Plymouth is a New England town in Grafton County, New Hampshire, United States, in the White Mountains Region. It has a unique role as the economic, medical, commercial, and cultural center for the predominantly rural Plymouth, NH Labor Market Area. Plymouth is located at the confluence of the Pemigewasset and Baker rivers and sits at the foot of the White Mountains. The town's population was 6,682 at the 2020 census. is defined as the Plymouth census-designated place (CDP), and is located along U.S. Route 3, south of the confluence of the Baker and Pemigewasset rivers.
Plymouth State University, in the center of town, has a total undergraduate population of 3,336 students and a total graduate population of 503 students as of the 2023/2024 academic year.
History
Plymouth was originally the site of an Abenaki village that was burned to the ground by Captain Thomas Baker in 1712. This was just one of the many British raids on American Indian settlements during Queen Anne's War. Part of a large plot of undivided land in the Pemigewasset Valley, the town was first named "New Plymouth", after the original Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts. Colonial Governor Benning Wentworth granted Plymouth to settlers from Hollis, all of whom had been soldiers in the French and Indian War. Some had originally come from Plymouth, Massachusetts. The town was incorporated in 1763. Parts of Hebron and Campton were annexed in 1845 and 1860.
In 1806, then-lawyer Daniel Webster lost his first criminal case at the Plymouth courthouse, which now houses the Historical Society. The author Nathaniel Hawthorne, while on vacation in 1864 with former U.S. President Franklin Pierce, died in Plymouth at the second Pemigewasset House, which was later destroyed by fire in 1909. In the early 20th century, the Draper and Maynard Sporting Goods Company (D&M) sold products directly to the Boston Red Sox, and players such as Babe Ruth would regularly visit to pick out their equipment. The Plymouth Normal School was founded in 1871 out of the already existing Holmes Plymouth Academy, becoming the state's first teachers' college. It would later evolve into Plymouth Teachers' College in 1939, Plymouth State College in 1963, and finally Plymouth State University in 2003.
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Image:Main St., Plymouth, NH.jpg|Main Street in 1908
Image:Congregational Church & Town Hall, Plymouth, NH.jpg|Congregational Church and Town Hall
Image:Kidder Block & Methodist Church, Plymouth, NH.jpg|Kidder Block
Image:Railroad Station, Plymouth, NH.jpg|Railroad Station
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Geography
thumb|Country scene
Plymouth is in central New Hampshire, in the southeastern part of Grafton County, at the southern edge of the White Mountains. It is drained by the Pemigewasset River and its tributary, the Baker River, and lies within the Merrimack River watershed. Plymouth is north of Concord, the state capital, and south of the height of land in Franconia Notch.
Plymouth Mountain, at the highest point in Plymouth, is in the south, and the slopes of Tenney Mountain are in the west. (The summit of Tenney Mountain lies to the west in the town of Groton.)
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of which are land and are water, comprising 1.94% of the town.
|source 2 = XMACIS2
Demographics
As of the census of 2010, there were 6,990 people, 1,953 households, and 947 families residing in the town. The population density was . There were 2,231 housing units at an average density of 30.6 units/km<sup>2</sup> (79.4 units/sq mi). The racial makeup of the town was 95.6% White, 1.0% African American, 0.3% Native American, 1.1% Asian, 0.5% some other race, and 1.6% from two or more races. Of the population 1.9% were Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There were 1,953 households, out of which 24.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 37.1% were headed by married couples living together, 8.6% had a female householder whose husband did not live with her, and 50.1% were non-families. 28.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.9% were someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.41, and the average family size was 2.89.
Recreation
- Fox Pond Park
- Langdon Park and Walking Trails
- Walter-Newton Natural Area
- Sutherland Hiking Trail (on Plymouth Mountain)
- Plymouth Skate Park
- Quincy Bog
- Livermore Falls Hiking and River Jump
Sites of interest
- Boy Scout Fountain on the Common (one of only two Boy Scout Fountains in the USA)
- The Flying Monkey Movie House and Performance Center (formerly the Plymouth Theater)
- Fox Park
- Lamson Library at Plymouth State University
- Pease Public Library
- Plymouth Historical Museum
- Russell House (oldest standing residential building in the town; now Plymouth State Admissions)
- Smith Millennium Bridge (a covered bridge over the Baker River)
Government
thumb|upright|Plymouth Town Hall
Town government and officials
Plymouth is governed in the traditional New England style, with a five-member board of selectmen as its executive branch, and the traditional town meeting as its legislative branch. Municipal elections and town meetings are customarily held in March.
{| class=wikitable
! Office !! Name
|-
|Select board || Zach Tirrell, Chair
|-
| || Ted Wisniewski, Vice-Chair
|-
| || Maryann Barnsley
|-
| || Jason Neenos
|-
| || Phil LaMoreaux
|-
|Town clerk || Aimee K Lee
|-
| Deputy clerk ||Melinda Barnsley
|-
!bgcolor="#000000" colspan="3"|
|-
|Town manager || Vacant
|-
|Police chief || Nate Buffington
|-
|Fire chief || Kevin Pierce
|}
Local, state and federal officials
Plymouth, like all other towns in New Hampshire, elects official representatives at the county, state and federal levels. These officials represent the various jurisdictions in which the town of Plymouth lies, and none of them represent the town exclusively. Each official is elected in his or her own district. Currently, Plymouth is situated in New Hampshire's 2nd congressional district, the State House of Representatives Grafton County District 8, State Senate District 2, and Executive Council District 1.
{| class=wikitable
! Office !! Name !! Political Party
|-
|County Commissioner || Marcia Morris || | Democratic
|-
|County Treasurer || Karen Liot Hill || | Democratic
|-
|County Sheriff || Jeff Stiegler || | Democratic
|-
|County Attorney || Martha Ann Hornick || | Democratic
|-
|County Registrar of Deeds || Kelley Monahan || | Democratic
|-
|County Registrar of Probate || Rebecca Wyman || | Republican
|-
!bgcolor="#000000" colspan="3"|
|-
|State Representatives || Bill Bolton || | Democratic
|-
| || Sallie Fellows || | Democratic
|-
| || Peter Lovett || | Democratic
|-
|State Senator || Suzanne Prentiss || | Democratic
|-
|Executive Councilor || Michael J. Cryans || | Democratic
|-
!bgcolor="#000000" colspan="3"|
|-
|Member of the U.S. House of Representatives || Ann McLane Kuster || | Democratic
|}
Notable people
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· The article must mention how they are associated with Plymouth, whether born, raised, or residing.
· The fact of their association should have a reliable source cited.
· Alphabetical by last name please.
· All others will be deleted.
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- William F. Batchelder (1926–2019), New Hampshire Supreme Court associate justice
- Henry W. Blair (1834–1920), US senator, congressman
- Eliza Coupe (born 1981), actress (Happy Endings, Scrubs)
- Marian Douglas (1842-1913), poet and short story writer
- Irene Clark Durrell (1852–1914), educator
- William A. Fletcher (1788–1852), Chief Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court, born in Plymouth
- Robert Frost (1874–1963), poet
- Jed Hoyer (born 1973), president baseball operations for the Chicago Cubs
- Harl Pease (1917–1942), World War II pilot, Medal of Honor recipient
- Daniel Webster (1782–1852), US senator, congressman from Massachusetts
References
External links
- Plymouth Historical Society
- New Hampshire Economic and Labor Market Information Bureau Profile