Alton is a
town
A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city.
The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...
in
Belknap County,
New Hampshire
New Hampshire ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...
, United States. The population was 5,894 at the
2020 census,
up from 5,250 at the
2010 census.
It is home to Alton Bay State Forest and
Mount Major
Mount Major is a mountain located in Alton, New Hampshire, Alton, New Hampshire, south of Lake Winnipesaukee and northeast of Straightback Mountain in the Belknap Range.
The scenic, rocky summit is a popular hiking destination, accessible by mu ...
State Forest.
The primary settlement in town, where 499 people resided at the 2020 census, is defined by the U.S. Census Bureau as the
Alton
Alton may refer to:
People
*Alton (given name)
* Alton (surname)
Places Australia
* Alton National Park, Queensland
* Alton, Queensland, a town in the Shire of Balonne
Canada
* Alton, Ontario
* Alton, Nova Scotia
New Zealand
* Alton, New Zeala ...
census-designated place
A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only.
CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...
(CDP) and is centered on the intersection of
New Hampshire Route 11
New Hampshire Route 11 is a east–west state highway in New Hampshire, running completely across the central part of the state. Its western terminus is at the Vermont state line in Charlestown, where it continues west as Vermont Route 11. Th ...
and
New Hampshire Route 140. The town also includes the village of
Alton Bay
Alton Bay is an unincorporated community in the town of Alton in Belknap County, New Hampshire, United States, and is located on Alton Bay, a cove of Lake Winnipesaukee which forms the southernmost point on the lake. The village is part of the ...
, a long-time resort located beside
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 & ...
.
History
Originally called "New Durham Gore" because of rocky upland areas, or "gores", the town was settled in 1770, mainly by farmers because the highland areas provided less
frost
Frost is a thin layer of ice on a solid surface, which forms from water vapor that deposits onto a freezing surface. Frost forms when the air contains more water vapor than it can normally hold at a specific temperature. The process is simila ...
. Merchants then filled the lowlands. Early Alton history recounts stories of the merchants trying to convince the farmers to incorporate. They would succeed on January 15, 1796,
[Statistics and Gazetteer of New-Hampshire (1875)](_blank)
/ref> when the community was named after Alton
Alton may refer to:
People
*Alton (given name)
* Alton (surname)
Places Australia
* Alton National Park, Queensland
* Alton, Queensland, a town in the Shire of Balonne
Canada
* Alton, Ontario
* Alton, Nova Scotia
New Zealand
* Alton, New Zeala ...
, a small market town in Hampshire
Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...
, England.
Alton was part of Strafford County until Belknap County was erected on December 22, 1840. By 1840, the village of Alton existed at the town's center. In 1847, the Cochecho Railroad began bringing passengers and freight to Alton Village and Alton Bay. By 1859, the town had two gristmill
A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that h ...
s, seven sawmill
A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, 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 ...
s, and five shoe
A shoe is an item of footwear intended to protect and comfort the human foot. Though the human foot can adapt to varied terrains and climate conditions, it is vulnerable, and shoes provide protection. Form was originally tied to function, but ...
factories. But the most famous business was the Rockwell Clough Company, established by William Rockwell Clough, inventor of the corkscrew
A corkscrew is a tool for drawing Cork (plug), corks from wine bottles and other household bottles that may be sealed with corks. In its traditional form, a corkscrew simply consists of a pointed metallic helix (often called the "worm") attach ...
. By 1903, his company was producing 30 million corkscrews worldwide.
Since the mid-19th century, however, tourism has been the principal business. In 1863, an Adventist
Adventism is a branch of Protestant Christianity that believes in the imminent Second Coming (or the "Second Advent") of Jesus Christ. It originated in the 1830s in the United States during the Second Great Awakening when Baptist preacher Willi ...
group held a camp meeting
The camp meeting is a form of Protestant Christian religious service originating in England and Scotland as an evangelical event in association with the communion season. It was held for worship, preaching and communion on the American frontier ...
at Alton Bay
Alton Bay is an unincorporated community in the town of Alton in Belknap County, New Hampshire, United States, and is located on Alton Bay, a cove of Lake Winnipesaukee which forms the southernmost point on the lake. The village is part of the ...
, which was the terminus of the Dover and Winnipiseogee Railroad. That was incorporated as the Alton Bay Camp Meeting Association (now known as ''Alton Bay Christian Conference Center'') in 1876. In 1872, the Boston & Maine Railroad
The Boston and Maine Railroad was a U.S. Class I railroad in northern New England. It was chartered in 1835, and became part of what was the Pan Am Railways network in 1983 (most of which was purchased by CSX in 2022).
At the end of 1970, B&M ...
launched at Alton Bay the steamer ''Mount Washington'', the first side-wheeler and largest vessel on Lake Winnipesaukee. When destroyed by fire in 1939, a replacement ship was found, also christened ''Mount Washington''. Today, it continues to carry summer tourists between stops on the lake. The railway survived until 1935, and the old station at Alton Bay is now a community center.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...
