All About New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a constituent state of the United States of America. One of the 13 original U.S. states, it is located in New England at the extreme northeastern corner of the nation. With an area of 9,279 square miles (24,032 square km), it is bounded on the north by the Canadian province of Quebec, on the east by Maine and a 16-mile (25-km) stretch of the Atlantic Ocean, on the south by Massachusetts, and on the west by Vermont. The capital is Concord, located in the south-central part of the state.
The Granite State, as New Hampshire is popularly known, is a study in contrasts. Since the late 19th century it has been among the half-dozen most industrialized states in the Union, yet it is frequently portrayed as agricultural and pastoral. Vermont and New Hampshire supposedly constitute a ''Yankee Kingdom'' dominated by WASPs (white Anglo-Saxon Protestants), yet the state has a large population of residents with French-Canadian, German, Italian, Polish, and other non-English ancestors. Its political reputation is probusiness and conservative, yet the single largest internal source of state funds is a business profits tax. New Hampshire's regional subdivisions are so distinct that numerous people have suggested it be divided in thirds, with roughly equal parts being added to Maine, Vermont, and Massachusetts.
Despite these contrasts, the state has developed a distinct identity. Central to that identity is the image of governmental frugality: New Hampshire has no general sales or individual income taxes but still manages regularly to have a budget surplus. Frugality at the state level has accentuated the dispersal of responsibility to towns. Although town governments exist in all the New England states, in no state do they carry as much authority as in New Hampshire. Still another component of that identity is a craggy adherence to tradition, long powerfully symbolized by the rock profile in Franconia Notch known as the Old Man of the Mountain; the rock outcropping collapsed in 2003. The combination of frugality, decentralization, traditionalism, industrialization, ethnicity, and geographic diversity makes New Hampshire very attractive to many Americans. East of the Mississippi, only Florida and Delaware have outpaced it in rate of population growth since 1950.
The mountains are the most striking feature of New Hampshire's landscape. There are about 1,500 classified elevations, including eight mountains rising more than a mile in altitude, 61 rising more than three-quarters of a mile in height, and 157 with an elevation of a half mile or more. The best-known is Mount Washington, at 6,288 feet (1,917 metres) the third highest peak in the nation east of the Mississippi River. The mean elevation of the state is about 1,000 feet (305 metres) above sea level.
The historic shoemaking, woodworking, apparel, and textile industries have declined in productivity and employment, while space-age industries have grown rapidly. Among nonmanufacturing industries that also have grown significantly are public utilities, insurance and banking, medical and health service establishments, miscellaneous business services, and wholesale and retail trades. Tourism is also of major importance. The state ranks low in commercial fishing yields but has marketable catches of lobsters and deep-sea fish.
An organized effort began in 1925 to publicize New Hampshire as a tourist area, and this effort has steadily expanded. With the increase in popularity of winter sports following World War II, New Hampshire became as attractive to visitors in the cold months as it had been in the summer. Recreation and tourism are important parts of the cultural pattern of the state. New Hampshire has some 30 ski areas, many of which operate their lifts in the summer for sightseers. There are more than 200 youth camps and more than 70 golf courses. Historical sites throughout the state include restored colonial homes and Fort Constitution at New Castle. There are more than 30 state parks and more than 800,000 acres (324,000 hectares) of publicly owned forest preserves.
The New Hampshire railroad network is now barely one-fourth its former length. Hundreds of miles of right-of-way have been abandoned, and there is no passenger service except on a six-mile cog railway on Mount Washington. The line opened in 1869 as the first construction of its kind in the world, and it is now used to carry tourists behind steam locomotives during the summer. As the railroad disappeared, the bus and highway systems of the state greatly increased. Several branches of the interstate highway system have given New Hampshire residents easy access to the major metropolitan areas of the Northeast. Regularly scheduled commercial air carriers serve airports in Keene, Lebanon, and Manchester; New Hampshire also has dozens of smaller landing strips for private planes. The transportation system as a whole makes it possible for many people to live in New Hampshire while working out of state and for the important tourist industry to function smoothly.
