Greenland 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 Rockingham 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 4,067 at the 2020 census, up from 3,549 at the 2010 census. It is drained by the Winnicut River and bounded on the northwest by Great Bay.

History

One of the earliest settlements in the state, Greenland was a

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

(then called

Strawbery Banke Strawbery Banke is an outdoor history museum located in the South End historic district of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. It is the oldest neighborhood in New Hampshire to be settled by Europeans, and the earliest neighborhood remaining in the pre ...

) operating in 1638. Captain Francis Champernowne moved from Strawbery Banke in 1640 and settled in the area of the present Portsmouth Country Club. Although it was originally to be called "Canary", he would call his farm "Greenland". His extensive landholdings included a farm which is now the town of Madbury, named for his ancestral home in

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

, England. Residents requested and were granted a separate parish in 1706. In , Captain Samuel Weeks constructed a substantial brick house, thought to be the oldest brick house in

still standing. It survived the 1755 Cape Ann earthquake. Only the beams that supported the structure were cracked during the quake. The Weeks House is denoted by a New Hampshire historical marker ( number 113) along New Hampshire Route 33. Greenland incorporated in 1721. The town annexed parts of Stratham in 1805 and 1847. On September 1, 1824, the

Marquis de Lafayette Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier de La Fayette, Marquis de La Fayette (; 6 September 1757 – 20 May 1834), known in the United States as Lafayette (), was a French military officer and politician who volunteered to join the Conti ...

was received by the citizens of Greenland at a triumphal arch erected in front of the local hotel.

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 21.29% of the town. The highest point in Greenland is Breakfast Hill, at 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 ...

, on the town's border with

Rye Rye (''Secale cereale'') is a grass grown extensively as a grain, a cover crop and a forage crop. It is grown principally in an area from Eastern and Northern Europe into Russia. It is much more tolerant of cold weather and poor soil than o ...

. Greenland is abutted by Great Bay to the north and is primarily drained by the Winnicut River. Greenland lies fully within 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.

Adjacent municipalities

* Newington (north) *

(east) *

(southeast) * North Hampton (south) * Stratham (west) * Newmarket (northwest)

Climate

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 2000, there were 3,208 people, 1,204 households, and 892 families residing in the town. The population density was . There were 1,244 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 97.79%

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 ...

, 0.28%

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 ...

, 0.03% Native American, 1.22% Asian, 0.03%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 0.12% from other races, and 0.53% from two or more races.

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 were 0.72% of the population. There were 1,204 households, out of which 36.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 62.5% were

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, 8.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 25.9% were non-families. 19.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 6.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.65 and the average family size was 3.07. In the town, the population was spread out, with 26.5% under the age of 18, 4.4% from 18 to 24, 32.9% from 25 to 44, 26.2% from 45 to 64, and 10.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 92.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.5 males. The median income for a household in the town was $62,172, and the median income for a family was $67,188. Males had a median income of $44,592 versus $31,815 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 $31,270. About 3.6% of families and 5.9% 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 ...

, including 10.1% of those under age 18 and 5.7% of those age 65 or over.

Notable people

* Oney Judge (1773–1848), fugitive slave from the household of

George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...

John F. Richards John F. Richards (November 3, 1938 – August 23, 2007) was a historian of South Asia and in particular of the Mughal Empire. He was Professor of History at Duke University in North Carolina, and a recipient in 2007 of the Distinguished Contribut ...

(1938–2007), historian of South Asia specializing in the Mughal Empire * Benjamin F. Whidden (1813–1896), first U.S. ambassador to HaitiProceedings - Grafton and Coös County Bar Association, New Hampshire By Grafton and Coos Bar Association, p. 351-358

References

External links

*
Weeks Public Library
with town historical information

{{authority control Towns in Rockingham County, New Hampshire Towns in New Hampshire