Sullivan County
Washington, NH
( 06/05/2006 11:29 AM )
First granted in 1735, the town was one of the fort towns designated to protect the colonies from Indian attack, named Monadnock Number 8. In December 1776, the newly established American revolutionary government incorporated the town as Washington, in honor of General George Washington. It was the first town in the United States to bear the name.
Unity, NH
( 06/05/2006 11:45 AM )
First granted in 1753, this town was named Buckingham, after John Hobart, first Earl of Buckinghamshire. Grants of this area were given by the early Massachusetts government to settlers from Hampton and Kingston, and also by Governor Benning Wentworth, to settlers from Connecticut. Upon friendly resolution of the claim dispute in 1764, the town was renamed Unity.
Sunapee, NH
( 06/05/2006 11:50 AM )
Like many other towns, this one went through four name changes before its incorporation: Savile, Corey's Town, and then Wendell, for one of the Masonian proprietors, John Wendell. The name Sunapee was substituted for Wendell by the Legislature in 1850. The town, Lake Sunapee, and Mount Sunapee share the name which comes from the Algonquin Indian words suna, meaning goose, and apee, meaning lake. The Indians called the area Goose Lake because it was a favorite spot of wild geese. Sunapee includes the village of George's Mills.
Springfield, NH
( 06/05/2006 11:56 AM )
Granted to families all from Portsmouth and led by Captain John Fisher, brother-in-law to Governor John Wentworth, this town was first settled in 1769 as Protectworth. Captain Fisher, however, chose to side with Governor Wentworth in loyalty to England, and had all his holdings confiscated by the colonies. When the town was incorporated in 1794, the name Springfield was adopted, a name common to many American cities and towns.
Plainfield, NH
( 06/05/2006 11:59 AM )
Settled by a group from Plainfield, Connecticut, Plainfield is one of the towns granted by Governor Benning Wentworth in 1761 at the beginning of the reign of King George III. A part of Plainfield known as Meriden Parish, named for the farm of Massachusetts Governor Jonathan Belcher, became the site of Kimball Union Academy, built in 1813.
Newport, NH
( 06/05/2006 1:00 PM )
First settled in 1753, the town was named Grenville, after George Grenville, William Pitt's brother-in-law. In 1761, the town was incorporated as Newport, for Henry Newport, a distinguished English soldier and statesman. An early settler of the town was Gordon Buell, whose daughter, Sarah Josepha Buell Hale, was one of the first women editors in America. She edited the book "Poems for Children" that included Mary Had A Little Lamb. She was also known for a successful appeal to President Lincoln for creation of a national holiday to be known as Thanksgiving Day. Newport is the county seat of Sullivan County, and includes the villages of Kellyville and Guild.
Lempster, NH
( 06/05/2006 1:05 PM )
This town was originally granted in 1735 by Massachusetts Governor Belcher as Number 9, the ninth in a line of forts established to guard against Indian attacks. It was regranted in 1753 by Governor Benning Wentworth, as Dupplin, after Sir Thomas Hay, Lord Dupplin of Scotland, who had been in charge of the settlement of Nova Scotia. Following the Peace of Paris in 1761, when terms of many grants had not been carried out, the town was regranted as Lempster, named for Sir Thomas Fermor of Lempster, England, who was a Wentworth relation.
Langdon, NH
( 06/05/2006 1:07 PM )
Carved out of several adjacent towns, Langdon was named in honor of Governor John Langdon. Governor Langdon's political career included: delegation to the Constitutional Convention; serving on a committee with Benjamin Franklin and John Adams to secure military supplies for the American forces; serving as a member of the State senate; serving as speaker of the House of Representatives; serving as president pro-tem of the Senate in the first United State Congress; supervision of the canvass of electoral votes to elect Washington as President; and eight terms as Governor of New Hampshire.
Grantham, NH
( 06/05/2006 1:10 PM )
Named for Thomas Robinson, first Baron Grantham, friend of Governor Wentworth, an active supporter of American independence, and known as a diplomat in Europe. He was present at the negotiations leading to the 1748 signing of the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle that ended the War of Austrian Succession, of which the French and Indian War in the Americas were a side struggle. Later, the Baron was one of Great Britain's first postmaster-generals.
Goshen, NH
( 06/05/2006 1:12 PM )
First settled in 1768 as part of Saville, now Sunapee. The town was incorporated in 1791, with portions of territory from Newbury, Lempster, Unity, Newport, and Sunapee. It was named Goshen, probably because many residents had relatives in Goshen, Connecticut, and had served in a Revolutionary regiment with soldiers from that same town.
Croydon, NH
( 06/05/2006 1:14 PM )
Named for a suburb of London, the location of a palace under which several archbishops of Canterbury were buried. Among the grantees was Captain Stephen Hall, whose grandson Samuel Read Hall (b. 1795) developed plans resulting in the present American school system. Professor Hall was reputed to be the first teacher to use a blackboard.
Cornish, NH
( 06/05/2006 1:17 PM )
Established in 1763, the town was once known as Mast Camp, because it was the shipping point for the tall masts floated down the river by the English. It was named for Sir Samuel Cornish, a distinguished admiral of the Royal Navy. Cornish is now a well-known summer resort for artists and writers, with residents including Maxfield Parish and Augustus Saint-Gaudens.
Claremont, NH
( 06/05/2006 1:19 PM )
Named in honor of Thomas Pelham Holles, Earl of Clare and Duke of Newcastle, builder of Claremont Castle, and a cousin to Governor Benning Wentworth. The original grant was a six-mile square area bordering the Connecticut River. Claremont was incorporated as a city by popular vote in 1947. It is the home of New Hampshire's first Roman Catholic Church, built in 1823.
Charlestown, NH
( 06/05/2006 1:22 PM )
Named in honor of Admiral Sir Charles Knowles of the British Navy, then governor of Jamaica. Charlestown was originally the site of Number Four, the fourth in a line of forts on the Connecticut River border established as trading posts. A reproduction of Fort Number Four is now a historical site. A historical marker commemorating the fort was erected in 1958— the second such marker erected in the NH Historical Marker Program.
Acworth, NH
( 06/05/2006 1:25 PM )
Acworth was first chartered in 1752 as Burnet, in honor of William Burnet, colonial governor of Massachusetts and New Hampshire in 1728. However, no settlements were made under this charter. In 1766, the town was regranted under the name Acworth, honoring Sir Jacob Acworth of the British Admiralty, who had Portsmouth shipping interests.