70 Fun Facts About New Hampshire

What is the official state motto of New Hampshire?

The phrase comes from a toast a Revolutionary War general sent to a Battle of Bennington reunion in 1809; it did not become the official motto until 1945.

Which city is the capital of New Hampshire?

The State House there was completed in 1819 and is the oldest U.S. state capitol in which the legislature still meets in its original chambers.

What is the most populous city in New Hampshire?

With about 115,000 residents at the 2020 census it dwarfs every other city in the state, and its old textile mills now house tech firms.

New Hampshire's ratifying vote put the U.S. Constitution into effect. It was which state to ratify?

Article VII required nine states, so New Hampshire's vote on June 21, 1788 was the one that made the Constitution operative.

New Hampshire has the shortest ocean coastline of any U.S. state. Roughly how long is it?

Even so, it packs in the port of Portsmouth, a string of beach resorts and the state's share of the Isles of Shoals.

Which of these taxes does New Hampshire NOT levy?

The state has neither a general sales tax nor a broad income tax, which is why residents of neighbouring states drive over to shop.

What is New Hampshire's official nickname?

The nickname refers to its extensive granite formations and quarries; the Old Man of the Mountain was itself a stack of granite ledges.

Which Canadian province borders New Hampshire to the north?

The state also borders Massachusetts and Vermont, and its far north was briefly a self-declared independent republic in the 1830s.

What is New Hampshire's state bird?

The state flower is also purple: the purple lilac, adopted as a symbol of the hardy character of the state's people.

New Hampshire's state fruit is a Halloween staple. Which is it?

The state also lists skiing as its official sport, the ladybug as its insect and the red-spotted newt as its amphibian.

On January 5, 1776, New Hampshire became the first colony to do what?

That was almost six months before the Declaration of Independence was signed in Philadelphia.

The colony that became New Hampshire was named in 1629 after a county in which country?

Hampshire is the county on England's south coast that contains Southampton and Winchester.

The New Hampshire legislature has an unusual official name. What is it?

Its lower house is by far the largest of any U.S. state, yet its members are paid almost nothing.

How many members sit in the New Hampshire House, the largest lower house of any U.S. state?

The runner-up, Pennsylvania's House, has 203 members; only the U.S. House, the British House of Commons and India's Lok Sabha are bigger in the English-speaking world.

What annual salary does a member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives receive?

The pay is set by the state constitution at $200 per two-year term plus mileage, which is why the chamber is full of retirees.

New Hampshire has held the first presidential primary in the nation since what year?

The primary itself dates to 1916; a 1952 law let voters pick candidates directly rather than delegates, which is when the contest became a national spectacle.

New Hampshire law requires its primary to be at least how many days before any similar contest?

The statute lets the secretary of state pick the date, which is how the state has leapfrogged every challenger for a century.

Which tiny New Hampshire hamlet opens its polls at midnight to cast the primary's first ballots?

The tradition began in 1960 in the ballroom of The Balsams resort; with so few voters the polls usually close again within ten minutes.

Mount Washington is the highest peak in the northeastern United States. How tall is it?

It sits in the Presidential Range and its Abenaki name is Agiocochook; the summit hut markets itself as the home of the world's worst weather.

What record wind speed did the Mount Washington Observatory record in April 1934?

The record fell in 1996 to a gust measured during a tropical cyclone on Barrow Island, Australia; Mount Washington still holds the mark for a manned station.

Which Mount Washington cirque is the Northeast's best-known spring backcountry ski spot?

Skiers hike up carrying their gear because there are no lifts; the bowl's headwall reaches pitches of around 55 degrees.

The Mount Washington Auto Road opened to the public in 1861. Which came along eight years later, in 1869?

The Cog Railway was the world's first mountain-climbing rack railway, and its 37% maximum grade makes it the second-steepest on Earth after Switzerland's Pilatus line.

Which inventor built the Mount Washington rack railway after a legislator's moon joke?

Marsh had made his fortune in Chicago meatpacking; construction reached the summit in July 1869, and the line has run steam locomotives ever since.

On which mountain did the Old Man of the Mountain rock profile sit before it collapsed?

The face was five granite ledges about 40 feet tall in Franconia Notch; the peak also has North America's first aerial passenger tramway, opened in 1938.

In what year did the Old Man of the Mountain finally crumble and fall?

It fell on the night of May 3; the state had spent decades pinning it together with cables and turnbuckles.

Which author drew on the Old Man of the Mountain for the 1850 short story 'The Great Stone Face'?

