The land now called New Hampshire has been inhabited for approximately 12,000 years. For centuries, bands of prehistoric Native American Indians migrated on a seasonal basis along New Hampshire's rivers and lake shores, variously fishing, hunting, gathering wild nuts and berries, and planting crops. The place that we now call New Hampshire was originally populated by Native Americans, among them the Amoskeag, Abenaki, Pennacook and the Sokoki. They lived in sprawling villages and grew corn, in addition to trading furs and fish.

Geographies sometimes speak of the state as the "Mother of Rivers." Five of the great streams of New England originate in its granite hills. The Connecticut River rises in the northern part, and for nearly one hundred miles of its winding course hems the shores of the state with a "broad seam of silver." The Pemigewasset River starts in the Profile Lake in the Franconia mountains and joins the Winnipesaukee at Franklin to form the Merrimack, which at one time turned more spindles than any other river in the world.

The Cocheco and Salmon Falls rivers join at Dover to form the Piscataqua. High above the Franconia Notch gateway to northern New Hampshire there is an old man; a learned philosopher from one of the most remarkable wonders of the mountain world- The Old Man of the Mountain or the Profile, jutting cliffs that formed the "Great Stone Face" that inspired Nathaniel Hawthorne's story.

Old Man of the Mountain

One of the New England Colonies, NEW HAMPSHIRE started out as a Proprietary colony but it became a Royal colony in 1679. New Hampshire is commonly known as the Granite State, and of late years by some writers is called the Queen State. The White Mountains are the natural feature which has the widest fame.

New Hampshire bodies of water cover one hundred and fifteen thousand acres and vary from small ponds to Lake Winnipesaukee, which is twenty-two miles long and eight miles wide. No state grows apples of finer flavor than come from the hillsides of New Hampshire. Strawberries, blueberries, peaches and products of the garden are grown in great quantities and shipped hundreds of miles.

Portsmouth, the only sea city, has an historic past and a prosperous present with its large navy yard. New Castle is a place of romance and aesthetic beauty and adventure. A large part of the Isles of Shoals in Portsmouth harbor belongs to New Hampshire, with their cottages and hotels. Lobster fishermen find the Isles of Shoals and the New Hampshire coast favorable areas for taking this famous sea food. The state highways are as fine as any state can boast of and are kept in excellent driving condition the yeare round.

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