Community Profiles

Maps of Portsmouth, New Hampshire

Maps of Portsmouth Following is a list of map titles and descriptions that can be viewed and downloaded as PDF files. They were produced using data from Portsmouth's geographic information system (GIS)on such topics as: recycling routes, park locations, zoning, snow removal routes, school districts, voting locations, historic districts, constructions projects, and more. Read more ...

Portsmouth, NH

This territory was a part of the original land grant to John Mason and Francisco Gorges in 1622. A township grant was issued by the council of Plymouth (MA) in 1631 which covered what is now Portsmouth and the harbor, Greenland, Rye, New Castle, and Newington... Read more ...

Dover, NH

For the first fifty years of New Hampshire history, Dover was one of only three communities established in what is now New Hampshire. Settled in 1623 on the banks of the Piscataqua River, Dover was first called Hilton's Point, named after Edward Hilton, who procured for himself the Dover and Squamscot Patent in 1629. The town was also known by the Indian names of Newichwannock (place of wigwams) and Cocheco; and briefly called Bristol and North-ham before permanently becoming Dover. The settlement was an independent government until 1641, when residents agreed to be annexed to Massachusetts; the town returned to New Hampshire when provincial status was restored by King George II in 1741. Dover's location on the Piscataqua and Cocheco Rivers made it a thriving center of trading and manufacturing. Dover was incorporated as a city in 1855. Read more ...

Durham, NH

Durham started as a parish of Dover called Oyster River Plantation, first settled in 1669. Durham was incorporated in 1732, probably to honor the first Puritan bishop, Richard Barnes, Bishop of Durham. Durham included what is now Lee until 1766, when that town was incorporated. Benjamin Thompson, descendant of an early settler, bequeathed the family estate, the Warner Farm, to be used for establishment of an agricultural college. The state agricultural school, originally set up in Hanover in 1866, was moved to Durham in 1890, becoming the University of New Hampshire in 1923. Read more ...

Epping, NH

This was one of the last towns chartered by Massachusetts Governor Jonathan Belcher prior to the establishment of New Hampshire as an independent province. Once a parish of Exeter, Epping was incorporated as a separate town in 1741. It was probably named for Epping Forest, a suburb of London used by royalty for deer hunting, which was likely familiar to Governor Belcher. Epping was the home of three of New Hampshire's governors: William Plumer (1759-1850), David Morril (1772-1849), and Benjamin Franklin Prescott (1833-1895). Read more ...

Exeter, NH

Exeter was one of the four original towns established in New Hampshire, and was first settled in 1638 as Squamscott. It was given the name Exeter by the settlement's managers, known as the Exeter Combination. The riverside location of the town made it a shipbuilding center and West Indies trading port. Exeter's charter included the present-day towns of Epping, Newmarket, Newfields, and Brentwood. Exeter was the birthplace of Daniel Chester French, sculptor of the figure of Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial. Both the Phillips Exeter Academy, endowed by Colonel John Phillips in 1781, and the American Independence Museum are located in Exeter. Read more ...

Greenland, NH

One of the earliest settlements in the state, Greenland was a parish of Portsmouth originating in 1638. It was probably named for Henry Greenland, a town officer. About 1704, residents requested having a minister and schoolmaster of their own, and to be exempted from supporting the church and school in Portsmouth... Read more ...

Hampton, NH

First called Winnacunnet, the Indian name for pleasant pines, Hampton was one of four original New Hampshire towns established by the Massachusetts government. In 1638, the area, which included land now in Seabrook, Kensington, Danville, Kingston, East Kingston, Sandown, North Hampton, South Hampton, Hampton Falls, and Great Boar's Head, was settled by a group of parishioners led by Reverend Stephen Bachiler. The Reverend had previously preached in Hampton, England, and the town was incorporated as Hampton in 1639. Poet John Greenleaf Whittier was a direct descendant of Reverend Bachiler. Construction of the railroad in the 1850s made Hampton’s oceanfront a popular resort. Read more ...

Hampton Falls, NH

First established as a parish of Hampton, this town received its grant as an independent town in 1726 following a petition to the legislature. Located on the Taylor River, Hampton Falls provided water power for Weare's mills. Meshech Weare, a descendant of the mill owners, was New Hampshire's first president, later called governor, in 1776. Hampton Falls was the birthplace of Ralph Adams Cram, a well-known architect, who designed the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York and chapels at West Point and Exeter Academy. Read more ...