The profile has been the official state emblem since 1945 and still appears on route signs and the state quarter, two decades after it fell.

In what year was New Hampshire's state quarter, showing the Old Man of the Mountain, released?

The coin came out three years before the profile collapsed, making it one of the few state quarters depicting a landmark that no longer exists.

Which Revolutionary War general's 1809 toast later became New Hampshire's motto?

The toast ended 'Death is not the worst of evils'; Stark sent it in writing because poor health kept him from attending.

What was the religion of George Maynard, who covered part of his New Hampshire plate motto and won in 1977?

The 7-2 decision in Wooley v. Maynard held that the state could not force drivers to display a message they found objectionable.

What is the largest body of fresh water in New Hampshire?

It covers about 69 square miles and holds at least 264 islands; the paddle steamer that has cruised it since 1872 is named for the state's highest mountain.

On which New Hampshire lake was most of the 1981 film On Golden Pond shot?

A few boating scenes were filmed on the much larger lake next door, but the loons and the cabin belong to Squam, in the town of Holderness.

Which New Hampshire city hosts Motorcycle Week, a rally at Weirs Beach whose origins go back to 1916?

A 1965 riot between bikers and police put the rally on the national news; it now runs nine days each June around the second and third weekends.

Who is the only U.S. president born in New Hampshire?

The 14th president chose to affirm rather than swear his oath of office, and he was the youngest man yet elected when he took office in 1853.

The only president born in New Hampshire arrived in a log cabin in which town?

Weeks before his inauguration his 11-year-old son Benjamin was killed in a train derailment in front of him, a loss that shadowed his whole term.

Which New Hampshire native, born in Derry, became the first American in space on May 5, 1961?

Ten years later he commanded Apollo 14, becoming at 47 the oldest man to walk on the Moon, and hit two golf balls with a makeshift six-iron.

Which social studies teacher from a New Hampshire high school was chosen from more than 11,000 applicants for NASA's Teacher in Space Project?

She died when Challenger broke apart 73 seconds after launch in January 1986; her hometown opened a discovery center in her name in 1990.

The 1944 conference that created the IMF and World Bank was held in which New Hampshire town?

Some 730 delegates from 44 Allied nations spent three weeks there, with John Maynard Keynes and Harry Dexter White chairing the two main commissions.

Dartmouth College, New Hampshire's Ivy League school, is located in which town?

It was chartered in 1769, one of nine colonial colleges founded before the Revolution, and named for William Legge, 2nd Earl of Dartmouth.

Which programming language was created at Dartmouth College in 1964 by John Kemeny and Thomas Kurtz?

The first program ran on May 1, 1964; the language later shipped with almost every home computer of the 1980s.

Which New Hampshire-born statesman argued the Dartmouth College case before the Supreme Court in 1819?

A Dartmouth graduate of 1801, he went on to serve as secretary of state under three presidents and negotiated the 1842 treaty that fixed the disputed border with British Canada.

Robert Frost wrote much of his best-known verse on a farm in Derry, but where was he actually born?

His 1923 collection titled 'New Hampshire' won the first of his four Pulitzer Prizes and includes 'Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening'.

Which magazine editor wrote 'Mary Had a Little Lamb' and lobbied Lincoln for a national Thanksgiving?

Born in Newport, New Hampshire, she edited Godey's Lady's Book for forty years, making it the most influential women's magazine of its era.

Which New Hampshire town established the first tax-supported free public library in the US, in 1833?

The same town hosts the MacDowell Colony artists' retreat, where Thornton Wilder wrote Our Town and modelled Grover's Corners on his surroundings.

Which two-wheeled invention did Dean Kamen's New Hampshire company unveil in New York's Bryant Park in December 2001?

Kamen's DEKA research firm occupies old textile mills in the state's largest city; the self-balancing transporter was discontinued in 2020.

Which boot and outdoor-wear brand has its corporate headquarters in Stratham, New Hampshire?

Its iconic yellow waterproof boot debuted in 1973; VF Corporation bought the company for about $2 billion in 2011.

Which SNL cast member of 1990-95 grew up in New Hampshire's largest city from age six?

He was born in Brooklyn and went to high school in the city; his production company Happy Madison is named after two of his early films.

Which Late Night host and former SNL head writer grew up in Bedford, New Hampshire?

He was born in Evanston, Illinois, graduated from high school in the state's largest city and anchored Weekend Update before taking over Late Night in 2014.

The New Hampshire Fisher Cats are the Double-A affiliate of which Major League Baseball team?

