Jaffrey 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
Cheshire 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 5,320 at the
2020 census.
The main village in town, where 3,058 people resided at the 2020 census, is defined as the
Jaffrey census-designated place (CDP) and is located along the
Contoocook River at the junction of
U.S. Route 202 and New Hampshire routes
124 and
137.
History
First granted by the
Massachusetts General Court in 1736 to soldiers from
Rowley, Massachusetts, returning from the war in Canada, the town was known as "Rowley-Canada". In 1749, the town was re-chartered by the
Mason proprietors as "Monadnock No. 2", sometimes called "Middle Monadnock" or "Middletown".
It was one of the first towns established following the Masonian proprietors' purchase of undivided lands under the claim.
Settled about 1758,
the town was regranted in 1767. It was incorporated in 1773 by Governor
John Wentworth and named for George Jaffrey, member of a wealthy
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 ...
family.
Jaffrey's son was a life trustee of
Dartmouth College and designer of the official college seal. The
Contoocook River provided
water power for mills. Village prosperity would be expressed in fine early architecture, including the Town Meetinghouse, built in 1775.
Beginning in the 1840s, the area's scenic beauty attracted tourists, and several summer hotels were built at the base of
Mount Monadnock, enduringly popular with hikers. Some who scaled the summit were
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803April 27, 1882), who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, minister, abolitionism, abolitionist, and poet who led the Transcendentalism, Transcendentalist movement of th ...
,
Henry David Thoreau and
Rudyard Kipling
Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English journalist, novelist, poet, and short-story writer. He was born in British Raj, British India, which inspired much ...
. The experience inspired Emerson in 1845 to write the poem, ''Monadnoc''.
Jaffrey was the setting for a 1950 biography by
Elizabeth Yates entitled ''Amos Fortune, Free Man'', winner of the 1951
Newbery Medal.
Amos Fortune was an African-born
slave
Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...
who purchased his freedom and that of his wife, and established a
tannery in the village. He is buried in the local cemetery, as are bandbox craftswoman Hannah Davis and author and summer resident
Willa Cather.
Jaffrey was the inspiration for a chapter in ''
Parliament of Whores'' by
P. J. O'Rourke, who was a resident for several years.
Image:Old Baker House, Jaffrey, NH.jpg, Old Baker Home, which was the oldest house in Jaffrey in 1905
Image:Town House, East Jaffrey, NH.jpg, Town Hall in 1905
Image:Main Street, Looking East, East Jaffrey, NH.jpg, Main Street in 1907
Image:Old Red Schoolhouse, Jaffrey, NH.jpg, Old schoolhouse
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 4.42% of the town.
is in the eastern part of the town, and the smaller village of Jaffrey Center is near the town center.
Thorndike Pond is in the north, and
Contoocook Lake is on the southern boundary.
Mount Monadnock, elevation and the highest point in Jaffrey as well as Cheshire County, is in the northwest. Jaffrey lies mostly within the
Merrimack River watershed, via the
Contoocook River in the eastern part of the town, with the northwest corner of town lying in the
Ashuelot River watershed, part of the larger
Connecticut River watershed.
Adjacent municipalities
*
Dublin
Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...
(north)
*
Peterborough (northeast)
*
Sharon (east)
*
Rindge (south)
*
Fitzwilliam (southwest)
*
Troy
Troy (/; ; ) or Ilion (; ) was an ancient city located in present-day Hisarlik, Turkey. It is best known as the setting for the Greek mythology, Greek myth of the Trojan War. The archaeological site is open to the public as a tourist destina ...
(west)
*
Marlborough (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 5,457 people, 2,234 households, and 1,451 families residing in the town. There were 2,547 housing units, of which 313, or 12.3%, were vacant. 160 of the vacant units were for seasonal or recreational use. The racial makeup of the town was 96.2%
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 ...
, 0.4%
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 ...
, 0.2%
Native American, 1.2%
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, 0.3% some other race, and 1.7% from two or more races. 1.6% 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 2,234 households, 30.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.4% were headed by
married couples living together, 11.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.0% were non-families. 28.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.5% were someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.41, and the average family size was 2.95.
In the town, 24.0% of the population were under the age of 18, 7.8% were from 18 to 24, 23.2% from 25 to 44, 29.6% from 45 to 64, and 15.3% were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 41.5 years. For every 100 females, there were 93.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.4 males.
For the period 2011–2015, the estimated median annual income for a household was $56,618, and the median income for a family was $73,564. Male full-time workers had a median income of $50,138 versus $39,434 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 $27,689. 15.0% of the population and 6.5% of families were below the poverty line. 28.3% of the population under the age of 18 and 15.9% of those 65 or older were living in poverty.
School system
Jaffrey, along with the town of
Rindge, forms the
Jaffrey-Rindge Cooperative School District, also known as SAU 47. The public schools in the town are
Jaffrey Grade School (grades PK–5), and
Conant Middle High School (6–12). There is also a private high school, Victory High School (9–12).
Notable people
*
Laban Ainsworth (1757–1858), minister
*
Lucy Barnes (1780–1809), writer
*
Vannevar Bush (1890–1974), engineer, inventor, scientist; played an instrumental role in the
Manhattan Project
*
Andrew Card
Andrew Hill Card Jr. (born May 10, 1947) is an American politician and Academic administration, academic administrator who was White House Chief of Staff under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2006, as well as head of Bush's White House Iraq ...
(born 1947), politician and former
White House Chief of Staff
*
Willa Cather (1873–1947), author
*
Francis Joseph Christian (born 1942), retired auxiliary bishop, Diocese of Manchester
*
Walter S. Crosley (1871–1939), rear admiral in the
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...
*
Amos Fortune (–1801), early resident, tanner, and subject of
Elizabeth Yates' book ''Amos Fortune, Free Man''
*
Fannie Hillsmith (1911–2007), painter
*
Alfred B. Kittredge (1861–1911), US senator from
South Dakota
South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state, state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Dakota people, Dakota Sioux ...
*
James Laurence Laughlin (1850-1933), economist
*
Talcott Parsons (1902–1979), sociologist
*
Jedediah Sanger (1751–1829), founder of
New Hartford, New York
*
Levi Spaulding (1791–1873), missionary
*
Oliver L. Spaulding (1833–1922), Civil War general, politician
References
External links
*
Jaffrey Public Library
{{authority control
Towns in Cheshire County, New Hampshire
Populated places established in 1773
Towns in New Hampshire