54 Essential Facts About New Hampshire: The Granite State Revealed

Welcome to New Hampshire! Not actually literally, of course, this is just a website with an article talking about New Hampshire facts — just like we did for Nevada and Minnesota and Indiana and Florida and Delaware. Of course, New Hampshire is more than just picturesque landscapes and charming small towns — it’s packed with fascinating history, natural beauty, and unique quirks. From being the first state to declare independence from England to boasting the White Mountains’ breathtaking views, New Hampshire holds a treasure trove of interesting facts that reflect its rich heritage and rugged spirit. In this collection of 54 facts, you’ll uncover what makes the Granite State truly special, from its beloved state symbols to hidden gems that only locals know. Get ready to discover New Hampshire like never before!

What is New Hampshire known for?

1. “Live Free or Die!” You’ll find their state motto on license plates and quarters all over New Hampshire, reflecting its strong tradition of desiring independence and limited government. Adopted by the state in 1945, it is perhaps the most well-known state motto of the 50 nifty. The phrase has been credited to General John Stark, an American Revolutionary War soldier who proposed a toast after being invited to a reunion to remember the Battle of Bennington: “Live free or die: Death is not the worst of evils.”

2. The White Mountains! This stunning mountain range takes up like 25% of the entire state of New Hampshire and is a major destination for outdoor activities like hiking, skiing, and leaf-peeping, particularly during those crispy beautiful fall seasons New England is known for.

3. Dartmouth College! Originally founded in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock to proselytize the Native Americans to Christianity, Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire is one of the eight prestigious Ivy League schools located in the Northeastern United States. If you would like to apply to Dartmouth College but fear that you are not intelligent enough to attend an Ivy League school, rest assured that that won’t matter at all if your parents are rich and are willing to pay the bill.

Early history of New Hampshire facts

4. About 12,000 years before white people came along, New Hampshire was populated by Algonquian-speaking Native Americans from Abenaki tribes that were culturally different that other Algonquian peoples.

5. A Scot named David Thom(p)son is considered to be the founding father of New Hampshire, having been granted 6,000 acres of NH land in 1622. He settled at Odiorne’s Point in Rye, New Hampshire one year later.

6. Edward and William Hilton also settled in New Hampshire in 1623, at Pomeroy Cove in present-day Dover.

7. New Hampshire was the first British North American colony to declare independence in January 1776.

8. Do you know who was the 9th state to ratify the United States Constitution? That’s right, it was New Hampshire in June 1788!

9. In 1808, the city of Concord became the state capital of New Hampshire.

10. In 1819, the New Hampshire State House in Concord was built. It still stands, making it the oldest state capital building where the legislature still meets in its original chambers.

11. In 1828, the first women’s strike in the United States took place in Dover, New Hampshire when 400 of the women who worked at the Cocheco Mills protested the new mill regulations. Piofuckingneers.

What famous people are from New Hampshire?

12. The comedian, actor, activist, and writer Sarah Silverman is perhaps the funniest woman alive. She was born on December 1, 1970 in Bedford, New Hampshire.

13. Alan Shepard became the first American to travel into space in 1961. He was born on November 18, 1923 in Derry, New Hampshire.

14. Horace Greeley was a significant influence on New York City as the founder and editor of the New-York Tribune, one of the most influential newspapers of the 19th century. Greeley used the Tribune to advocate for social reforms, including abolitionism, women’s rights, and workers’ rights. His journalistic style and strong opinions shaped public discourse and political thought in the city and beyond. He was born in Amherst, New Hampshire on February 3, 1811.

15. Earl Silas Tupper was born on July 28, 1907 in Berlin, New Hampshire. If his last name sounds familiar, it’s because he was the inventor of Tupperware.

16. The novelist John Irving has had several books turned into movies, including The World According to Garp, A Prayer for Owen Meany, and The Cider House Rules, for which he was award the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay. He was born in Exeter, New Hampshire on March 2, 1942.

