Plymouth, New Hampshire

Plymouth is a town in Grafton County, New Hampshire, United States, in the White Mountains Region. Plymouth is located at the convergence of the Pemigewasset and Baker rivers. The population was 6,990 at the 2010 census.[1] The town is home to Plymouth State University, Speare Memorial Hospital, and Plymouth Regional High School.

The town's central settlement, where 4,456 people resided at the 2010 census[2] (a large number of whom are Plymouth State students), is defined as the Plymouth census-designated place (CDP), and is located along U.S. Route 3, south of the confluence of the Baker and Pemigewasset rivers.

Plymouth was originally the site of an Abenaki village that was burned to the ground by Captain Thomas Baker in 1712. This was just one of the many British raids on American Indian settlements during Queen Anne's War. Part of a large plot of undivided land in the Pemigewasset Valley, the town was first named New Plymouth, after the original Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts. Colonial Governor Benning Wentworth granted Plymouth to settlers from Hollis, all of whom had been soldiers in the French and Indian War. Some had originally come from Plymouth, Massachusetts. The town was incorporated in 1763.[3] Parts of Hebron and Campton were annexed in 1845 and 1860.

Silver Lake, New Hampshire

Silver Lake is an unincorporated community located at the north end of Silver Lake in the town of Madison, New Hampshire, in Carroll County, New Hampshire, United States. Joy Farm, summer home of E. E. Cummings, is a National Historic Landmark located north of the village.[2]

Tamworth, New Hampshire

Tamworth is a town in Carroll County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 2,856 at the 2010 census.[1] Tamworth includes the villages of Chocorua, South Tamworth, Wonalancet, and Whittier. The White Mountain National Forest is to the north. The town is home to Hemenway State Forest in the north and White Lake State Park in the southeast.

Granted in 1766 by Colonial Governor Benning Wentworth, this town was named in honor of his close friend, British Admiral Washington Shirley, Viscount Tamworth. The admiral's daughter, Selina Shirley, was instrumental in the founding of Dartmouth College. The village of Whittier, like Mount Whittier in Ossipee, is named for the poet John Greenleaf Whittier.

The Chinook Kennels here raised sled dogs for the Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd Antarctic expeditions and the Army's search-and-rescue units. The Barnstormers Theatre summer playhouse was established here in 1931 by Francis Grover Cleveland, son of President Grover Cleveland. He supported the theatre until his death in 1995. Barnstormers is hailed as the oldest continuously running professional theatre in the state.

Hudson, New Hampshire

Hudson is a town in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States. It is located along the Massachusetts state line. The population was 24,467 at the 2010 census,[1] with an estimated population of 25,139 in 2017. It is the tenth-largest municipality (town or city) in the state, by population.[2]

The primary settlement in town, where 7,336 people resided at the 2010 census,[3] is defined as the Hudson census-designated place (CDP) and is located at the junctions of New Hampshire routes 102, 111 and 3A, directly across the Merrimack River from the city of Nashua.

Hudson began as part of the Dunstable Land Grant that encompassed the current city of Nashua, New Hampshire, and the towns of Dunstable and Pepperell, Massachusetts, as well as parts of other nearby towns on both sides of the border. In 1732, all of Dunstable east of the Merrimack River became the town of Nottingham, Massachusetts. Nine years later, the northern boundary of Massachusetts was finally officially established, and the New Hampshire portion of Nottingham became Nottingham West, to avoid confusion with Nottingham, New Hampshire, to the northeast.[4]

Woodsville, New Hampshire

Woodsville is a census-designated place (CDP) and the largest village in the town of Haverhill in Grafton County, New Hampshire, U.S., along the Connecticut River at the mouth of the Ammonoosuc River. The population was 1,126 at the 2010 census.[1] Although North Haverhill is now the county seat of Grafton County,[2] the village of Woodsville has traditionally been considered the county seat, as the county courthouse was originally located there. The county buildings are now located halfway between Woodsville and the village of North Haverhill to the south.

