text of the play, and Wilder himself spent some time in Peterborough at the MacDowell Colony, writing at least some of the play while in residence there.
Comics
* Al Capp, creator of the comic strip ''Li'l Abner'', used to joke that Dogpatch, the setting for the strip, was based on Seabrook, New Hampshire, Seabrook, where he would vacation with his wife.
Television
* In the AMC drama ''Breaking Bad'' ("Granite State (Breaking Bad), Granite State"
) series lead Walter White (Breaking Bad), Walter White escapes to a cabin in a fictional county in northern New Hampshire.
* In the sixth season of HBO hit series ''The Sopranos'', in an episode named for New Hampshire's famous slogan of "
Live Free or Die
"Live Free or Die" is the official motto of the U.S. state of New Hampshire, adopted by the state in 1945. It is possibly the best-known of all state mottos, partly because it conveys an assertive independence historically found in American po ...
", character List of The Sopranos characters#Vito Spatafore, Vito Spatafore flees New Jersey for the small fictional town of Dartford, New Hampshire, because of his inadvertently being Outing, outed as a gay man.
Notable people
Prominent individuals from New Hampshire include 14th President of the United States
Franklin Pierce
Franklin Pierce (November 23, 1804October 8, 1869) was the 14th president of the United States, serving from 1853 to 1857. He was a northern Democrat who believed that the abolitionist movement was a fundamental threat to the nation's unity ...
, Founding Fathers of the United States, founding father Nicholas Gilman, Senator Daniel Webster, American Revolutionary War, Revolutionary War hero John Stark, editor Horace Greeley, founder of the Christian Science religion Mary Baker Eddy, poet Robert Frost, astronaut Alan Shepard, rock musician Ronnie James Dio, author Dan Brown, actor Adam Sandler, inventor Dean Kamen, comedians Sarah Silverman and Seth Meyers, restaurateurs Richard and Maurice McDonald, and WWE wrestler Triple H, aka Paul Michael Levesque.
New Hampshire firsts
* On January 5, 1776, at Exeter, New Hampshire, Exeter, the Provincial Congress of New Hampshire ratified the first independent New Hampshire Constitution#1776 Constitution, constitution in the Americas, free of British rule.
* On June 12, 1800, Fernald's Island in the
Piscataqua River
The Piscataqua River (Abenaki: ''Pskehtekwis'') is a tidal river forming the boundary of the U.S. states of New Hampshire and Maine from its origin at the confluence of the Salmon Falls River and Cochecho River. The drainage basin of the river ...
became the first government-sanctioned U.S. Navy shipyard.
* Started in 1822, Dublin, New Hampshire, Dublin's Juvenile Library was the first free public library.
* In 1828, the first women's strike in the nation took place at Dover, New Hampshire, Dover's Cocheco Mills.
* Founded in 1833, the Peterborough, New Hampshire, Peterborough Town Library was the first public library, supported with public funds, in the world.
* On August 3, 1852, Center Harbor, New Hampshire, Center Harbor was the site of the first intercollegiate athletic event. Harvard University, Harvard defeated Yale University, Yale in a rowing race on
Lake Winnipesaukee
Lake Winnipesaukee () is the largest lake in the U.S. state of New Hampshire, located in the Lakes Region at the foothills of the White Mountains. It is approximately long (northwest-southeast) and from wide (northeast-southwest), covering & ...
, the first meeting in a rivalry that continues to this day.
* Finished on June 27, 1874, the first trans-Atlantic telecommunications cable between Europe and America stretched from Balinskelligs Bay, Ireland, to Rye, New Hampshire.
* On February 6, 1901, a group of nine conservationists founded the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, the first forest-conservation advocacy group in the U.S.
* In 1908, Monsignor Pierre Hevey organized the nation's first credit union, "La Caisse Populaire, Ste-Marie" (The People's Bank) in Manchester, to help mill workers save and borrow money, which is now St. Mary's Bank.
* In 1933, the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen held the first crafts fair in the nation.
* In July 1944, the Bretton Woods system, Bretton Woods Agreement, the first fully negotiated system intended to govern monetary relations among independent nation-states, was signed at the Mount Washington Hotel.
* On May 5, 1961, Alan Shepard of
Derry
Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern Irish: ) meaning 'oak grove'. The ...
rode a Mercury spacecraft and became the first American in space.
* In 1963, New Hampshire's legislature approved the nation's first modern state New Hampshire Lottery, lottery, which began play in 1964.
* In 1966, Ralph Baer of Sanders Associates, Inc., Nashua, recruited engineers to develop the first home video game.
* In January 1974 the first municipal recycling center in the US opened in Nottingham, New Hampshire, Nottingham.
* Christa McAuliffe of Concord became the first private citizen selected to venture into space. She perished with her six ''Space Shuttle Challenger, Challenger'' crewmates on January 28, 1986.
* On May 17, 1996, New Hampshire became the first state in the country to install a green Light-emitting diode, LED traffic light. New Hampshire was selected because it was the first state to install the red and yellow variety statewide.
* On May 31, 2007, New Hampshire became the first state to LGBT rights in New Hampshire, recognize same-sex unions "without a court order or the threat of one".
See also
* Outline of New Hampshire
* List of states and territories of the United States
Notes
References
Further reading
*
''Land Use in Cornish, N.H.'' a 2006 documentary presentation by James M. Patterson of the ''
Valley News
The ''Valley News'' (and ''Sunday Valley News'') is a seven-day morning daily newspaper based in Lebanon, New Hampshire, covering the Upper Valley region of New Hampshire and Vermont, in the United States.
Although the newspaper's offices are i ...
'', depicts various aspects of the societal and cultural environment of northern New Hampshire.
External links
State government
*
New Hampshire AlmanacVisitnh.gov New Hampshire Office of Travel and Tourism Development
U.S. Government
New Hampshire State Guide from the Library of CongressEnergy Facts for New HampshireNew Hampshire State Facts USDA Economic Research Service
USGS real-time, geographic, and other scientific resources of New Hampshire
Other
Internet Movie Database listing of films shot in the stateNew Hampshire Historical Society*
*
{{coord, 43.5, -71.5, dim:200000_region:US-NH_type:adm1st, name=State of New Hampshire, display=title
New Hampshire,
States of the United States
New England states
Northeastern United States
States and territories established in 1788
States of the East Coast of the United States
1788 establishments in the United States
Contiguous United States