17. The hermitic and problematic The Catcher in the Rye and Nine Stories author J.D. Salinger was not born in New Hampshire, but spent several decades in recluse in Cornish until his death in 2010.

18. From her hit single “Candy” to her hit television series This Is Us, singer, songwriter, and actor Mandy Moore has demonstrated versatility and talent that has made her a beloved figure in a 20-year career as a performer. She was born in Nashua, New Hampshire on April 10, 1984.

19. GG Allin was an American punk rock musician known for his extreme and often violent stage performances, which included acts of self-mutilation, defecation, and physical confrontations with audience members. Born August 29, 1956 in Lancaster, New Hampshire, he gained notoriety in the underground music scene for his confrontational persona and his music, which challenged social norms and conventions. Allin’s life and career were marked by controversy, and he became a cult figure in punk rock, representing the chaotic and rebellious spirit of the genre.

Topography & geography of New Hampshire

20. Originally incorporated in 1734 as the Town of Rumford and changed to its current name in 1765, Concord is the state capital of New Hampshire.

21. Manchester is the largest city in New Hampshire. In addition to the capital of Concord, other major cities include Nashua, Rochester, and Derry.

22. At 6,288 feet above sea level, Mount Washington isn’t just the highest point in the state of New Hampshire, it’s the highest point in all of the Northeastern United States.

23. Being a coastal state, it makes sense that the lowest point in New Hampshire is the Atlantic Ocean, which is obviously zero feet above sea level

24. Driving clear across New Hampshire is about 190 miles from north to south and a mere 68 miles from east to west.

25. New Hampshire is a relatively small state. At just 9,350 square miles, it’s the 46th biggest state out of the 50 nifty.

26. Hikers who enjoy a bit of a challenge may want to make their way up the 3,165-foot Mount Monadnock, a popular destination for outdoor enthusiasts.

27. The Connecticut River flows 410 miles through New Hampshire, as well as Massachusetts, Vermont, and Connecticut. and is the longest river in the Northeastern United States. Much of it forms the western boundary of New Hampshire with Vermont.

28. For such a small state, New Hampshire has about 40 rivers that total a remarkable 41,800 miles.

29. New Hampshire shares their borders with Maine, Massachusetts, and Vermont.

30. Lake Winnipesaukee is the largest of New Hampshire’s approximately 1,300 lakes and ponds. At 72 square miles, it’s a pretty popular tourist location.

What are the state symbols of New Hampshire?

31. In 2009, the awesome 7th-graders at Ross A. Lurgio Middle School in Bedford, New Hampshire got the awesome idea to designate the chinook as the official state dog, since it’s the only breed entirely originating in the state. Look at what a good fucking boy this boy is! Yes he is!

32. Winter sports are pretty popular in New Hampshire, and they made skiing the official sport in 1998. Skiing also happens to be one of the official winter sports of Colorado, along with snowboarding.

33. In 1985, New Hampshire went on a bit of a geology run with their state symbols. Beryl was named the official mineral, granite was designated the official rock, and the smokey quartz was officially declared the state gem of New Hampshire.

34. The white-tailed deer is a pretty popular choice for a state symbol. In addition to New Hampshire, it’s also been designated by Arkansas and Illinois and Michigan and Mississippi and Nebraska and Ohio and Oklahoma and Pennsylvania and South Carolina and also Wisconsin!

35. Pumpkins have been the official state fruit of New Hampshire since 2006, with annual pumpkin festivals having been held in the state for decades now. It’s also been the official squash of Texas since 2013, and the official pie of Illinois since 2016.

36. The blackberry was named the official berry of New Hampshire in 2017. It’s also the state fruit of Kentucky and Alabama.

37. In 1947, New Hampshire designated the American white birch as the official state tree.

38. New Hampshire already designated the purple finch as the official state bird in 1957, but that did not stop a group of eager junior high school students from aggressively push to have the red-tail hawk as the official state raptor in 2019, the only state other than Idaho to have one.

Where should I visit in New Hampshire?