The team arrived in 2004 after playing as the New Haven Ravens; the fisher is a weasel-family predator that locals call a fisher cat.

The Kancamagus Highway is named after the last sagamore of which Native confederacy?

The 'Kanc' opened in 1959 when two dead-end roads were joined; it crests at 2,855-foot Kancamagus Pass between Lincoln and Conway.

Which New Hampshire-raised alpine skier won six Olympic medals, the most of any American skier?

He learned to race in Franconia Notch and finally won gold in the super combined at Vancouver in 2010, after overall World Cup titles in 2005 and 2008.

Which English explorer named the Isles of Shoals, off the New Hampshire coast, after himself in 1614?

The nine islands straddle the state line with its northern neighbour; Star Island, in the town of Rye, is the only one reachable by commercial boat.

The Treaty of Portsmouth, brokered by Theodore Roosevelt in 1905, ended which war?

Roosevelt's mediation earned him the 1906 Nobel Peace Prize, the first ever awarded to an American.

Despite its name, the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard is actually located in which state?

It sits on Seavey's Island in Kittery, across the Piscataqua River; John Paul Jones's ship Ranger was built on nearby Badger's Island.

Under what name, after a wild riverbank fruit, was Portsmouth, New Hampshire first settled?

The name survives at the Strawbery Banke Museum, a neighbourhood of several dozen restored historic homes near the waterfront.

Which town was New Hampshire's capital for 14 years after records were seized from Portsmouth in 1775?

The town is also home to Phillips Exeter Academy, founded in 1781, and by one account hosted the secret 1853 meeting that gave birth to the Republican Party.

New Hampshire's State House, completed in 1819, holds what distinction among U.S. capitols?

Its main chamber has to seat the largest lower house of any state, which is why Representatives Hall is packed shoulder to shoulder.

Whose mills on New Hampshire's Merrimack River were once the world's largest cotton textile plant?

The town, chartered as Derryfield in 1751, took its later name when merchant Samuel Blodget imagined a rival to the great English mill city.

The University of New Hampshire's main campus, home of the Wildcats, is in which town?

The school opened in 1866 as a land-grant college next to Dartmouth and moved to its current home in 1893 after farmer Benjamin Thompson left it his estate.

New Hampshire is the only U.S. state without a law requiring what?

The seat belt law covers only drivers and passengers aged 17 and under; the state also declines to require motorcycle helmets for adults.

New Hampshire Motor Speedway, the 'Magic Mile' that hosts NASCAR Cup Series racing, is in which town?

The oval opened in June 1990 and measures 1.058 miles, so the nickname is only slightly generous.

Which famously reclusive author moved to Cornish, New Hampshire in 1953 and died there in 2010 at age 91?

He had published The Catcher in the Rye only two years before the move and released almost nothing for the rest of his life.

Where did a 1933 Supreme Court ruling place New Hampshire's border with its western neighbour?

That means the Connecticut River itself belongs to New Hampshire, which has occasionally complicated bridge maintenance and taxation.

What was the unrecognized mini-nation run by settlers in what is now Pittsburg, New Hampshire, from 1832 to 1835?

Its people were caught in an ambiguity in the 1783 Treaty of Paris over the Connecticut River's source; the Webster-Ashburton Treaty of 1842 finally settled the line.

What sled dog breed developed in Wonalancet is New Hampshire's official state dog?

By 1981 only eleven breedable dogs remained; the American Kennel Club finally recognised the breed in 2013 as its 176th.

Interstate 93 through Franconia Notch needed a special act of Congress. Why?

The parkway design spared the notch's scenery from a full four-lane freeway; the Old Man of the Mountain looked down on it until the profile collapsed.

Which New Hampshire seaside state park was named one of four US 'Superstar' beaches in 2011?

The resort village also stages an annual seafood festival, begun in 1988, and a sand sculpture competition that dates from 2001.

Which southwestern New Hampshire peak gave geomorphology its word for an isolated peak?

A 'monadnock' is any lone peak rising from an eroded plain; the original is said to be among the most climbed mountains in the world.

How many counties does New Hampshire have?

The state also has 234 cities and towns, with its population centre in Pembroke, Merrimack County.

Which nuclear plant is the largest single electricity generating unit on the New England grid?

Despite hosting it, New Hampshire has some of the lowest energy consumption per capita in the country.

Who settled at Odiorne's Point in present-day Rye in 1623?

The first permanent settlement, though, was at Hilton's Point, today's Dover; by 1631 the Upper Plantation took in Dover, Durham and Stratham.