, the town has a total area of , of which are land and are water, comprising 23.4% of the town. Alton is located at the southern end of 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 & ...
, around the inlet known as Alton Bay. The village of Alton Bay
Alton Bay is an unincorporated community in the town of Alton in Belknap County, New Hampshire, United States, and is located on Alton Bay, a cove of Lake Winnipesaukee which forms the southernmost point on the lake. The village is part of the ...
is located at the southern tip of the bay, while the main village of Alton
Alton may refer to:
People
*Alton (given name)
* Alton (surname)
Places Australia
* Alton National Park, Queensland
* Alton, Queensland, a town in the Shire of Balonne
Canada
* Alton, Ontario
* Alton, Nova Scotia
New Zealand
* Alton, New Zeala ...
is located farther south. The town is drained by the Merrymeeting River, the main inlet to Alton Bay. Mount Major
Mount Major is a mountain located in Alton, New Hampshire, Alton, New Hampshire, south of Lake Winnipesaukee and northeast of Straightback Mountain in the Belknap Range.
The scenic, rocky summit is a popular hiking destination, accessible by mu ...
, in Mount Major State Forest, has an elevation of above sea level
Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an mean, average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal Body of water, bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical ...
. Popular with hikers, the summit offers unsurpassed views of Lake Winnipesaukee. The highest point in Alton is the north peak of Straightback Mountain, at , just west of Mount Major. Both mountains are part of the Belknap Mountains
The Belknap Mountains are a small mountain range in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire in the United States. The range lies in the towns of Gilford, Gilmanton, and Alton in Belknap County. The highest peak, Belknap Mountain, with an elevatio ...
range. Alton lies almost fully within the Merrimack River
The Merrimack River (or Merrimac River, an occasional earlier spelling) is a river in the northeastern United States. It rises at the confluence of the Pemigewasset and Winnipesaukee rivers in Franklin, New Hampshire, flows southward into M ...
watershed
Watershed may refer to:
Hydrology
* Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins
* Drainage basin, an area of land where surface water converges (North American usage)
Music
* Watershed Music Festival, an annual country ...
, though a tiny corner is in the Piscataqua River
The Piscataqua River (Abenaki language, 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 to the Atlant ...
(coastal) watershed.
The town is served by five state highways. New Hampshire Route 11
New Hampshire Route 11 is a east–west state highway in New Hampshire, running completely across the central part of the state. Its western terminus is at the Vermont state line in Charlestown, where it continues west as Vermont Route 11. Th ...
passes through the center of town, leading northwest along the shore of Lake Winnipesaukee to Gilford and thence to Laconia
Laconia or Lakonia (, , ) is a historical and Administrative regions of Greece, administrative region of Greece located on the southeastern part of the Peloponnese peninsula. Its administrative capital is Sparti (municipality), Sparta. The word ...
, and southeast to Rochester. New Hampshire Route 28
New Hampshire Route 28 is an north–south state highway in eastern New Hampshire. It connects the town of Ossipee, New Hampshire, Ossipee in east-central New Hampshire with Salem, New Hampshire, Salem on the Massachusetts border, while passing ...
also passes through the center of town, leading north to Wolfeboro and south to Pittsfield and Manchester
Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...
. New Hampshire Route 140 leads from Alton west to Gilmanton and Tilton. New Hampshire Route 11A
New Hampshire Route 11 is a east–west state highway in New Hampshire, running completely across the central part of the state. Its western terminus is at the Vermont state line in Charlestown, where it continues west as Vermont Route 11. Th ...
leaves NH 11 in West Alton and goes west into Gilford, and New Hampshire Route 28A forms an alternate route north from Alton Bay
Alton Bay is an unincorporated community in the town of Alton in Belknap County, New Hampshire, United States, and is located on Alton Bay, a cove of Lake Winnipesaukee which forms the southernmost point on the lake. The village is part of the ...
to NH 28.
Adjacent municipalities
* Wolfeboro (north)
* New Durham (east)
* Barnstead (south)
* Gilmanton (southeast)
* Gilford (west)
* Tuftonboro (northwest)
Demographics
As of the census
A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...
of 2010, there were 5,250 people, 2,145 households, and 1,511 families residing in the town. There were 4,281 housing units, of which 2,136, or 49.9%, were vacant. 1,928 of the vacant units were for seasonal use. The racial makeup of the town was 98.4% white
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
, 0.1% African American
African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
, 0.1% Native American, 0.3% Asia
Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...
n, 0.04% Native Hawaiian
Native Hawaiians (also known as Indigenous Hawaiians, Kānaka Maoli, Aboriginal Hawaiians, or simply Hawaiians; , , , and ) are the Indigenous peoples of Oceania, Indigenous Polynesians, Polynesian people of the Hawaiian Islands.
Hawaiʻi was set ...
or Pacific Islander, 0.2% some other race, and 0.9% from two or more races. 1.1% of the population were Hispanic
The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...
or Latino of any race.