Woodsville was named for John L. Woods, a figure in its early development. He arrived from Wells River, Vermont, a village across the Connecticut River narrows in Newbury, and in 1829 purchased a sawmill which had been operating on the Ammonoosuc River since 1811. He manufactured pine lumber, and opened a store in his house.[3] Spring snowmelt carried log drives down the Connecticut and Ammonoosuc rivers. A log boom was built across the Connecticut River to Wells River to hold the logs briefly for sorting. Logs not destined for Woods' mill were released gradually to avoid jams in the Ox Bow meadow downstream. Log drivers detailed to work at the boom enjoyed Woodsville's saloons and red-light district.[4]

The Boston, Concord & Montreal Railroad opened at Woodsville in 1853 and built its division offices and a branch repair shop. It replaced the original 1805 bridge between the states with a two-level span, featuring a toll highway below and railroad tracks on the roof.[5] The village boomed into an important railway town and junction, endowed with fine examples of Victorian architecture. It also became a center for legal affairs. The log drives were stopped after 1915, when pleasure boat owners complained about the hazards to navigation.[6] In 1889, the Grafton County Court moved from Haverhill Corner to Woodsville, where it remained until moving halfway to North Haverhill in 1972.[7]

Portsmouth, New Hampshire

Portsmouth is a city in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 21,233,[2] and in 2017 the estimated population was 21,796.[1] A historic seaport and popular summer tourist destination on the Piscataqua River bordering the state of Maine, Portsmouth was formerly the home of the Strategic Air Command's Pease Air Force Base, since converted to Portsmouth International Airport at Pease.

American Indians of the Abenaki and other Algonquian languages-speaking nations, and their predecessors, inhabited the territory of coastal New Hampshire for thousands of years before European contact.

The first known European to explore and write about the area was Martin Pring in 1603. The Piscataqua River is a tidal estuary with a swift current, but forms a good natural harbor. The west bank of the harbor was settled by English colonists in 1630 and named Strawbery Banke, after the many wild strawberries growing there. The village was fortified by Fort William and Mary. Strategically located for trade between upstream industries and mercantile interests abroad, the port prospered. Fishing, lumber and shipbuilding were principal businesses of the region.[3]Enslaved Africans were imported as laborers as early as 1645 and were integral to building the city's prosperity.[4] Portsmouth was part of the Triangle Trade, which made significant profits from slavery.

Somersworth, New Hampshire

Somersworth is a city in Strafford County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 11,766 at the 2010 census.[2] Somersworth has the smallest area and third-lowest population of New Hampshire's 13 cities.

Somersworth, originally called "Sligo" after Sligo in Ireland, was settled before 1700 as a part of Dover. It was organized in 1729 as the parish of "Summersworth", meaning "summer town", because during that season the ministers would preach here. It was set off and incorporated in 1754 by colonial governor Benning Wentworth, and until 1849 included Rollinsford. A clerical error at incorporation contracted the name to "Somersworth". It would be incorporated as a city in 1893, before which it was also known as "Great Falls".

Situated where the Salmon Falls River drops 100 feet (30 m) over a mile, Somersworth early became a mill town, beginning with gristmills and sawmills. In 1822, the brothers Isaac and Jacob Wendell of Boston purchased for $5,000 a gristmill with its water rights at the Great Falls. They established the Great Falls Manufacturing Company, a textile business that expanded to include three mills for spinning thread and weaving cotton and woolen fabrics, specializing in "drillings, shirtings and sheetings." Throughout the 19th century, other expansive brick mill buildings, including a bleachery and dye works, were erected beside the river. The bleachery became the longest running textile operation in Somersworth. The building housed the operations that took the buff-colored fabric produced in the seven mills and transformed it into a sparkling white material that could be dyed or printed according to the buyer's wishes.[3] The gate house at the dam directed water as needed, regulating the flow either into the river or a company canal, which itself had gates sending it under the mill. Water power turned the wheels and belts that operated mill machinery. The railroad arrived in the early 1840s, before which goods were carted to Dover.