39. The Currier Museum of Art is in Manchester, New Hampshire and this place is a downright delight for art lovers that includes two complete Frank Lloyd Wright homes: the Zimmerman House and the Toufic H. Kalil House. You’ll also find works from heavyweights like Henri Matisse, Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso, Georgia O’Keefe, and John Singer Sargent.

40. Portsmouth, New Hampshire is the oldest neighborhood remaining in the city, and the Strawbery Banke Museum will be all too happy to share its history with you. The outdoor local history museum shares what life was like 350 years ago through re-enactors and tours of its historic houses.

41. Madame Sherri was like the Jay Gatsby of New Hampshire, an eccentric who threw lavish parties at her castle that were attended by the social elite. The castle was known for its unique architecture, featuring grand staircases and stone arches. After falling into disrepair and being damaged by fire in 1962, only the stone foundation and part of the spiral staircase remain. The site is now a popular, hauntingly beautiful hiking destination, attracting visitors intrigued by its history and mystique.

42. Space science enthusiasts will love the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center in Concord, dedicated to two New Hampshire astronauts Christa McAuliffe and Alan Shepard. In addition to a full-sized replica of a space rocket and a full-dome planetarium, they even have memorabilia from the Star Trek films and television series.

43. Salem, New Hampshire features what’s known as America’s Stonehenge, which is probably most likely the oldest man-man construction in the United States. These curiously-placed rocks on the land actually function as an astronomical calendar, though we have no idea if they were built by white Europeans or the Native Americans who inhabited the land before colonization. Regardless, it’s remarkable.

44. The American Classic Arcade Museum is in the Funspot in Laconia, New Hampshire, with 180 video game machines from before 1988 and the Boston Globe once called it “the Louvre of the 8-bit world.”

45. The Andres Institute of Art and Sculpture Garden in Brookline, New Hampshire features like 100 different sculptures from a variety of different artists invited to build and place their sculptures on the mountain. It’s a refreshing way of marrying art and nature.

46. The oldest natural history museum in New Hampshire is the Libby Museum located in Wolfeboro and opened in 1912. The collection includes example specimens of local flora and fauna, and it’s open from June through October.

Fun, cool, interesting & weird New Hampshire facts

47. Like Alaska, Delaware, Montana, and Oregon, New Hampshire has no sales tax, making the state an ideal destination for the New England thrifty.

48. The Dublin Juvenile Library opened in the town of Dublin, New Hampshire in 1882 and was the first free public library in the United States.

49. Nashua, New Hampshire became the first modern city to host an integrated professional baseball team when the Brooklyn Dodgers assigned Roy Campanella and Don Newcombe to the minor league Nashua Dodgers.

50. The New Hampshire Pumpkin Festival Riot of 2014 marked a profoundly disappointing chapter in what was supposed to be a joyful community event in Keene. What began as a celebration of tradition and local pride devolved into chaos, as the crowds — and the police’s response to them — shattered the festival’s spirit with acts of destruction. The vandalism, clashes with police, and widespread disorder left a stain on the event, overshadowing the town’s hard-earned reputation and leading to a somber reflection on what was lost in that day of turmoil.

51. Sarah Josepha Hale of Newport, New Hampshire was the first women’s magazine editor in the United States, overseeing Ladies Magazine from 1828-36 and using her tenure to advocate for women and American literature.

52. The granite rock formation naturally carved into the cliff ledges on Cannon Mountain in Franconia, New Hampshire known as The Old Man of the Mountain has been an icon of the state and even featured on the official state quarter. But on May 3, 2003, the damn thing unfortunately actually totally collapsed, a result of centuries and centuries of nature taking its natural course.

53. A lot of skiing history has been made in New Hampshire, including the creation of the first downhill racing slalom course at Dartmouth College in 1925, and the invention of the first cable ski lift in 1935.

54. New Hampshire is one of three states — in addition to Illinois and Iowa — to not have a law requiring one to wear a motorcycle helmet. Which is honestly pretty fucking stupid and we encourage everyone to clickhere and buy a motorcycle helmet whether they need one or not.

Cover Image Credit: Image by David from Pixabay

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