Community Profiles

Stratham, NH

Settled in 1631, this area, called Winnicutt by the Indians, was known as Squamscott Patent or Point of Rocks because of its location between the Great Bay and the Squamscott River. The sixth town to be incorporated in New Hampshire, the town was named for a friend of Governor Samuel Shute of Massachusetts, Wriothesley Russell, Baron Howland of Streatham. Read more ...

North Hampton, NH

First settled in 1639, this town was a part of Hampton known as North Hill or North Parish. Residents began petitioning for separation from Hampton as early as 1719, but township was not granted until 1742, following separation of New Hampshire from Massachusetts. North Hampton was the birthplace of General Henry Dearborn, commander-in-chief of the American forces in the War of 1812, for whom Fort Dearborn (Chicago) and Dearborn, Michigan, were named. Read more ...

Dover, NH

For the first fifty years of New Hampshire's history, Dover was one of only three communities established in the state. Settled in 1623 on the banks of the Piscataqua River, Dover was first called Hilton's Point, named after Edward Hilton, leader of the company of Englishmen who landed at Dover Point. It was also known by the Indian names of Newichwannock (place of wigwams) and Cocheco. The town was probably named for Dover, England. In 1855, Dover was incorporated as a city. Read more ...

Durham, NH

A parish of Dover settled in 1669 as Oyster River Plantation, Durham was incorporated in 1732. The name probably honored Richard Barnes, Bishop of Durham, England, the first Puritan bishop. A descendent of an early settler, Benjamin Thompson, bequeathed the family estate, Warner Farm, to be used for establishment of an agricultural college. The state agricultural school, originally set up in Hanover in 1866, was moved to Durham in 1890, becoming the University of New Hampshire in 1923. Read more ...

Portsmouth, NH

First settled in 1630 as Piscataqua, the settlement was soon named Strawberry Banke. The name Portsmouth was adopted in 1653 to honor the colony s founder, John Mason, Captain of the Port in Portsmouth, England. Portsmouth became the New Hampshire province s capitol in 1679. It was home to many famous colonials, such as William Whipple, signer of the Declaration of Independence; Governor John Langdon, first US Senate president; and John Paul Jones, naval hero. Portsmouth was incorporated as a city in 1849. The original Strawberry Banke settlement has been preserved as an example of a colonial American town. Read more ...

East Kingston, NH

Once a part of Kingston, this area was called Kingston East Parish. It was granted a separate charter in 1738 after some residents petitioned Governor Jonathan Belcher of Massachusetts that its location was too distant from the Kingston school and place of worship. Read more ...

Newmarket NH

One of six towns granted by the Massachusetts government in the last year of the reign of King George I. It started as a parish of Exeter, and was granted full town privileges by legislature in 1737. It was probably named for Newmarket in County Suffolk, England. The Lamprey River, running through the town, was named for John Lamprey, whose name was Saxon for a woodland enclosure where peace is to be found. For a while, the town was called Lampreyville. Newmarket was a center of the New England shipping trade with the West Indies. Read more ...

Greenland, NH

One of the earliest settlements in the state, Greenland was a parish of Portsmouth originating in 1638. It was probably named for Henry Greenland, a town officer. Residents requested and were granted a separate town in 1704. In that same period, Leonard Weeks constructed a substantial brick house, thought to be the oldest brick house in New Hampshire still standing. Read more ...

Brentwood, NH

Originally known as Brentwood Parish, a parish of Exeter. This and several other towns were separated from their parent communities due to overpopulation. The name was taken from Brentwood, England, a suburb of London containing the king's forest, the burning of which gave it the name Burnt Wood. Read more ...

Rye, NH

The first settlement in New Hampshire, established by David Thompson in 1623 at Odiorne's Point, and named Pannaway. Originally part of Portsmouth, it was incorporated as a parish of New Castle in 1726. The town is named for the borough of Rye, a flourishing English Channel town. Rye's eight-mile length of coastline is dotted with old names such as Wallis Sands, Jenness Beach, Locke's Neck, Ragged Neck, Rye Harbor, and Odiorne Point. In 1876, four of the Isles of Shoals were annexed to the town, the only New Hampshire town with Atlantic islands. The remaining five islands belong to Maine. Read more ...

Newfields, NH

Sitting on the west bank of the Squamscott River, this town was part of Exeter until 1727, when it was part of Newmarket. It was called Newfield Village as early as 1681, then South Newmarket, a parish of that town. In 1880, a resident of the town, Dr. John M. Brodhead, presented his own library and $10,000 to the town on the condition that it be renamed Newfields. The town was so incorporated in 1895. Read more ...

Hampton Falls, NH

First established as Hampton's Third Parish, this town received its grant as an independent town in 1726. Located on the Taylor River, Hampton Falls provided water power for Weare's mills. Meschech Weare, a descendant of the mill owners, was New Hampshire's first president, later called governor, in 1776. Hampton Falls was the birthplace of Ralph Adams Cram, a well-known architect, who designed the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York and chapels at West Point and Exeter Academy. Read more ...

Exeter NH

Exeter was one of the four original towns established in New Hampshire. It was first known as Squamscott, and was given the name Exeter by the settlement's managers, the Exeter Combination, a group of English colonizers. The river location of the town made it a shipbuilding center and West Indies trading port. Exeter is home to the Phillips Exeter Academy, endowed by Colonel John Phillips in 1781, and the American Independence Museum. Read more ...

New Castle, NH

The largest of several islands at the mouth of the Piscataqua River, this town was originally known as Great Island. Chartered in 1679 as a parish of Portsmouth, it was incorporated in 1693. New Castle is unique in the state, being the only town made up entirely of islands, connected to the mainland by bridges. New Castle is home to the Wentworth-by-the-Sea Hotel, site of the Russo-Japanese Peace Treaty of 1905, mediated by Theodore Roosevelt. Read more ...

Hampton, NH

First called Winnacunnet, the Indian name for pleasant pines, Hampton was one of four original New Hampshire towns established by the Massachusetts government. In 1638, the area, which included land now in Seabrook, Kensington, Danville, Kingston, East Kingston, Sandown, North Hampton, South Hampton, Hampton Falls, and Great Boar's Head, was settled by a group of parishioners led by Reverend Stephen Bachiler. The Reverend had previously preached in Hampton, England, and the town was incorporated as Hampton in 1639. Poet John Greenleaf Whittier was a direct descendant of Reverend Bachiler. Construction of the railroad in the 1850's made Hampton s oceanfront a popular resort. Read more ...