Temple, New Hampshire

Temple is a town in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 1,366 at the 2010 census.[1] It is home to Temple Mountain State Reservation, and formerly home to Temple Mountain Ski Area.

The area was first called Peterborough Slip, which included what is now Sharon. In 1758, Maj. Ephraim Heald and his wife Sarah, moved to Temple, They, along with his brother, Dea. Peter Heald, and a cousin, Oliver Heald, were among the first settlers. Peter Heald is generally considered to be the founder of Temple, and his child, Peter, was the first white child born in the town.[2][3] In 1768, it was incorporated by colonial Governor John Wentworth, who named it after his lieutenant governor, John Temple.[4] The town of Temple, Maine was in turn named for it.[5] Temple Glassworks was founded here in 1780 by Robert Hewes of Boston. Although the company is long defunct, surviving examples of Temple glass are today rare and prized collectibles. By 1859, the town's population was 579, when Temple had two sawmills, one gristmill, and a tannery.[6]

Terrain is generally uneven and rocky. It is also elevated, commanding distant views to the east and south.[6] As John Farmer and Jacob Bailey Moore wrote in 1823, "From the highest point of elevation, twenty meetinghouses may be seen when the atmosphere is clear."[7]

Ossipee, New Hampshire

Ossipee is a town in Carroll County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 4,345 at the 2010 census.[1] It is the county seat of Carroll County.[2] Ossipee, which includes several villages, is a resort area and home to part of Pine River State Forest.

Originally known as Wigwam Village, and then New Garden, the town was named for the Ossipee Indians, one of the twelve Algonquian tribes. It was once the site of an Indian stockade fort, designed to protect the tribe from the Mohawks in the west. In 1725, the Indian stockade was destroyed, and then rebuilt by Captain John Lovewell. The new fort was one of the largest in New England. The fort was located where the second green of Indian Mound Golf now is. Wood, ramrods and the brass bolt used for the gate were discovered when the course was built.[citation needed] On February 22, 1785, the legislature incorporated Ossipee as a town.[3]

Although the surface of the town is "rough and uneven, and in some parts rocky and mountainous," farmers found it suitable for pasturage, as well as for cultivating wheat and potatoes. Principal goods were produce, lumber and cattle. In 1859, when the population was 2,123, Ossipee contained twelve sawmills, five gristmills, twelve clapboard and shingle mills, one bedstead factory, one door factory, a sash and blind factory, one paper mill and four tanneries.[4] The Portsmouth, Great Falls & Conway Railroad in 1871 reached Ossipee Corner, with service extended in 1875 to Center Ossipee. The trains brought commerce and tourists, helping the town develop as a summer resort. Railroad service, however, would be discontinued in 1961 for passengers, and in 1972 for freight.[5]

Randolph, New Hampshire

Randolph is a heavily forested town in Coos County, New Hampshire, U.S., extending from the northern slopes of the White Mountains of the Presidential Range (to the south) to the Crescent Range and Berlin (to the north), with U.S. Route 2 cutting through the middle. The northern and southern parts of Randolph are within the White Mountain National Forest and the Ice Gulch Town Forest, while the central part is the settled portion of town. As of the 2010 census, the town had a total population of 310.[1]

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 47.2 square miles (122 km2), of which 47.1 sq mi (122 km2) is land and 0.04 sq mi (0.10 km2) is water, comprising 0.08% of the town.

Randolph's geography is mountainous. The south side of the town includes the northern slopes of the Presidentials. The north side of the town includes four main mountains: Mount Crescent, Black Crescent Mountain, Mount Randolph and Pond Hill. Dividing the northerly slopes from the southerly slopes is US Route 2. There are no trails maintained to the top of Black Crescent Mountain or Pond Hill. The highest point in Randolph is on the town's southern border, atop a 3,950-foot (1,200 m) knob on Howker Ridge, a spur of Mount Madison.