Outline of New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a New England state of the United States that is noted for its natural beauty and year-round outdoor activities. In summer, vacationers flock to the state's rugged mountains, blue lakes, sandy beaches, and quiet villages. In the fall, visitors tour the countryside ablaze with red, orange, and yellow leaves. In winter, skiers race down snow-covered slopes and then warm themselves near crackling fires in friendly ski lodges.
The scenic beauty and other attractions bring millions of tourists from many parts of the world to tiny New Hampshire, and give the state a major source of income. But New Hampshire is more than a vacation wonderland. New Hampshire is the home of freedom-loving, industrious people who built a prosperous state and helped form a nation.
New Hampshire was first settled in 1623, just three years after the Pilgrims landed in Massachusetts. Early New Hampshire settlers traded in fish, lumber, and furs. They soon carved farms out of a wilderness and worked the land for food. Later, the people turned their skills and their state's resources to industrial development. They cut down trees for the giant lumber and papermaking industries. They took minerals from the mountains and hills to start a mining industry. They used the rivers and lakes as sources of power for mills and factories. And they built ships along the state's small Atlantic coastline. In all, the people of New Hampshire changed a wilderness into a farming society, and then into a thriving industrial state.
New Hampshire and its people have played important roles in United States history. On Jan. 5, 1776, New Hampshire became the first of the 13 original colonies to adopt its own constitution. On June 21, 1788, it became the ninth state to ratify the United States Constitution. This act of ratification put the Constitution into effect. Since 1920, New Hampshire has held the nation's earliest presidential primary elections.
The U.S. Navy's first shipbuilding yard opened at Portsmouth in 1800. One of the country's first tax-supported public libraries was established at Peterborough in 1833. In 1853, Franklin Pierce of New Hampshire became the 14th President of the United States. Daniel Webster, a leading statesman and orator of the 1800's, was born in New Hampshire. So was Alan B. Shepard, Jr., the first American astronaut to travel in space. The great poet Robert Frost lived in New Hampshire for many years.
New Hampshire has 13 incorporated cities. Manchester is the largest. In addition to Manchester, New Hampshire's 12 other incorporated cities, in order of size, are Nashua, Concord (the capital), Rochester, Dover, Keene, Portsmouth, Laconia, Claremont, Lebanon, Somersworth, Berlin, and Franklin.
Visitors to New Hampshire enjoy a great variety of recreational activities in six major vacation areas: the White Mountains region, the Lakes region, the Seacoast region, the Merrimack Valley region, the Monadnock region, and the Dartmouth-Lake Sunapee region. The beautiful White Mountains, also in the north, attract skiers, hikers, campers, and sightseers. The skiing season generally lasts from mid-December to early April. The Lakes region of central New Hampshire provides fun for water-sports enthusiasts. The Seacoast region of the southeast has several beaches along the Atlantic Coast. Also in the south is the Merrimack Valley, where most of New Hampshire's chief cities are located. The Monadnock region, in the southwest, includes many natural beauty spots and some of the state's most interesting towns and villages. Many historic sites and educational institutions are in the Dartmouth-Lake Sunapee region in the west.
New Hampshire's large granite deposits give it the nickname of the Granite State. Concord is the capital of New Hampshire and Manchester is the largest city.
