New Hampshire Counties
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New Hampshire Counties

There are currently ten Counties in the state of New Hampshire. Five of the counties were created in 1769, when New Hampshire was still an English colony and not a state, during the first subdivision of the state into counties. The last counties created were Belknap County and Carroll County, in 1840.
 

New Hampshire Counties: History and Information

Find a brief history of New Hampshire CountiesBrief history of New Hampshire Counties: Flags of Our Nation

New Hampshire was named in 1629 by Captain John Mason of Plymouth Council for his home county in England. Algonquian-speaking peoples, including the Pennacook, lived in the region when the Europeans arrived. The first explorers in the area were England's Martin Pring in 1603 and France's Champlain in 1605. The first settlement was established at Odiorne's Point (now the port of Rye, New Hampshire).

Native American conflicts were ended in 1759 by Robert Rogers' Rangers. In 1774, before the American Revolution, New Hampshire residents seized a British fort at Portsmouth, and drove out the royal governor. In 1776 New Hampshire was the first colony to adopt its own constitution. Three regiments served in the Continental Army, and scores of privateers raided British shipping. New Hampshire did not adopt a state flag until 1909. Prior to that time, numerous regimental flags served to represent the state. The New Hampshire flag consists of the state seal centered on a blue field and surrounded by a wreath of laurel leaves with nine stars interspersed. New Hampshire was the ninth of the original thirteen states to ratify the Constitution

Find a brief history of New Hampshire Counties
County 2000
Population
Square
Miles
County Seat Created
Belknap County 56,325 401 Laconia 1840
Carroll County 43,666 934 Ossipee 1840
Cheshire County 73,825 708 Keene 1769
Coos County 33,111 1,801 Lancaster 1803
Grafton County 81,743 1,714 North Haverhill 1769
Hillsborough County 380,841 876 Nashua 1769
Merrimack County 136,225 934 Concord 1823
Rockingham County 277,359 695 Brentwood 1769
Strafford County 112,233 369 Dover 1769
Sullivan County 40,458 537 Newport 1827


County Resources
US Counties
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