New Hampshire

New Hampshire is a small U.S. state in northern New England. It is located east of Vermont, north of Massachusetts, south of Quebec, Canada, and west of Maine and the North Atlantic Ocean. The state ranks 46th of the 50 states in land area (23,249 km2) and 41st in population (around 1.3 million by a 2003 U.S. Census Bureau estimate). It is the site of the New Hampshire primary, the first primary in the U.S. presidential elections, and has probably the most famous of all state mottos: "Live free or die," quoted from Revolutionary War hero John Stark's response to a letter honoring him for the Battle of Bennington.

Important cities and towns

• Manchester, is the most populous city in the state giving it the nickname of the "Queen City." The Merrimack River runs through the city and once provided water power to a textile mill industry.
• Nashua, the second-most-populous city, was twice named the best city in the country to live by Money magazine.
• Keene is still called "The Elm City" despite the fact that Dutch elm disease destroyed most of the city's elm trees in the 1930s. Keene is the home to Keene State College.
• Salem contains The Mall at Rockingham Park, frequented by Massachusetts residents to avoid paying sales tax; Canobie Lake Park, an amusement park; and Rockingham Park, New England's first racetrack for horses.
• Peterborough is the inspiration for the town of Grover's Corners portrayed in Thornton Wilder's play Our Town.
• Lebanon is known as "The City of Fountains." It contains Lebanon College and the Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center and is the location of many malls along the Connecticut River that draw Vermont shoppers avoiding that state's sales tax.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• Concord
• Derry
• Portsmouth
• Rochester
• Durham
• Loudon
• Littleton
• Claremont
• Dover
• Merrimack

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• Bedford
• Londonderry
• Hudson
• Hampton
• Milford
• Hanover
• New London
• Randolph
• Tilton
• Franklin

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

10 Largest Towns/Cities in New Hampshire According to 2000 Census

* While Census records may seem to indicate that two separate Census Districts exist for this community, in fact one district is contained entirely within the other.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~