Madbury, NH

This town was a part of Dover and Durham that was sometimes called Barbados because many residents were traders with the island. Also located here was the farm of Sir Francis Champernowne of Greenland, nephew to Sir Ferdinando Gorges, who at one time held proprietary rights to what is now the state of Maine. Read more ...

New Castle, NH

The largest of several islands at the mouth of the Piscataqua River, this town was originally known as Great Island. Chartered in 1679 as a parish of Portsmouth, it was incorporated in 1693 during the reign of William and Mary. For a number of years, this was the seat of government, where meetings of the governor and council were held. New Castle is unique in the state, being the only town made up entirely of islands, connected to the mainland by bridges. New Castle is home to the Wentworth-by-the-Sea Hotel, where delegates to the Russo-Japanese Peace Treaty of 1905 stayed during negotiations held at the nearby Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. The treaty negotiation and signing, which elevated Japan to an international power at the conclusion of the Russo-Japanese War, was held in the Portsmouth area at the specific invitation of President Theodore Roosevelt. Read more ...

Newington, NH

This territory was a part of the Dover and Squamscot Patent known Bloody Point, in memory of a victory by early colonists over an attacking band of Indians in the late 1600s. Following a boundary dispute with Greenland in 1714, Governor Joseph Dudley gave it the name Newington Parish. In 1952, the US Air Force took command of Portsmouth Airport for a bomber base, and land for expansion was taken from Portsmouth, Newington, and Greenland; about 60 percent of the airport is in Newington. In 1957, the facility was named for Captain Harl Pease, a WWII fighter pilot posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. The base fell to BRAC closure in 1991, but still houses the NH Air National Guard. Read more ...

Newmarket, NH

This was one of six towns granted by the Massachusetts government in the last year of the reign of King George I. Separated from Exeter in 1727, it was incorporated as Newmarket Parish, and included South Newmarket (Newfields). Newmarket was granted full town privileges by legislature in 1737. It was probably named for Newmarket in County Suffolk, England. The Lamprey River, which runs through the town, was named for John Lamprey, a Saxon word for a woodland enclosure where peace is to be found. Newmarket was a center of the New England shipping trade with the West Indies. Read more ...

Newfields, NH

Sitting on the west bank of the Squamscott River, this town was part of Exeter until 1727, when it was included in the Newmarket incorporation. It was called Newfield Village as early as 1681, and also known as South Newmarket, when made a parish of that town. In 1880 Dr. John M. Brodhead, presented his own library and $10,000 to the town on the condition that it be renamed Newfields. The town was so incorporated in 1895. Dr. Brodhead was a resident of the town and a descendant of John Brodhead, the town's first minister and member of the US House of Representatives, 1829-1833. Read more ...

North Hampton, NH

First settled in 1639, this town was a part of Hampton known as North Hill Parish. Residents began petitioning for a separate parish as early as 1719. North Hill Parish was set off from Hampton in 1738, with the responsibility of supporting a clergyman and schoolmaster of their own. Full township privileges were not granted until 1742, following the establishment of the New Hampshire-Massachusetts border. North Hampton was the birthplace of General Henry Dearborn, commander-in-chief of the American forces in the War of 1812, for whom Fort Dearborn (now Chicago) and Dearborn, Michigan, were named. Read more ...

Rye, NH

Rye was the site of the first settlement in New Hampshire, established by David Thompson in 1623 at Odiorne's Point, which he called Pannaway. This township was originally part of Portsmouth called Sandy Beach, and it was incorporated as a parish of New Castle in 1693 when that town separated form Portsmouth. In 1726 it was separated from New Castle, and incorporated as Rye, after the borough of Rye, a flourishing English Channel town. Rye's eight-mile length of coastline is dotted with old names such as Wallis Sands, Jenness Beach, Locke's Neck, Ragged Neck, Rye Harbor, and Odiorne Point. In 1876, the thriving village of Gosport on Star Island in the Isles of Shoals was annexed to the town. Rye is the only New Hampshire town with Atlantic islands, having annexed four of the Isles of Shoals; the remaining five islands belong to Maine. Read more ...

Stratham, NH

This territory was settled in 1631, a part of the Squamscott Patent granted to Edward Hilton, under the leadership of Captain Thomas Wiggin, who was called Governor. The settlement was called Squamscott, and was also known by the Indian name of Winnicutt. In 1695 the territory was annexed to Exeter, having been associated with Hampton prior to that. In 1716, residents petitioned for a separate incorporated town, which was granted. Stratham was sixth town to be incorporated in New Hampshire, and named for a friend of Governor Samuel Shute of Massachusetts, Wriothesley Russell, Baron Howland of Streatham. Read more ...