Walpole is a town in Cheshire County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 3,633 at the 2020 census.

The first bridge across the Connecticut River, an engineering feat in its day, was built at Walpole in 1785, and is regarded as one of the most famous early spans in the United States. The town contains many architecturally significant old houses, including several associated with Colonel Bellows and members of his family. Walpole Academy, built in 1831 and attributed to master-builder Aaron Prentiss Howland, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The abundant lilacs in the town inspired Louisa May Alcott to write the 1878 book Under the Lilacs.

The Alcott family moved to Walpole temporarily beginning in the summer of 1855 after Benjamin Willis, brother-in-law of matriarch Abby May Alcott, offered the family rent-free use of his home. Louisa was the first to move there and called the town "a lovely place, high among the hills". Her father Amos Bronson Alcott was initially happy with his hardworking neighbors there and wrote, "'Tis refreshing to yoke one's idealism with this team of tug-along-the-rut of realism, and so get practical wisdom out of it, and sanity." Louisa eventually moved to Boston for the summer, and her sister Anna took a teaching job in Syracuse, New York. With his family split, Bronson came to dislike his experience in Walpole and found it difficult, as he wrote, "to make the most of myself and them in this little river town and its quiet population." Abby had been working with one of the town's poorest families, and from them the Alcotts contracted smallpox. In the fall of 1857, the family moved to Concord, Massachusetts, to live in the home they named Orchard House.

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Image:Westminster Street, Walpole, NH.jpg|Westminster St. in 1906

Image:Public Library, Walpole, NH.jpg|Town library in 1906

Image:Old Unitarian Church, Walpole, NH.jpg|Old church

Image:Town House, Walpole, NH.jpg|Town Hall in 1906

Image:Street Scene, Walpole, NH.jpg|Street scene

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Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of which are land and are water, comprising 3.94% of the town.

| footnote = U.S. Decennial Census

As of the census of 2010, there were 3,734 people, 1,576 households, and 1,036 families residing in the town. There were 1,715 housing units, of which 139, or 8.1%, were vacant. The racial makeup of the town was 97.3% white, 0.3% African American, 0.2% Native American, 0.5% Asian, 0.0% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, 0.2% some other race, and 1.5% from two or more races. 1.3% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

Of the 1,576 households, 29.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.8% were headed by married couples living together, 8.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.3% were non-families. 26.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.2% were someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.37, and the average family size was 2.86.

Sites of interest

  • Stephen Rowe Bradley House
  • Drewsville Mansion
  • Peck-Porter House
  • Vilas Bridge
  • Walpole Academy

Notable people

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  • Abby May Alcott (1800–1877), social worker, activist
  • Amos Bronson Alcott (1799–1888), writer, educator, philosopher
  • Louisa May Alcott (1832–1888), writer
  • Glover Morrill Allen (1879–1942), zoologist
  • Ken Burns (born 1953), documentary filmmaker
  • Davis Carpenter (1799–1878), US congressman
  • Herman M. Chapin (1823–1879), mayor of Cleveland
  • Dayton Duncan (born 1949), writer and documentary producer
  • Franklin Hooper (1851–1914), professor, founder of the Brooklyn Museum
  • Rev. Jonathan Leavitt (1731–1802), first minister, later dismissed by the town
  • Charles Holland Mason (1822–1894), politician, lawyer
  • Fanny Peabody Mason (1864–1948), heiress, philanthropist
  • Eliza Ann Otis (1833–1904), poet, journalist, philanthropist
  • Howard Petrie (1906–1968), actor
  • Gary Smith, (1958 – 2023) record producer
  • Tom Veitch (1941–2022), writer
  • Roger Vose (1763–1841), US congressman
  • Horace Wells (1815–1848), pioneered anesthesia in dentistry

References

  • Walpole Town Library
  • New Hampshire Economic and Labor Market Information Bureau Profile
  • Walpole, New Hampshire at City-Data.com
  • The Walpole Clarion, a monthly community publication