Bethlehem is a hillside town in Grafton County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 2,484 at the 2020 census. For a town in northern New Hampshire, contemporary Bethlehem has a sizeable Jewish community (and a number of synagogues), a legacy of its hay-fever-relief experience.

It was at Bethlehem that the National Hay Fever Relief Association was founded. World War II gave the hotels a second life, as tourists avoided war-ravaged Europe and stayed closer to home. By the 1950s, however, hotel attendance had dwindled. Many would close and be demolished. Today, the town is known for its special Christmas postal cancellation stamp. Every year, people from all over the world send Christmas cards to the Bethlehem post office to have them postmarked. In 2000, it handled 56,000 Christmas cards.

Bethlehem has experienced a continuing controversy, beginning in the 1980s. Casella Waste Systems of Rutland, Vermont, through its subsidiary North Country Environmental Services, purchased the town dump and created a landfill. The company has made efforts to expand the landfill. Town residents have tried to terminate the landfill, but Casella has repeatedly challenged the residents in court. Bethlehem is drained by the Ammonoosuc, Gale, Zealand and Little rivers, together with Tuttle, Baker and Haystack brooks. Mount Cleveland, elevation , and Mount Agassiz, , rise to the south of the center of town. Town boundaries contain several of the famous 4,000-footers of New Hampshire: North Twin Mountain (the highest point in Bethlehem at ), Mount Hale, Mount Tom, Mount Field, and Mount Willey. Bethlehem lies almost fully within the Connecticut River watershed, though a tiny portion of the southeastern corner of the town is in the Merrimack River watershed, and an even smaller portion on the eastern side of the Willey Range is in the Saco River watershed.

Demographics

thumb|left|Main Street in 1907

thumb|left|The [[Colonial Theatre (Bethlehem, New Hampshire)|Colonial Theatre ]]

As of the census of 2010, there were 2,526 people, 1,103 households, and 698 families residing in the town. There were 1,517 housing units, of which 414, or 27.3%, were vacant. 305 of the vacant units were for seasonal or recreational use. The racial makeup of the town was 97.2% white, 0.1% African American, 0.5% Native American, 0.6% Asian, 0.04% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, 0.2% some other race, and 1.3% from two or more races. 1.7% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

Of the 1,103 households, 27.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.0% were headed by married couples living together, 9.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.7% were non-families. 30.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.4% were someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.27, and the average family size was 2.77.

Sites of interest

  • Bethlehem Heritage Society Museum
  • The Colonial Theatre
  • The Rocks Estate

References

Further reading

  • Kathleen C. Beales, Early Families of Bethlehem, New Hampshire. Bradford, NH: K.C. Beals, 2009.
  • Bethlehem Heritage Society, A Guide to the Mt. Washington Cemetery: Bethlehem, New Hampshire, 1795–1933. Bethlehem, NH: Bethlehem Heritage Society, 2010.
  • Simeon Bolles, The Early History of the Town of Bethlehem, New Hampshire. Woodsville, NH: Enterprise Printing House, 1883.
  • Priscilla Hammond, Vital Records of Bethlehem, New Hampshire: Compiled from the Town's Original Record Books, 1791–1838. Concord, NH: P. Hammond, 1937.
  • John D. Mangan, Inventory of the Records of the Town of Bethlehem, New Hampshire, 1845–1975. Plymouth, NH: Plymouth State College, 1976.
  • Hattie Whitcomb Taylor, Early History of the Town of Bethlehem, NH. Bethlehem, NH: Hattie W. Taylor, 1960.
  • Elizabeth Anne Ward, Bethlehem. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2000.
  • Henry Victor Wilcox, The History of the Development of Public Education in Bethlehem, New Hampshire. Masters thesis. University of Maine, 1949.
  • Gregory C. Wilson and Mike Dickerman, Bethlehem, New Hampshire: A Bicentennial History. Littleton, NH: Bondcliff Books, 1999.
  • Bethlehem Chamber of Commerce
  • New Hampshire Economic and Labor Market Information Bureau Profile
  • Bethlehem Historical Society