Of the 2,145 households, 28.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 59.0% were headed by married couples
Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...
living together, 6.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.6% were non-families. 22.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.5% were someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.45, and the average family size was 2.87.
In the town, 21.1% of the population were under the age of 18, 6.2% were from 18 to 24, 20.9% from 25 to 44, 34.9% from 45 to 64, and 16.9% were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 46.2 years. For every 100 females, there were 100.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 99.3 males.
For the period 2011–2015, the estimated median annual income for a household was $66,823, and the median income for a family was $85,556. Male full-time workers had a median income of $46,223 versus $42,448 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year.
In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...
for the town was $29,693. 6.9% of the population and 4.6% of families were below the poverty line. 1.6% of the population under the age of 18 and 9.2% of those 65 or older were living in poverty.
Government
In the New Hampshire Senate
The New Hampshire State Senate is the upper house of the New Hampshire General Court, alongside the lower New Hampshire House of Representatives. The Senate has been meeting since 1784. The Senate consists of 24 members representing Senate distri ...
, Alton is in the 6th District, represented by Republican James Gray. In the New Hampshire House of Representatives
The New Hampshire House of Representatives is the lower house in the New Hampshire General Court, the bicameral State legislature (United States), legislature of the state of New Hampshire. The House of Representatives consists of 400 members com ...
, Alton is in the Belknap 5th district, represented by Republicans Paul Terry and Peter Varney. On the Executive Council of New Hampshire
The Executive Council of the State of New Hampshire (colloquially referred to as the Governor's Council) is the executive body of New Hampshire in the United States. The Executive Council advises the Governor on all matters and provides a check o ...
, Alton is in the 1st District, represented by Republican Joseph Kenney. In the United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...
, Alton is in New Hampshire's 1st congressional district
New Hampshire's 1st congressional district covers parts of Southern New Hampshire and the eastern portion of the state. The district contains parts of Hillsborough, Rockingham, Merrimack, Grafton, and Belknap counties; and the entirety of ...
, represented by Democrat
Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to:
Politics
*A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people.
*A member of a Democratic Party:
**Democratic Party (Cyprus) (DCY)
**Democratic Part ...
Chris Pappas.
Alton is served by a full-time police department and a combination full-time and on-call fire/rescue department which also provides ambulance services for the town.
Sites of interest
* Alton Historical Society & Museum
* Harold S. Gilman Museum
* Alton Bay
Alton Bay is an unincorporated community in the town of Alton in Belknap County, New Hampshire, United States, and is located on Alton Bay, a cove of Lake Winnipesaukee which forms the southernmost point on the lake. The village is part of the ...
, with an arcade, mini-golf, ice cream shop, multiple areas to eat, a marina, and other attractions
** New Hampshire Historical Marker No. 164: Alton Bay Transportation Center
** New Hampshire Historical Marker No. 288: The Alton Bay Water Bandstand
Historic photos
Image:Steamboat Landing, Alton Bay, NH.jpg, Steamer landing in 1905
Image:View of Advent Grove, Alton Bay, NH.jpg, Advent Grove in 1910
Image:Boarding & Dining Buildings, Alton Bay Camp Grounds.jpg, Boarding house in 1907
Image:Alton Bay and Lake Winnipesaukee, Alton Bay, NH.jpg, Alton Bay and Lake Winnipesaukee in 1905
Notable people
* Joel Bean (1825–1914), founder of Beanite Quakerism
* George Franklin Drew (1827–1900), 12th governor of Florida
The governor of Florida is the head of government of the U.S. state of Florida. The Governor (United States), governor is the head of the Government of Florida#Executive branch, executive branch of the government of Florida and is the comman ...
* James B. French (1857–1932), member of the Wisconsin State Assembly
The Wisconsin State Assembly is the lower house of the Wisconsin Legislature. Together with the smaller Wisconsin Senate, the two constitute the legislative branch of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The Assembly is controlled by the Republican ...
* Florence Holway (1915–2012), rape victim, subject of a 2003 HBO documentary
* Steve Leach (born 1966), right wing with seven NHL
The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...
teams
* Don Sweeney
Donald Clarke Sweeney (born August 17, 1966) is a Canadian former ice hockey defenceman who played over 1,100 games in the National Hockey League (NHL), mostly with the Boston Bruins. He ranks among the top ten in many Bruins team statistics, inc ...
(born 1966), defenseman with the Boston Bruins
The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston. The Bruins compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Conference. The t ...
and Dallas Stars
The Dallas Stars are a professional ice hockey team based in Dallas. The Stars compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division (NHL), Central Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference. The Stars ...
and general manager of Boston since 2015
References
External links
*
New Hampshire Economic and Labor Market Information Bureau Profile
Gilman Library
the town library
{{authority control
Towns in Belknap County, New Hampshire
Populated places established in 1796
Populated places on Lake Winnipesaukee
Towns in New Hampshire
1796 establishments in New Hampshire