Plainfield 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 Sullivan 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. At the time of the 2020 census, the town had a population of 2,459. The town is home to the Helen Woodruff Smith Bird Sanctuary and Annie Duncan State Forest. The village of Plainfield, where 178 people resided at the 2020 census, is defined as the Plainfield census-designated place (CDP) and is located in the western part of the town along New Hampshire Route 12A. Plainfield also includes the village of Meriden, home to Kimball Union Academy, a private preparatory school.

History

The town was first settled by a group from Plainfield, Connecticut. It was one of the towns incorporated by colonial governor

Benning Wentworth Benning Wentworth (July 24, 1696 – October 14, 1770) was an American merchant, landowner and colonial administrator who served as the List of colonial governors of New Hampshire, governor of New Hampshire from 1741 to 1766. He is best known ...

in 1761, at the beginning of the reign of King

George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland, Ireland from 25 October 1760 until his death in 1820. The Acts of Union 1800 unified Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and ...

. A part of Plainfield known as "Meriden Parish", named for the farm of

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

Governor

Jonathan Belcher Jonathan Belcher (8 January 1681/8231 August 1757) was a merchant, politician, and slave trader from colonial Massachusetts who served as both governor of Massachusetts Bay and governor of New Hampshire from 1730 to 1741 and governor of New ...

, became the site of Kimball Union Academy, built in 1813. Plainfield lies on the northern edge of the enclave known as the

Cornish Art Colony The Cornish Art Colony (or Cornish Artists’ Colony, or Cornish Colony) was a popular art colony centered in Cornish, New Hampshire, from about 1895 through the years of World War I. Attracted by the natural beauty of the area, about 100 artis ...

, which existed between 1885 and 1930.

Maxfield Parrish Maxfield Parrish (July 25, 1870 – March 30, 1966) was an American painter and illustration, illustrator active in the first half of the 20th century. His works featured distinctive saturated hues and idealized neo-classical imagery. The ...

painted the stage backdrop in the Plainfield Town Hall. Parrish purchased land close to his parents' estate in 1898, at the age of 28, and relocated after leaving

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

. He designed and built his home, The Oaks, over several years, eventually also designing and building an elaborate studio some distance behind the house. Parrish lived in Plainfield for 67 years, with the exception of a several-month period in

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

, and a nine-month period when he resided and worked in New York City. In 1910, Ernest Harold Baynes founded the Meriden Bird Club, the first institution of its type in the nation. Image:Congregational Church in Meriden, NH.jpg, Meriden Congregational Church in 1914 Image:Kimball Union Academy, Meriden, NH.jpg, View of Kimball Union Academy 1910 Image:Baxter Hall, Meriden, NH.jpg, Baxter Hall 1922 Image:Meriden Hill, Looking East, Meriden, NH.jpg, Meriden Hill 1908

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 1.40% of the town. Bounded on the west by 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 into Long Isl ...

, Plainfield is drained by Blood's Brook and Blow-me-down Brook. Great Brook, a tributary of the

Mascoma River The Mascoma River is a river in western New Hampshire in the United States. It is a tributary of the Connecticut River, which flows to Long Island Sound. The Mascoma comprises two sections which are split by Mascoma Lake in the communities of E ...

, drains the northeast corner of the town. Croydon Mountain is a high ridge that occupies the eastern edge of the town. Grantham Mountain, a peak along the ridge, is the highest point in Plainfield 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 ...

. The town is crossed by the north-south state routes 12A and 120. Route 12A, serving the western part of the town, passes through the village of Plainfield and leads north to West Lebanon and south to the west part of Claremont. Route 120, passing through Meriden in the eastern part of the town, leads north to downtown

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

and south to downtown Claremont.

Adjacent municipalities

(north) * Enfield (northeast) *

Grantham Grantham () is a market town and civil parish in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England, situated on the banks of the River Witham and bounded to the west by the A1 road (Great Britain), A1 road. It lies south of Lincoln, England ...

(east) *

Croydon Croydon is a large town in South London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a Districts of England, local government district of Greater London; it is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater Lond ...

(southeast) * Cornish (south) * Windsor, Vermont (southwest at one point) * Hartland, Vermont (west)

Demographics

As of the census of 2010, there were 2,364 people, 923 households, and 684 families residing in the town. There were 984 housing units, of which 61, or 6.2%, were vacant. The racial makeup of the town was 98.0%

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 ...

, 0.5%

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, 0.5%

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, 0.0%

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, 0.04% 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 923 households, 32.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 63.5% 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, 7.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 25.9% were non-families. 19.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 6.4% were someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.51, and the average family size was 2.88. In the town, 22.8% of the population were under the age of 18, 4.4% were from 18 to 24, 22.4% from 25 to 44, 37.1% from 45 to 64, and 13.3% were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 45.2 years. For every 100 females, there were 100.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97.5 males. For the period 2011–2015, the estimated median annual income for a household was $82,250, and the median income for a family was $90,729. Male full-time workers had a median income of $56,385 versus $52,813 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 $38,810. 1.0% of the population and 0.3% of families were below the poverty line. 0.0% of the population under the age of 18 and 2.5% of those 65 or older were living in poverty.

Notable people

Ethel Barrymore Ethel Barrymore (born Ethel Mae Blythe; August 15, 1879 – June 18, 1959) was an American actress and a member of the Barrymore family of actors. Barrymore was a stage, screen and radio actress whose career spanned six decades, and was regarde ...

(1879–1959), actress (summer resident) * Edward and Elaine Brown, anti-federal-income-tax activists; arrested at their residence in October 2007, after a months-long armed standoff, for refusing to pay U.S. federal income tax * Ben Cherington (born 1974), vice-general manager of the

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East Division. Since 1989, the team has p ...

* Kathryn Woodman Leighton (1875–1952), artist * Dennis Meadows (born 1942), former director of UNH Institute for Policy and Social Science Research *

Donella Meadows Donella Hager "Dana" Meadows (March 13, 1941 – February 20, 2001) was an American environmental scientist, educator, and writer. She is best known as lead author of the books '' The Limits to Growth'' and '' Thinking In Systems: A Primer''. ...

(1941–2001), farmer, MacArthur Fellow, author of ''

The Limits to Growth ''The Limits to Growth'' (''LTG'') is a 1972 report that discussed the possibility of exponential Economic growth, economic and population growth with finite supply of resources, studied by computer simulation. The study used the World3 computer ...

'' * Willard Metcalf (1858–1925), impressionist painter, seasonally between 1910 and 1920 *

(1870–1966), artist, illustrator * Will Sheff (born 1976), musician * Ellen Biddle Shipman (1869–1950), landscape architect * Hollis Smith (1800–1863), businessman, Canadian politician * Peter C. Whybrow, author, psychiatrist, director of the Semel Institute at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

References

External links

*
Plainfield Historical Society

* ttps://archives-manuscripts.dartmouth.edu/repositories/2/resources/1622 Vernon Hood Collection on Plainfield, NHat Dartmouth College Library {{authority control Towns in Sullivan County, New Hampshire New Hampshire populated places on the Connecticut River Towns in New Hampshire