Errol is a

town 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 ...

in Coös County,

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the nor ...

, United States. The population was 298 at the 2020 census. It is located north of the White Mountains along Route 16 at its intersection of Route 26. It has a municipal airport with a single, unpaved runway ( airport code ERR). Errol is part of the

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

, NH– VT micropolitan statistical area.

History

Main Street, Showing Church, Errol, NH (caption removed)

Errol was granted by Governor John Wentworth to Timothy Ruggles and others in 1774, the name taken from

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

James Hay, 15th Earl of Erroll James Hay, 15th Earl of Erroll (20 April 1726 – 3 July 1778) styled Lord Boyd from 1728 to 1746, was a Scottish nobleman and the son of William Boyd, 4th Earl of Kilmarnock. Early life He was born James Boyd at Falkirk on 20 April 1726. Jame ...

. In 1789, proprietors of the Errol grant petitioned the General Court that towns between Conway and Errol be required to pay for "a good connecting road". The legislature approved the measure in 1781, mandating what is today Route 16. A winter

trade route A trade route is a logistical network identified as a series of pathways and stoppages used for the commercial transport of cargo. The term can also be used to refer to trade over bodies of water. Allowing goods to reach distant markets, a sing ...

Andover, Maine Andover is a town in Oxford County, Maine, United States. The population was 752 at the 2020 census. Set among mountains and crossed by the Appalachian Trail, Andover is home to the Lovejoy Covered Bridge and was the site of the Andover Earth ...

, was built in 1804, connecting Errol to

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

by what is now Route 26. The first settlers arrived at Errol in 1806, and by 1820 the population was 36. It was incorporated in 1836. Although the soil was considered generally poor, it was suitable for

hay Hay is grass, legumes, or other herbaceous plants that have been cut and dried to be stored for use as animal fodder, either for large grazing animals raised as livestock, such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep, or for smaller domesticat ...

oat The oat (''Avena sativa''), sometimes called the common oat, is a species of cereal grain grown for its seed, which is known by the same name (usually in the plural, unlike other cereals and pseudocereals). While oats are suitable for human con ...

s and

potato The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae. Wild potato species can be found from the southern Unit ...

es. With vast forests, the town's chief occupation was

lumbering Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks or skeleton cars. Logging is the beginning of a supply chain ...

. By 1859, when the population was 130, the town had two

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes (dimensi ...

s, one

gristmill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that has been separat ...

and one

clapboard Clapboard (), also called bevel siding, lap siding, and weatherboard, with regional variation in the definition of these terms, is wooden siding of a building in the form of horizontal boards, often overlapping. ''Clapboard'' in modern Americ ...

machine.

Geography

According to the

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

, the town has a total area of , of which are land and are water, comprising 13.09% of the town. The

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

begins in Errol, where the

Magalloway River The Magalloway River is a river in northwestern Maine and northern New Hampshire in the United States. It is a tributary of the Androscoggin River, which flows to the Kennebec River at Merrymeeting Bay in Maine, near the Atlantic Ocean. The total ...

joins the outlet of

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 ...

. The town's elevation reaches above

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

atop a bump above Signal Pond near the town's western boundary. Errol lies fully within the

watershed. The town is served by state routes 16 and 26. NH Route 16 extends north towards the township of Wentworth Location, and it extends south through Dummer and

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

into the city of

. NH Route 26 extends east towards the township of

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, 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. Cam ...

and eventually into

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 ...

. It extends west through Dixville Notch to the town of Colebrook.

Climate

This

climatic Climate is the long-term weather pattern in an area, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteorological ...

region has large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and cold (sometimes severely cold) winters. According to the

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 ...

system, Errol has 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 ...

, abbreviated "Dfb" on climate maps.Climate Summary for Errol, New Hampshire
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Demographics

At the 2000 census there were 298 people, 137 households, and 90 families living in the town. The population density was 4.9 people per square mile (1.9/km). There were 447 housing units at an average density of 7.3 per square mile (2.8/km). The

racial makeup A race is a categorization of humans based on shared physical or social qualities into groups generally viewed as distinct within a given society. The term came into common usage during the 1500s, when it was used to refer to groups of variou ...

of the town was 98.66% White, 0.34% Pacific Islander, 0.67% from other races, and 0.34% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.01%. Of the 137 households 19.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 60.6% were married couples living together, 2.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.3% were non-families. 24.8% of households were one person and 9.5% were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 2.15 and the average family size was 2.56. The age distribution was 16.4% under the age of 18, 3.4% from 18 to 24, 27.5% from 25 to 44, 35.2% from 45 to 64, and 17.4% 65 or older. The median age was 47 years. For every 100 females, there were 108.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 114.7 males. The median household income was $35,625 and the median family income was $47,500. Males had a median income of $37,250 versus $20,250 for females. The per capita income for the town was $22,440. About 9.8% of families and 13.1% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for t ...

, including 24.2% of those under the age of eighteen and 15.2% of those sixty five or over.

Education

Errol students in grades 7–12 are bused to Berlin Middle High School in

Sites of interest

* Androscoggin Wayside Park * Mollidgewock State Park * Umbagog Lake State Park * L. L. Cote Sports Center

References

External links

Errol Public Library

Umbagog National Wildlife Refuge

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