New Hampshire Fun Facts

Being a New Hampshire Native I have learned to be a tourist in my own back yard. Living in the "Granite State" gives me access to both the ocean and the mountains. No matter the season there is always something interesting to do in New Hampshire.

Here are some NH Fun Facts to consider

• State Motto - "Live Free or Die"
• State Flower - Purple Lilac
• State Bird - Purple Finch
• State Butterfly - Karner Blue Butterfly
• State Amphibian - Adult Red-spotted Newt
• State Animal - White Tailed Deer
• State Tree- Paper Birch
• Known as the Granite State
• Covers 9,304.3 square miles
• 44^th in size out of 50 states
• 180 Miles from North to South
• Nearly 100 miles wide at Southern border with Massachusetts
• Highest Point - Mount Washington 6,288 ft above sea level
• Oldest man made tourist attraction - Mount Washington Auto Road
• First motorized ascent made by Feelan O Stanley, Stanley Steamer 1899
• Highest recorded wind speed on earth 231 mph on Mount Washington in 1934
• 48 peaks higher than 4,000 feet
• 17.8 Miles of coastline from Seabrook to Portsmouth
• 131 miles of tidal coastline
• Lake Winnepesaukee is New England's largest body of fresh water - 28 miles long
• Oldest summer resort - Wolfeboro
• Nearly 40,000 miles of streams and rivers
• 2,000 lakes and ponds
• Fall Foliage months - September and October
• Seacoast is the oldest settled region in the State
• First recorded landing 1602 by Englishman Captain Bartholomew Gosnold
• First European inhabitants established a settlement at Ordiorne Point in 1623. Later that same year a fishing village was established at Dover Point
• First to declare independence from England
• 9^th State in the union
• First American flag to be saluted by a foreign power flew on The Ranger which sailed from Portsmouth in 1777. The flag was sewn by Portsmouth women with fabric cut from their dresses
• First free public library opened in Peterborough in 1833
• First legal lottery in the 20^th century began in 1963
• Levi Hutchins invented the alarm clock in Concord in 1787
• Longest Covered bridge in US - Cornish at 460 feet
• Largest Township in New England - Pittsburg, nearly 370 square miles
• Oldest original legislature building (still in use) - 1819