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New Hampshire Counties
 Click Image to Enlarge New Hampshire CountiesThere arecurrently 10 Counties in the state of New Hampshire. Five of the Counties were created in 1769, when New Hampshire was still an English colony and not a state, during the first subdivision of the state into counties. The last Counties created were Belknap County and Carroll County, in 1840. The majority of New Hampshire's Counties were named for prominent British or American people or geographic locations and features. Only one county's name originates in a Native American language; Coos County, named for a Native American word meaning crooked and referring to a bend in the Connecticut River. |
Rockingham County, New HampshireRockingham County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education
Etymology - Origin of County NameNamed for Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham, KG, PC (13 May 1730 – 1 July 1782), styled The Hon. Charles Watson-Wentworth before 1733, Viscount Higham between 1733 and 1746, Earl of Malton between 1746 and 1750 and The Earl Malton in 1750, was a British Whig statesman, most notable for his two terms as Whig Prime Minister of Great Britain. He became the patron of many Whigs and served as a leading Whig Grandee. He served in only two high offices during his lifetime (Prime Minister and Leader of the House of Lords), but was nonetheless very influential during his one and a half years of service. Demographics:County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts County HistoryRockingham County was home to New Hampshire's first European settlements, Pannaway and Strawberry Banke (Portsmouth). In 1623, only three years after the landing of the pilgrims in Plymouth, Massachusetts, David Thomson first settled New Hampshire at
Odiorne Point in what is now known as the town of Rye. By the mid 1600s, the county included three of the four original New Hampshire towns and was the center for business, trade and government for the entire state. The state capital was located in Portsmouth first, and then later moved to Exeter
during the Revolutionary War. In 1808, the capital finally settled to its current location in Concord. GeographyAccording to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 794 square miles (2,060 km2), of which 695 sq mi (1,800 km2) is land and 99 sq mi (260 km2) (12.47%) is water. The highest point in Rockingham County is Nottingham Mountain, at 1,340 feet (410 m), in the town of Deerfield. Neighboring Counties:
Cities and Towns:
County Resources:Enter County Resources and Information Here |
County Resources
The history of our nation was a prolonged struggle to define
the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local.
And the names given the counties, our most locally based jurisdictions,
reflects the "characteristic features of this country!"
But age, size and colorful names of our counties isn't the only reason to explore counties' role in American history, or the history of county government itself. In fact, the story of county government reflects the larger meanings of American history. Today's counties are the most flexible, locally responsive and creative governments in the US. They are the most diverse, varying in size, population, geography, and governmental structure. In their politics and policies, they express a 1990's political slogan "Think globally, act locally." |
