Of the thirteen original colonies, New Hampshire was the first to
declare its independence from Mother England -- a full six months before
the Declaration of Independence was signed.
The highest wind speed recorded at ground level is at Mt. Washington,
on April 12, 1934. The winds were three times as fast as those in most
hurricanes.
New Hampshire is the only state that ever played host at the formal
conclusion of a foreign war. In 1905, Portsmouth was the scene of the
treaty ending the Russo-Japanese War.
The first potato planted in the United States was at Londonderry Common
Field in 1719.
Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr., the first American to travel in space is
from East Derry, New Hampshire.
In 1833 the first free public library in the United States was established
in Peterborough.
In the town of Warner the last passenger train stopped on November
4, 1955, and the last freight in 1961. Since then the tracks through
town were torn up and sold as scrap iron.
New Hampshire adopted the first legal lottery in the twentieth century
United States in 1963.
Cornish Hill Pottery Company handcrafts functional stoneware decorated
in the traditions of Early American and European potters with a method
known as "slip trailing". The slip is a creamy mixture of
clay and water and is applied to moist, almost hardened pots by hand.
The slip contains various colorants, including natural clay colors
and metals.
New Hampshire's present constitution was adopted in 1784; it is the
second oldest in the country.
On December 30, 1828, about 400 mill girls walked out of the Dover
Cotton Factory enacting the first women's strike in the United States.
The Dover mill girls were forced to give in when the mill owners immediately
began advertising for replacement workers.
Levi Hutchins of Concord invented the first alarm clock in 1787.
The Irish-born American sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens lived and worked
in Cornish from 1885 until his death at age 59 in 1907.
The Mount Washington auto road at Great Glen is New Hampshire's oldest
manmade tourist attraction.
In the fall of 1999, the Town of Newbury officially opened a B&M
caboose as a visitor center at Bell Cove, Newbury Harbor.
Daniel Webster was a politician and statesman, born at Franklin in
1782. He was known in his day as a mighty orator, a reputation preserved
in the Stephen Vincent Benet story The Devil and Daniel Webster, in
which he beats the original lawyer, Lucifer, in a contract case over
a man’s soul.
New Hampshire’s State House is the oldest state capitol in which
a legislature still meets in its original chambers.
Alexandria was the birthplace of Luther C. Ladd, the first enlisted
soldier to lose his life in the Civil War.
The very first motorized ascent of the Mount Washington auto road was
by Feelan O. Stanley, of Stanley Steamer fame, in 1899.
Dover was settled in 1623. It is the oldest permanent settlement in
New Hampshire.
The karner blue butterfly, lynx, bald eagle, short nose sturgeon, Sunapee
trout, Atlantic salmon and dwarf wedge mussel are on the State's endangered
species list.
Founded in 1866 at Durham, the University of New Hampshire serves an
undergraduate population of 10,500 students.
The Enfield Shaker community was one of eighteen villages located from
Maine to Kentucky and from Massachusetts to Ohio.
The quintessential New England community of Wolfeboro is known as "The
Oldest Summer Resort in America".
Augustus Saint-Gaudens from Cornish was the first sculptor to design
an American coin. His commission became fraught with difficulties related
to Saint-Gaudens’ desire for high relief relative to the demands
of mass production and use.
America's Stonehenge is a 4,000 year old megalithic (stone constructed)
site located on Mystery Hill in Salem and presently serves as a leisurely,
educational tour for the whole family.
The Pierce Manse in Concord is the home of the only New Hampshire citizen
ever elected President. Franklin Pierce was a hero of the war with
Mexico and the youngest President elected at that time.
The Memorial Bell Tower at Cathedral of the Pines in Rindge has four
bronze bas-reliefs designed by Norman Rockwell. The bell tower is specifically
dedicated to women — military and civilian — who died serving
their country.
The first free public library in the United States was established
at Peterborough in 1833.
The Bavarian-style hamlet of Merrimack is home to the famous eight-horse
hitch, and the Clydesdales maintained by the Anheuser-Busch Brewery.
Cannon Aerial Tramway is the first aerial passenger tramway in North
America. It was built in 1938 at Franconia Notch.
In Holderness Captain Pierre Havre and his canine first mate, Bogie,
have built a sailing tour around the locations from the Katherine Hepburn/Henry
Fonda movie On Golden Pond.
The Christa McAuliffe Planetarium in Concord is a state-of-the art
planetarium dedicated to the memory of New Hampshire teacher Christa
McAuliffe, who died in the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger.
New Hampshire's state motto is "Live Free or Die". The motto
comes from a statement written by the Revolutionary General John Stark,
hero of the Battle of Bennington.
As leaders in the revolutionary cause, New Hampshire delegates received
the honor of being the first to vote for the Declaration of Independence
on July 4, 1776.
New Hampshire has 10 counties, 13 municipalities, 221 towns and 22
unincorporated places.
Sarah Josepha, Hale author and journalist who wrote the poem "Mary
Had a Little Lamb" in 1830, is from Newport, New Hampshire.
The Belknap Mill built at Laconia in 1823 is the oldest unaltered brick
knitting mill in America.
The Blue Ghost of Wolfeboro is the U.S. Mail Boat for Lake Winnipesaukee.
It makes a daily 60-mile loop delivering mail to 30 stops at camps
and islands around the lake.
At Stonyfield Farm in Londonderry, you can learn how yogurt is made,
from cow to incubator to cooler. They give away samples, and you can
buy some “moo”-chandise.
New Hampshire did not officially adopt a state flag until 1909. Prior
to that, New Hampshire had numerous regimental flags to represent the
state. The present flag has only been changed once, in 1931, when the
state's seal was modified.
The USS Albacore was a prototype submarine built at the Portsmouth
Naval Shipyard and commissioned in 1953. At the time, she was the fastest
submarine ever designed.
The first capital city of New Hampshire was in Exeter.
It takes approximately 40 gallons of sap to make approximately 1 gallon
of maple syrup.
Wallace D. Lovell built the Hampton River Bridge in 1900 called the "mile-long
bridge". It was reputed to be the longest wooden bridge in the
world.
Captain John Smith named New Hampshire after the town of Hampshire,
England.
New Hampshire has a changeable climate, with wide variations in daily
and seasonal temperatures. The variations are affected by proximity
to the ocean, mountains, lakes or rivers. The state enjoys all four
seasons. Summers are short and cool; winters are long and cold; fall
is glorious with foliage. The weather station on Mount Washington has
recorded some of the coldest temperatures and strongest winds in the
continental United States.
New Castle is the smallest town in New Hampshire. It covers
.8 square miles, or 512 acres. The town is composed of one large island
and several smaller islands, and serves as a scenic residential and
recreational community.
The Pembroke Glass Works produced crown window glass from 1839 until
1850. The process of gathering molten glass on a blowpipe, and
blowing the glass into a balloon shape. The blowpipe is removed, a solid "punty" rod
is attached and the glass is spun rapidly until a disc is formed. When
the glass cools the outer portion beyond the central knob is then cut
into panes.
